Romanos Are the Queen of Snap Beans and I Want to Eat Them All

I had never heard of Romano beans before working in a restaurant kitchen. We’d buy them in bulk from a local farm, then spend the entire summer trying to figure out what to do with them. I’d snack on these sweet and juicy flat beans raw all the time, taking pleasure in their loud and satisfying crunch. Over the season, I quickly learned how to cook them every way imaginable: grilled, blanched, pickled, blistered. I don’t cook in restaurants anymore, but in the thick of summer when all the colorful fresh beans start showing up at the farmers’ market, I’ll buy a bunch of these long green and yellow guys and figure out what to do with them later—it never takes long to turn them into something totally delicious.

Romano beans are an Italian flat bean in the same family as garden variety string beans, which also counts fancy French haricots verts and yellow wax beans as siblings. They’re broad and flat—as if someone accidentally sat on a giant string bean—with a juicy, sweet flavor and great crunch. They come in green, yellow, and purple, though the yellow and green kinds are more common. They’re usually around four to six inches long, and can get much larger at the peak of the season.

You can find Romano beans at the farmers’ market or specialty markets during the summer, and once you get them home they’ll keep well in the refrigerator for up to a week (I usually just keep them in the same plastic bag I used to buy them). You can eat these snappy beans raw, but I think they taste best when they’re cooked, whether quickly blanched for crudités, charred on the grill and dressed with lemon juice and olive oil, or slow-braised in a tasty broth so they plump up and soak up all that flavor. You can use them in virtually any recipe that calls for snap beans or other similarly crunchy veg like sugar snap peas. Oh, what’s that, you need more ideas?! Look no further—these recipes will keep you rolling in Romanos until September:

Mixed Beans with Peanuts, Ginger, and Lime

All the beans! This salad will work with any mix of snap beans you can find.

Crudités with Bacon XO Sauce

Blanched beans are extra crunchy and perfect for dunking into dips.

Snap Peas and Green Beans with Arugula-Mint Pesto

Toss quickly cooked crisp-tender beans in a dead-simple pesto made from almonds, mint, arugula, and Parm. And then try a spoonful of that pesto in a grain bowl or in a sandwich.

Charred Snap Beans with Whole Lemon Dressing and Mozzarella

Some quick chopping turns a whole lemon (peel and all!) into a chunky, textured salad dressing. Genius. Another delicious saucy moment for your beautifully charred beans: this spicy tonnato.

Get the recipe pictured up top:

Romano Beans with Mustard Vinaigrette and Walnuts