My Southern style green beans recipe will become a favorite in your house!
Side dishes like this aren’t just for accompanying Easter recipes — this is one of those vegetable sides that goes with every main! These beans come loaded with bacon and a meltingly tender texture. And while yes, they are one of my family’s favorite Easter side dishes, they’re a veggie my kids actually eat, so I cook them year-round!
If you love roasted green beans or sauteed asparagus, you’ll flip over these beans! Serve with creamy Southern macaroni salad, and you’ve got a delicious pairing.
Let’s cook!
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What I Love About This Recipe
Is there anything more lovable than a green thing that your kids don’t scoff at? Dinner winner in my book!
- Kids love these!
- BACON
- Easy to make
- Slow cook flavor without the slow cooker
How To Make Southern Style Green Beans Recipe
Start by rinsing your green beans and letting them dry. Meanwhile, cook your bacon, then add the green beans to the pan until the beans turn bright green.
Slowly add the chicken broth, then the salt and pepper, and bring to a simmer. Simmer with the lid cracked until the beans are tender.
Serve!
Southern Green Beans Recipe Notes
What could go wrong with such simple, direct steps and easy to find ingredients? Nothing, especially if you go into this recipe armed with knowledge!
Ingredient Notes
Here are some tried and true tips for your ingredients:
- Dry: After rinsing the beans, it’s VERY important to dry them! When you add the beans to the hot bacon grease, you risk reactions like this one if you have excess water. Avoid the danger by drying your beans!
- Onion: Try this recipe with a bit of onion! Chop up 1/2 cup of yellow onion and saute it in the bacon drippings for about 5 minutes, with the heat on medium-low, before adding the green beans.
- Fresh is Best: If you heed no other warnings, heed this one: use fresh green beans! You know that I love using convenience foods when the time is right, but this is NOT one of those time. You need the structural integrity of fresh beans to stand up to the long cooking time. Frozen or canned beans would just disintegrate!
Tools to Make
The tools to make this Southern style green beans recipe are very straightforward:
- A colander, for draining your beans
- A pan
- A spoon
That’s it!
How Long Can You Keep This In The Fridge?
This recipe is one that can sit out for a little while, so if you’re serving it at a party, don’t fear any adverse reactions to letting it rest on a buffet line. But do try to refrigerate it ASAP!
Store your Southern style green beans in the fridge for up to five days.
Can You Freeze This?
Yes! This makes a great freezer meal to have on hand when you need a quick, delicious side dish.
Portion out your green beans and store in the freezer for up to a full year! The lack of dairy or other more perishable ingredients gives these a long shelf life.
To thaw, simply pop your containers in the microwave and hit the “thaw” setting!
Make Ahead Tips
Since these beans have to simmer for at least an hour, they come with make-ahead built right in! Just start these beans an hour before you need them, and they’ll be ready and waiting for you.
Or you can always make them ahead of time and store overnight! Just reheat and serve.
Serving Recommendations
I love serving these Southern style green beans with just about anything! But it’s always fun to build a theme dinner, so let’s go full Southern: make up some smoky, meaty jambalaya and a big ol’ pot of crockpot baked beans to get the good times flowing!
Recipe Variations
There’s one big, delicious variation I love using this recipe for, and that is:
- Green bean casserole! Use these Southern style green beans to spruce up boring old green bean casserole by adding bacon and extra flavor to the mix.
Southern Style Green Beans
Ingredients
- 4 slices bacon cut into small pieces
- 2 pounds fresh green beans ends trimmed and snaped in half
- 2 cups chicken broth
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
Instructions
- Rinse beans in a colander, then wrap up in a clean dish towel to dry.
- Cook bacon pieces in a large saucepan until crisp. Add green beans to the pan and continue to cook on medium heat, tossing beans well to coat in bacon dripping, until beans turn bright green about 3 minutes. Slowly add the chicken broth, then the salt and pepper and bring to a simmer.
- Simmer on low, covered with the lid cracked just a bit, stirring occasionally, until the beans are tender, about 1 hour. Adjust seasoning. Remove to serving platter with a slotted spoon. Top with a splash or so of the cooking liquid and serve.
Fans Also Made:
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More Vegetable Sides Recipes
Want more delicious veggie sides your family might actually eat? Here you go!
- Parmesan Asparagus – CHEESE! Need I say more?
- Cowboy Caviar – Great as a side or a chip dip
- Brown Sugar Carrots – Sweetness on sweetness is the way to go
- Fried Zucchini – Better than fried potatoes!
- Roasted Broccoli – The best way to eat broccoli — crispiness for days!
- Roasted Garlic Asparagus with Feta – Tender asparagus infused with garlic and perfectly coated with feta!
Conclusion
Don’t let your Easter recipes sit in the cupboard all year — crack them out now to get delicious dinner treats like this Southern style green beans recipe! Your family will love this inventive side dish.
What main course did you serve with these beans? Let me know in the comments!
Made these with fresh green beans today. I’m a southern girl and grew up on simmered, mushy green beans and I love just them. I have a jar of bacon grease in the fridge and just tossed them in that instead of adding actual bacon. So so so good and exactly what I grew up on. Thank you for an easy way to bring back that nostalgia. My husband loved them, too!
Way to go, Ashley! 😀 Glad to hear that you and your hubby loved it!
So classic!
Awesome! Everyone love the green beans.
Yay! Great to hear! Thank you 🙂
Hi Kathleen! I’m so excited to try your recipe as I’ve been searching for a green bean recipe that resembles my grandmother’s green beans. I noticed in the recipe it says that it serves 4-6 people but in one of the comments, you shared with someone that it serves 8-10 people. Just wanted to clarify if you think that the recipe as it is written (i.e. 2 lbs of green beans, etc.) would serve 8-10 people. Thanks!
Hey Jessica. You’re absolutely right, 2 pounds serves 8-10! Updating the servings now <3
Omg just finished with fine 1m ago and they look lovely ! Thanks ! Pic looks just like yours!
So happy to hear it, Ash!
This recipe has been one of our favorite dishes to do lately. The bacon grease and chicken broth bring awesome flavor. It’s the perfect side with mashed potatoes. Thanks for sharing!
Jaymie, so happy to hear you like the green beans!
Is it ok to prep the green beans the day before Thanksgiving? The part where I have to trim and halve them?
Hi Karina. Yes, absolutely. I’d store them in an airtight container 🙂
I made this recipe over the weekend and everyone loved them. I’d say cooking time was about 45 min but the hour didn’t have any affect either. I kept them warm in the oven until served. Very easy recipe to follow. Thank you for sharing.
Hi Lizla. You are so welcome! I’m really happy you found the instructions easy to follow and appreciate you telling me so. I really work on that! I want everyone to be successful when they try one of my recipes. <3
I pressure can my garden green beans…has anyone tried? They are not mushy like store bought, but not crisp like fresh.
Anyone ever make these and then just heat them up? Want to make for thanksgiving but it is a 2 hour drive so they would need to be reheated.
Tylo, I reheat these all the time. Obviously, after they’ve been cooked completely, then reheated, they get a bit softer. But there’s no flavor loss! You could always cook them 3/4’s of the way through, then finish them when you arrive at your destination. Hope that helps! Happy Thanksgiving <3
Anyone have any luck reheating these? Want to make them for thanksgiving but have a 2 hour drive. Would be much easier if I could make in the morning and just heat up when we get there!
Exactly the recipe I’ve been looking for!! Made these for a crowd last night and they were a hit. The green beans of my youth! Thanks for sharing!
Oh, Becky, that makes my day!!! So happy they were a hit <3
Do you ever add new potatoes?
Hi Penny. I don’t because my Grandma didn’t. I know a lot of people love them that way! I bet its a delicious combo <3
My mom always added small whole potatoes. When the potatoes were done the beans were done.
Thank you for sharing that Dorothy. I love that she used the potatoes as a kind of vegetable thermometer! <3
have you ever cooked these and then frozen them? I need to make way ahead!
Hi, no I haven’t. I think if I was to need to do so, I’d only partially cook them-maybe halfway through. The process of freezing them will break down the green beans. You don’t want them to get mushy. Then when you’re reheating them, plan a little extra time in case they need more simmering. Hope that helps. Let us know if you give it a try <3
How many people would you say this serves?
Hi Sarah. It will serve 8-10 🙂 Enjoy!
Eeeek I forgot to snap my green beans in half. Don’t think it’ll be too much of a problem just maybe a little more time? What do you think?
Yes, I think you’re exactly right 🙂
hmmm…do you think I could follow the recipe through step 2, then put them in a slow cooker?
Hey Jen, I haven’t tried it but sounds like a smart idea! Lmk if you try it and how it works out!
Thank you for sharing this recipe. I have never seen a printed recipe before now but I have been cooking green beans this way for nearly 50 years. I’m not even sure where I first experienced the taste and texture but it was probably in Louisiana where I spent summers as a child.
My wife and her family, all yankees, love pole beans cooked this way!
I’m happy to hear that’s how you make your beans too! Thanks for sharing that, Mike 🙂
Can I do this with Brussel sprouts
Hey Joyce, I’ve never tried this with Brussel sprouts. Sounds interesting!
Thank you for the recipe, made this tonight and tastes really good!
By the way, I hardly see your page, the right side of your page has ads keeps popping up, and there’s no way to turn it off, clicked it once and opened a page for me.
Hi Evangeline. I’m sorry those ads are popping up.They are not from this site. What I’ve been told by my tech people is that another site you visited planted a cookie. If you update your OS (operating system) the other site will not be able to exploit this glitch. I hope this helps. I hate that people are having that experience on my site!!!
Hi Kathleen I’m new to your blog but I must say your green beans sure look & sounds great can’t wait to try! I have some fresh canned greens will they work ?
Hey Teresa. I only use fresh green beans in this recipe 🙂
I thought southern style green beans have the addition of some brown sugar? I would eat dinner occasionally at a southern lady’s home and she had the most amazing green beans. She had in them bacon, butter and brown sugar.
Hey Laura. Well, I’m sure many cooks do include the sugar, this is the way I was taught to make them 🙂
I’m allergic to chicken can you substitute beef bullion and water for the chicken broth? Any other suggestions?
Hi Damian. Yes, beef bouillon would work out really well. You can also use vegetable bouillon 🙂
These were absolutely delicious. But you don’t have to cook them for an hour. I cooked mine for half an hour and they were perfect. Just my two cents. 🙂
Thanks Chery! I love hearing your two cents! So glad you enjoyed them 🙂
I am going to try this today for the Mother’s Dinner I’m cooking this afternoon. Thank you for sharing. It looks so good.
Hi Tonia! Loooove this recipe! Enjoy 🙂
I make my green beans this way but I have been using beef broth or a beef bouillon cube when I don’t have the broth. My daughter’s mil from Roanoke gave me the idea several years ago. Also, when I can’t find fresh I drain the canned beans and use them. They are almost as good as the fresh!
Hi Trish. Thanks so much for sharing. I’ll have to try out the beef broth!
These remind me of my Mom’s. I can almost hear her saying, “don’t touch my bacon grease!” Everything is better with a lil bacon. Great post!
Thank you, Jess! I totally agree-everything is better with a little bacon!
Thank you for this recipe. My ex mother in law introduced it to me about 20 years ago. I’ve tried to duplicate it from Internet recipes, but somehow none of them are really right. This one is. Thank you.
Hi Diana! So glad to hear it!
I made these this year for Thanksgiving. They were so delicious and so easy to make! Great recipe.
Thanks so much Amy 🙂
How would you make this if you couldn’t get your hands on fresh green beans?
Hi Sara. Honestly, I only make this with fresh green beans!
Just made these and loved them! So tender and full of flavor…sharing with everyone I know! Thanks for sharing your recipe.
Hey Lori.So very glad you enjoyed the recipe. Thanks so much for sharing my recipe. I really appreciate it!!!
this recipe looks delicious. How many times would I have to double this to make enough for 50 people?
Hey Lisa. I’d probably make make 8-9 times the recipe.
ilike green beans
recipe of green beans so yummy
Thank you Sunita!
My favorite way to have green beans and I am not even from the south!
Hi Marigene. This is my all time favorite way to eat green beans, too. I crave these all the time!
They sure do look good.I will try this,thanks for the recipe.
Hey Dana! I sure hope you enjoy!!!
the word you were looking for is shudder, not shutter which is a window covering. FYI only.
Oh Sharon, thank you. I hate when I do that. The older I get, the more it seems to happen LOL. Going back and correcting it now 😉
Hi, Great recipe foe So. style greenbeans!! If in a hurry try KFC string beans. They ROCK!!!
Hey Kelly. Good to know!
I could see even the pickiest eaters eating a whole plate of these!!
Thanks Joanne 🙂
i made a big pot of southern-style Limas today, then I saw this on Facebook. The recipe is almost identical and I had to chuckle at our similar taste in food. I’ve tried quite a few of your recipes and they were all keepers.
Hey Marianne. Isn’t funny how food can connect us! Your Lima Beans sound delicious!
I love Southern style green beans. I love your addition of chicken broth and the way you sauteed them in the bacon fat. Will have to try it Kathleen.
Hi Penny! Hope you try them and enjoy them as much as we do 😉