The Secret Ingredient to the Best Green Beans

The Key to Crowd Pleasing Legumes

It’s bacon. The secret ingredient is bacon.

Sure green beans can be delicious all on their own, and bacon, well, same. Is this dish a way to enjoy green beans or a way to enjoy to bacon? We’ll let you be the judge, but this dish is more an equal partnership than you might think at first glance. Neither element is really in a supporting role but neither takes center stage.

This crowd-pleasing green bean dish is simplicity itself. Don’t be basic and go full salt, fat, acid heat by squeezing a lemon over the dish right before serving.

This recipe is from our friends at ButcherBox, who, as you might have guessed from the name, do not ship boxes of green beans to your doorstep. But they have the other half of this equation covered. As the name implies, ButcherBox delivers boxes of meat (like 100-percent grass-fed beef, heritage pork, free-range chicken and sustainably sourced seafood) to your home. And if you want to make this recipe, ButcherBox is making it so you could be using heritage-bred bacon by next week offering two free packs of bacon and 2 lbs of ground beef for new customers.

Bacon Sautéed Green Beans

Recipe by Emilie Abijanac, Culinary Director for Butcher Box

Serves 10

INGREDIENTS

  • 1 pkg Butcher Box Bacon julienned
  • 3 lbs green beans or haricots verts trimmed
  • 1 tsp kosher salt
  • Freshly ground black pepper

Add 3 quarts of cold water to a stock pot with 1 tablespoon of kosher salt. Bring to a boil.

In a large mixing bowl set up an ice bath. Cold water and ice.

Drop half of the trimmed green beans into the boiling water. Remove green beans when they turn bright green. Approximately 2–3 minutes. Immediately, place green beans in ice bath to stop carryover cooking.

Let water come to a boil again before dropping remaining green beans and repeat process. Strain from ice bath and set aside.

Heat a large sauté pan on medium-low heat. Place half of julienned bacon in hot pan and sauté for 4 minutes. Once fat has rendered out of the bacon and it starts to crisp add half of the green beans and season with salt and pepper. Sauté for 5 minutes.

Remove from pan and platter. Repeat process with second half of bacon and green beans. And try the lemon squeeze on there.

ButcherBox sources humanely raised meat and sustainably sourced seafood, delivered right to your door. And to make it even nicer you never pay extra for shipping. Pretty good deal right now: Get 2 lbs of grass-fed, grass-finished ground beef plus two packs of heritage-breed pork bacon for free in your first box plus $20 off. Get it going.