Buttered Green Beans with Hazelnuts
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An incredible fresh green beans recipe you must try — perfectly cooked beans in nutty brown butter topped with hazelnuts and fresh thyme. Turn ordinary string beans into something special!
Green bean recipes are everywhere, but this one is a simple way to elevate an everyday string bean into something special. You could even say dinner-party worthy!
Grab this recipe for perfectly cooked buttered green beans that are tossed in brown butter and toasted hazelnuts. From start to finish, this easy dish takes about 15 minutes to make.
Serve the beans as a side to these Incredible Rosemary Brown Sugar Pork Chops or a Perfect Roast Chicken.
The best recipes for fresh green beans and string beans tend to keep the process plain and simple.
Green beans were always a lifesaver when my kids were little — they were a green vegetable on the dinner table they would actually eat.
On the other hand, I rarely ate fresh green beans when I was growing up.
For some reason, all we ever had were those olive-green string beans out of a can. As you can imagine, I didn’t go on to have a great passion for those.
How to boil green beans
Friendly and versatile green beans really don’t need much more than brief cooking and a bit of salt, oil or butter.
- Fill a large saucepan or pot with 3 quarts water. Bring to a boil and add 1-2 tablespoons salt.
- Don’t overcook the beans. Taste and test after 2 or 3 minutes.
- A good sign the beans are almost ready is when you can hear them popping in the boiling water.
What’s brown butter?
Although it may sound fancy-pants, making brown butter isn’t hard to do. All you need is a pan, a stove and a healthy chunk of good butter.
Let’s hear a round of applause for French cooks: They invented one of life’s pleasures, beurre noisette, which I believe translates as “butter heated until it turns nut brown and tastes amazing.”
It definitely makes sense that noisette also happens to be the French word for hazelnut (or filbert, if you prefer).
In addition to its glowy amber color and fantastic nutty aroma, brown butter adds a beautiful finishing touch to just about anything edible.
Seriously, I’m guessing an old catcher’s mitt would taste delicious slathered with it!
Tips for perfectly cooked green beans with butter:
- This probably goes without saying for such a simple recipe, but I’ll say it anyway: Use good, fresh unsalted butter. If you can track down high-butterfat cultured butter (sometimes called European-style butter), even better. Look for lactic acid on the ingredient label.
- If you can, choose a pan with a lighter surface to make the brown butter so you can better see the color changing as it cooks.
- If you want to make buttery green beans almondine style, use an equal amount of chopped whole almonds instead of the hazelnuts.
More simple vegetable side dish recipes:
- Creamy Cauliflower Mascarpone Gratin
- Harvest Roasted Root Vegetable Salad with Chimichurri
- Slow Cooker Root Vegetables with Apple Cider Glaze
Buttered Green Beans with Hazelnuts
Ingredients
- 1 pound (450 g) green beans, trimmed
- 4 tablespoons (60 g) unsalted butter
- ⅓ cup (40 g) chopped hazelnuts
- 1-2 tablespoons chopped fresh thyme
- Flaky sea salt
Instructions
- Drop the green beans in boiling, generously salted water and cook 3 – 5 minutes, until tender but still bright green. Drain and transfer to a serving bowl.
- Heat a small skillet over medium heat. Add the butter and let it melt and bubble, swirling the pan. When the butter begins to foam, turn up the heat to medium-high and cook until the butter turns amber and smells nutty — this should take just a few minutes.
- Take the butter off the heat and stir in the hazelnuts and thyme. Pour the butter over the beans and sprinkle with sea salt.
Karen’s Notes and Tips
- Use straight-up green beans, or a mixture of yellow and green when they’re in season.
- If you want to make buttery green beans almondine-style, use an equal amount of chopped whole almonds instead of the hazelnuts.
- If you’re feeding a crowd, the recipe doubles easily.
Nutrition
Nutrition facts are calculated by third-party software. If you have specific dietary needs, please refer to your favorite calculator.
Hey, I’m Karen
Creator of Familystyle Food
I’m a food obsessed super-taster and professionally trained cook ALL about creating elevated dinners with everyday ingredients. Find simplified recipes made from scratch and enjoy incredibly tasty food! Read more about me here.