31 Green Bean Recipes for Easy Side Dishes (and Mains!) All Year Long

This easy, herby green bean recipe has everything you want in a summertime weeknight dinner: minimal cooking, fresh vegetables, and enough protein for the dish to feel filling. (This salad is no green bean side; it’s a meal!) See recipe.

This is an easy recipe that's also elegant enough for a dinner party: blistered, crisp-tender green beans on a blanket of whipped ricotta. The ingredient list is minimal, so you want to make sure everything down to the extra virgin olive oil is good quality. See recipe.

It doesn’t take much to make slender, tender green beans memorable—lemon zest and orange zest warmed in olive oil provide sensational sparkle to this “lost” Gourmet Christmas recipe. See recipe.

Umami-rich fish sauce gives depth to a delicious citrusy dressing, and smashing the green beans with a rolling pin helps them absorb the flavors, no boiling required. See recipe.

No one complains when the answer to "What's for dinner?" is "a stir-fry"—especially not the cook. All you need is one large skillet and some high heat. See recipe.

This picnic dinner is easy to pack up and take to the park, and everything can be eaten with your hands. Feel free to sub in any fresh vegetables you like to dip: radishes, bell peppers, cucumber spears, etc. See recipe.

A mix of wild mushrooms lends an earthy touch to this creamy classic, but it’s the paprika, coriander, and cumin-spiked fried red onions that truly set this casserole apart. See recipe.

This classic Gourmet recipe for braised green beans comes from legendary cook Edna Lewis. Save any leftover stock to use for soups, or cooking risotto. See recipe.

Roast jarred marinated artichoke hearts and cubed potatoes until crispy, then toss a thick halibut fillet and a handful of green beans onto the same pan for this simple sheet-pan dinner. See recipe.

You can make the vibrant lemon, tarragon, and parsley butter up to three days in advance and then toss at the last second with bright green blanched beans for an easy summer side dish. See recipe.

Make a big batch of dukkah—a Middle Eastern blend of nuts and spices—to lend texture to any salad. Here, it’s sprinkled over blanched green beans and shaved fennel. See recipe.

Every part of this dish is flavorfully sauced: The pork chops marinate in a mixture of turmeric, black pepper, salt, and brown sugar; the sautéed green beans are cooked in the drippings from the pork; and the noodles get tossed in a basil-lime mixture that gets its creamy texture from cashews. See recipe.

Is it green beans almondine or amandine? However you spell it, this classic French dish cries out to be served alongside a light, bright fish fillet. See recipe.

This vegetarian version of the classic French salad doesn't have any meat or fish, but it's got tons of flavor. Crispy fried capers are a particularly ingenious addition. See recipe.

Remember green bean casserole? This lighter spin on the classic skips the canned, condensed soup and amps things up with fried leeks. See recipe.

This dish of steamed green beans is dusted with a savory spice mix often made with sesame seeds, oregano, and sumac. See recipe.

Reheat leftover meats on the stovetop and level them up with lots of vegetables: It's a way of life. Here, you'll fry shreds of leftover slow-cooked pork—this chipotle-orange pork would be great—to an irresistible crisp for a quick stir-fry. See recipe.

This refreshing Thai-inspired salad pairs a summery mix of charred green and yellow wax beans with chiles, fresh lime juice, soy sauce, and loads of cilantro. Zesty grilled tofu and creamy avocado round out the meal for a delicious weeknight vegetarian dinner. See recipe.

This classic Thanksgiving green bean dish is one of our favorite back-of-the-box recipes. Made with a can of creamy mushroom soup and store-bought crispy onions, it couldn’t be easier to assemble. See recipe.

This simple dish employs the French technique of cooking vegetables in a mixture of water and butter. The water eventually cooks out after steaming the vegetables, leaving them glazed with the butter. See recipe.

Charring the beans in a cast-iron skillet gives them an irresistible smokiness that plays off the rich flavors of the buttery miso sauce, but you could also grill them or simply blanch them instead. See recipe.

Toss thinly sliced Brussels sprouts, asparagus, green beans, and fennel with green goddess dressing—creamy, herby, lemony, and overall delicious—for a crunchy and verdant salad. See recipe.

These roasted green beans don’t require much effort: Simply toss the beans with olive oil and aromatics, stick them in the oven, and come back an hour later to impossibly soft, caramelized vegetables. See recipe.

Cook green beans and grains in separate pots of boiling salted water and then unite them with this creamy tahini take on ranch dressing. See recipe.

Poaching boneless, skinless chicken breasts in well-salted water yields juicy, flavorful meat that won’t dry out. Crunchy veggies and a punchy Dijon vinaigrette complete this meal-worthy salad. See recipe.

Toss snappy green beans with cooked fresh shell beans, canned white beans or chickpeas, briny capers, zippy lemon, and crushed red pepper flakes for a punchy cold side. See recipe.

The key to this show-stopping salad is a bowl of ice water. Seriously. It stops the blanched vegetables from cooking and ensures that they stay bright and crisp. See recipe.

You didn't think we'd get through this collection without a pasta dish, a.k.a. a reason to eat lots of Parmesan cheese, did you? Save yourself time by cooking the green beans in the same boiling water used for the penne. See recipe.

In Hong Kong, where XO sauce was invented, dried shrimp or scallops and Chinese ham combine with chiles to create a powerhouse condiment. This recipe swaps the meat for king trumpet or maitake mushrooms. See recipe.

This soup gets a kick from what its creator, Jacqueline Chio-Lauri, calls "Filipinized gremolata." It's a mildly modified version of the Italian condiment made with parsley, lemon zest, and fried garlic. See recipe.

While chicken may be the star of this green bean recipe, the dish would not be as satisfying and delicious as it is without the snappy vegetable (or, let's face it, the savory oyster sauce). See recipe.