Green Beans Almondine is the perfect side dish for the holiday or any time of year! Enjoy tender green beans cooked in ghee and topped with toasted almonds. Are looking for a way to elevate your green beans? Then this is the recipe for you!
Green beans almondine is a side dish great any time of year. You will never find a Thanksgiving or Christmas dinner at my house without this perfect for a crowd side dish!
Serve green beans alongside my sous vide turkey on Thanksgiving day! Are looking for more menu ideas for Thanksgiving or Christmas? Then check out my Boursin Mashed Potatoes and Turkey Gravy. Finally, serve my quick cranberry sauce for the perfect condiment.
The best green beans are French Beans (Haricot Verts). Since green beans almondine are French, we want to use a French green bean. French beans are harvested earlier making them short and skinny. I love how they hold their shape, making them the right choice for salad or side dishes.
Green beans almondine can be made with slivered almonds or sliced almonds. My preference and what we use in this recipe is sliced almonds. They just look more pleasing to the eye.
To make a healthy green bean almondine, we replace the butter with ghee. By removing the milk solids from the butter, this recipe is now dairy-free.
Many recipes call for lemon or lemon zest. We chose to leave the lemon out of this recipe to not overpower the green beans. Tender buttery green beans with crunchy almonds are what I want you to experience.
If you like this recipe, I recommend trying my air fryer sweet potatoes, sweet potato souffle, and oven-roasted Brussels sprouts.
If you have made this recipe, let me know what you think in the comment section at the bottom of my blog post! This inspires me to keep creating delicious content and recipes for you guys!
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Why you'll love these green beans
- Haricot Verts, also known as French Beans, make the best Green Beans Almondine.
- Blanching the green beans a day in advance makes this the perfect make-ahead side dish.
- Delicious side dish for the holidays. Tender green beans topped with crunchy sliced almonds.
Ingredients
Here is a visual list of ingredients you will need. Jump to the recipe for ingredient quantities.
- Green Beans: You can use any type of green beans for this recipe. Canned green beans, fresh green beans, or French Beans. French beans make the best green beans almondine. They hold their shape and have the best flavor!
- Ghee: To make this recipe dairy-free, we swapped out butter for ghee.
- Almonds: We find that sliced almonds look and taste the best. If you can't find sliced almonds, slivered almonds will work too.
- Shallots: Part of the onion family that has a mild flavor.
See recipe card for quantities.
How to make green bean almondine
This classic French side dish is so easy to make, let me show you how!
Step 1: Blanch green beans in boiling water for 4-5 minutes.
Step 2: Place green beans in an ice bath until completely chilled.
Step 3: Toast almonds and shallots in ghee until golden brown.
Step 4: Add in green beans and cook until they are heated through. Season with salt and pepper.
Variations
Green beans almondine are delicious as is, but if you want to enhance the flavor more try these recipe variations.
- Mushrooms: Saute sliced baby portabella mushrooms with the shallots before adding green beans.
- Bacon: Crisp up chopped bacon with shallots and almonds. The bacon fat will flavor everything. YUM!
- Parmesan + Breadcrumbs: Finish green beans with toasted breadcrumbs and parmesan cheese.
- Lemon Zest: Freshly grated lemon zest will make your green beans pop with flavor.
Equipment
- Cast Iron Pan - Has a large surface area to reheat the green beans quickly
- Large Pasta Pot - You will need a large pot to blanch the green beans
- Spider - Best kitchen tool to remove green beans from the pot
Make ahead Instructions
Green beans almondine is the perfect holiday side dish to prep ahead of time. Here are the step-by-step instructions.
- Blanch green beans in boiling water for 3-4 minutes, stirring occasionally.
- Transfer to an ice bath and chill.
- Drain green beans in a colander and transfer them to a ziplock bag for 1-2 days.
- Add chilled green beans to toasted almonds and heat through.
Chef Tips
Green beans almondine only has a few ingredients, here are a few cooking techniques that will make this French side dish amazing!
- When blanching green beans, heavily salt your water. This step will ensure that your green beans will be nicely seasoned. The water should taste like the ocean.
- I like to toast almonds in ghee or butter for golden brown crunchy almonds. Toasting almonds in a dry pan will not turn the almonds golden brown.
- Have all of your mise en place ready to go. In other words, have all your ingredients diced, measured, and ready to go. You don't want to burn your almonds while you are chopping shallots.
- Use a large pan to reheat green beans. If you crowd a small pan, the green beans will take a long time to heat through.
- Don't blanch green beans too long. I find 4-5 minutes is the right amount of time. If you overcook the green beans they will become mushy.
FAQ
Yes! Green beans contain vitamin C and beta-carotene. This inexpensive vegetable is a good source of folate and potassium, which helps lower blood pressure.
Give green beans a good rinse under cold running water, and trim the ends. You can break off the stem end with your fingers or a knife. I like to line up a bundle of green beans and trim off the ends for efficiency.
Yes! In France, they call this dish Haricot Verts Amandine. Haricot Verts is French for green beans. French beans are harvested earlier in the season with a skinny appearance and tender texture.
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📖 Recipe
Green Beans Almondine
Equipment
Ingredients
- 1 pound French green beans haricot verts
- 2 tablespoons ghee
- ½ cup raw sliced almonds
- 2 shallots finely diced
- 2 cloves garlic finely minced
- 1 teaspoon sea salt
- ½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
Instructions
- Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Season water generously with salt to help season the green beans.
- Blanch green beans for 5 minutes. Beans are done when they have a slight bite to them. It's important that the green beans are slightly undercooked since they will be heated through in a large pan.
- Transfer green beans to an ice bath and cool completely. Drain in a colander and set aside.
- In a large pan, melt ghee. Toast sliced almonds for 2 minutes over medium-low heat until golden brown. Add in garlic and shallots and cook for an additional 2 minutes.
- Transfer blanched green beans to the large pan and cook until heated through. Using tongs, gently turn the green beans over in the pan, trying not to damage the green beans.
- Season with salt and pepper. Serve right away!
Notes
-
- Blanch green beans in boiling water for 3-4 minutes, string occasionally.
- Transfer to an ice bath and chill completely.
- Drain green beans in a colander and transfer them to a ziplock bag for 1-2 days.
- Add chilled green beans to toasted almonds and heat through.
Nutrition
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Pairing
These are my favorite dishes to serve with green bean almondine:
mikecleavenger
Green beans almondine pair well with fish, steak, and chicken. I love serving this recipe for the holiday season.
Cinda
Tried these over holidays. Big hit and heathy option!