Southern Style Green Beans with fresh green beans and crispy bacon is a flawless side dish for any meal. Do not wait for the holidays to enjoy this mouth watering, tender and perfect vegetable side dish.
Southern Style Green Beans
There are so many main dish ideas to serve this along side, but I think a healthy set of southern style green beans goes great with Honey Garlic Chicken or Chicken Broccoli Cheese Casserole.
These southern style green beans are a staple on southern tables in the south and are a perfect and delicious side dish for almost any meal. In fact, they are so good, that you can eat them AS the meal. This recipe feeds 4-6 people. If you are looking to feed a larger crowd, you may want to make two batches as a pound of green beans is a LOT to rotate and cook evenly.
This recipe itself is more of a simple southern green beans, where you use the bacon grease to flavor the beans. That being said, you could certainly dial up the deliciousness by adding a pat of butter, some chopped up white onions, and a tablespoon of minced garlic!
- 3 slices bacon
- 1lb fresh green beans
- 1 cup chicken broth
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon pepper
I love cooking in a cast iron pan. If you do not have one, you absolutely need to buy one.
- This is my favorite cast iron brand
. - I also have a dutch oven cast iron pan by Lodge that I adore and has a lid. I have the deeper one and the smaller casserole dish version in light gray .
How to season Southern Style Green Beans
I like good old fashioned salt and pepper on my green beans and these are marinated in bacon grease. Like I said above, they are simple but can be really flavored up a variety of ways. Try:
- Garlic Salt
- Powdered Onion
- Diced Fresh Onions
- Minced Garlic
- Cranberries
- Butter
How to cook Fresh Green Beans Southern Style
Cook bacon in pan. Remove bacon from pan and set bacon on paper towels to cool and drain grease.
Do not drain grease from pan because you use it to saute your beans.
Note: You can skip fresh bacon in lieu of precooked bacon, just cut it up and add it near the end of recipe so it doesn’t get overcooked in the heating.
If you go this route, you just wont have that delicious bacon flavor cooked in. You would need to add a bit of vegetable oil and salt to warm up the pan and get it prepped prior to the next step.
Add fresh green beans, broth, salt and pepper and cook, covered, for about 10 minutes so the green beans can get fork tender.
Stir green beans frequently to make sure they are properly cooked through.
Chop bacon and add to pan.
Remove lid and continue to cook for 5-10 minutes or until green beans are cooked through and broth is reduced. How long you cook will depend on what texture you want your beans.
Serves 4-6
How long to Cook Fresh Green Beans
Cooking times can vary when you cook green beans. I like my fresh beans with a little crunch, but some people like them cooked well. I’d allow about 20 minutes total for a crisp cook plus bacon can take a bit to cook.
Green Bean Side Dishes
Another Green Bean Side Dishes you will love
- Classic Green Bean Casserole
- Feta Green Bean Salad with Grape Tomatoes
- 3 Bean Salad with Cold Green Beans
- Seasoned Green Beans (KETO FRIENDLY)
- Green Beans Almondine with Feta
- Southern Green Beans and Bacon
Plus another 20 amazing Christmas Side Dish recipes here (psst, my favorite holiday side dish to serve is Broccoli Casserole with Ritz Crackers – YUM!) ~
Southern Style Green Beans
Southern Style Green Beans with fresh green beans and crispy bacon is a flawless side dish for any meal. Do not wait for the holidays to enjoy this mouth watering, tender and perfect vegetable side dish.
Ingredients
- 3 slices bacon
- 1 lb fresh green beans
- 1 cup chicken broth
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon pepper
Instructions
- Cook bacon in pan. Remove bacon from pan and set on paper towels to cool
- Do not drain grease from pan. Add green beans, chicken stock broth, salt and pepper.
- Cook your grean beans in the grease, covered, for about 10 minutes. Stir frequently to saute on all sides.
- Chop bacon and add to pan. Remove lid and continue to cook for 5-10 minutes or until beans are cooked through at the texture you like and broth is reduced.
- Serves 4-6
Notes
WANT MORE FLAVOR? Try adding butter, chopped onions, minced garlic or seasoning salts.
Nutrition Information:
Yield: 6 Serving Size: 6 peopleAmount Per Serving:Calories: 53Total Fat: 2gSaturated Fat: 1gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 1gCholesterol: 7mgSodium: 432mgCarbohydrates: 6gFiber: 2gSugar: 3gProtein: 4g
Nutritional information is automatically calculated with ingredients and serving size and may not be accurate. Please always double check with your own nutritional apps as well.
Sandra Foster says
We are on the Keto diet right now and LOVE the fact that your recipe does NOT have any brown sugar in it. Could you tell me though how many calories, carbs and fat in this recipe? Thank you so much. Sandra
Trisha says
Hi Sandra, thanks for visiting! I am not a dietitian so I dont like to give out nutritional advice, but I personally use apps like Carb Manager to adjust ingredients.
Lori says
If I already have crisp bacon, about how much bacon grease do I need? 2 Tbs? 3? Thanks!!
Trisha says
Yes, that should be fine. You can start with it a little less and add if it sizzles up too much, but I use about that. If you run out, just add a little veggie oil.
Trisha says
Lori, I wanted to come back and readdress. I literally just made my beans again last week. Bacon grease has a GREAT flavor for southern style beans. If you happen to NOT have enough bacon grease, you could still add a little veggie oil OR even a smattering of butter, which would have more flavor. The main thing is to able to saute them a bit. If you notice in the notes I also mention butter and garlic – not everyone likes to detract from the bacon with garlic but if you ask me, I like mine that way. I hope you enjoy!