If you haven’t tried these caramelized green beans, your life is about to change. They are sweet, salty, smoky, perfection! Fresh green beans, caramelized onions, and crispy bacon are coated in a sweet and savory glaze. This is one of the rare green bean recipes that all my kids eat like candy. This recipe comes from Ohana at the Polynesian Resort in Disneyworld, so you know it’s going to be good.
Ingredient Notes
- Soy sauce – You can use regular or reduced sodium soy sauce. I prefer Aloha brand, personally. I think it has the best flavor, far and away!
- Green beans – Use fresh beans from the produce section here. My favorite are the “french” style, which are thinner than standard green beans and require less trimming. Costco often sells bags of these in their refrigerated produce section.
- Bacon – Grab your favorite bacon. Regular or thick cut will work great.
- Onion – Red onion is preferred but you could use yellow or white if you need to.
- Garlic – you’ll want to use fresh garlic cloves in this recipe.
How to Make Caramelized Green Beans
1. Begin by frying the bacon in a large skillet. You will eventually cook all the green beans in this pan so choose accordingly. Then start boiling a large pot of water. Place beans in a colander and rinse them well. Then snap the ends off and snap them in half.
2. Prepare the sauce by mixing sugar and soy sauce in a small bowl.
3. Make sure your onions are sliced, garlic is pressed or minced, and everything is ready to go.
4. Remove bacon from pan and drain on a paper towel. Remove all but 2-3 tablespoons bacon drippings from the pan (You may not need to remove any if it didn’t render more than that).
5. Add beans to boiling water. Place colander in a clean sink. Boil for one minute; you’re not cooking them until they’re done, just blanching them to take the edge off. Meanwhile, add the onions and garlic into the pan with the bacon drippings.
6. Add the drained green beans to the skillet. Stir fry 2-3 more minutes until onions are soft.
7. Give your sauce a quick stir and then pour on top of the beans. Keep stir-frying until the beans look shiny and glazed. If you have liquid in the pan keep simmering to evaporate until it turns into a thicker, glossy sauce.
8. Add crumbled bacon and lots of freshly-ground pepper to the beans. Keep stir frying until the sauce sticks to the beans and the bacon. Season with additional salt if necessary. Transfer to a serving dish and allow to stand a few minutes.
FAQs
Can I make these ahead of time? These beans are best made fresh. If you need to prep ahead, feel free to blanch the beans, cook your bacon (don’t forget to reserve some drippings!), and even prep your onions and garlic. That way, everything is ready to pop in the frying pan right before serving time.
Related Recipes
Looking for more great holiday sides? Check out these other Our Best Bites favorites:
- Bacon-Wrapped Green Bean Bundles
- Stuffed Bleu Cheese Potatoes
- Candied Coconut Sweet Potatoes
- Bacon, Apple, Pecan Salad with Maple Dijon Vinaigrette
Did You Make This?
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PrintCaramelized Green Beans
Description
Sweet, savory, garlicky, caramelized bacon green beans are perfect for holidays and special occasions!
Ingredients
1 pound (actually, just a little bit more…maybe 1 1/8 pound) fresh green beans
1/2 pound bacon
1/2 red onion, sliced
3-4 cloves garlic, minced or pressed
2 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons soy sauce
A few turns of freshly ground black pepper
1/2 teaspoons Kosher salt
Instructions
Begin frying the bacon in a large skillet. Start boiling a large pot of water. Place beans in a colander and rinse them well. Then snap the ends off and snap them in half.
Prepare the sauce by mixing sugar and soy sauce in a small bowl.
Make sure your onions are sliced, garlic is pressed and everything is ready to go.
Remove bacon from pan and drain on a paper towel. Drain all but 2-3 tablespoons of bacon drippings from pan (you may not need to remove any if it didn’t render that much).
Add beans to boiling water. Place colander in a clean sink. Boil for one minute; you’re not cooking them until they’re done, just blanching them to take the edge off. After one minute, drain beans in the colander in the sink.
Heat pan with bacon drippings to medium heat. When the pan is hot, add onions and garlic. Give them a quick sauté for a 2 minutes or so, until the onions start to soften and then add the drained green beans. Cook for an additional 2 minutes or so.
Give your sauce a quick stir and then pour on top of the beans. Keep stir-frying until the beans look shiny and glazed. This will take a few minutes. The sauce will go from liquid to a thicker glaze consistency as water evaporates.
Crumble bacon and add to pan, along with several turns of black pepper. Keep stir frying until the sauce sticks to the beans and the bacon. Season with salt to taste. Transfer to a serving dish and allow to stand a few minutes before serving.
My husband hates vegetables, but could eat these right out of the skillet with a spoon! He requests them all the time and I make them when we have guests over and I want to WOW them….amazing recipe!!
Love this recipe! Hoping someone can answer this. I want to make this for Christmas dinner at my sisters house. Can I make ahead of time and then reheat before serving? How would you suggest I reheat, just in the oven to warm? Thank you!
I’ve made these for years and they are always great! I’ve subbed defrosted frozen french style green beans and bagged “real bacon bits” when rushed and they are still great. My kids like them even better the next day reheated. So, so good and easy!
So I just made these for breakfast. I had to do a test batch before taking them to a dinner this weekend. YUM! So, so yummy. What would be the best way to transport them/keep them warm for about 30 minutes?? Or would they just get gross?
I absolutely loved how these came out. This recipe is my first go-to now when I need a side dish. thank you so much.
Hello! I really want to make these since my husband loves to buy green beans at Costco and I am running out of ways to prepare them- but can I skip or sub the bacon?
PS Love everything I have ever made on from this site.
I made these the other night. Made the bacon the day before to make it a quick throw together side dish. Can’t wait to make them again!! Next time I think I will cook just a tad longer to make the hubby happy. Sauce was De-lish!
Don’t call me crazy but I opted not to add bacon. I love bacon, but just didn’t see the need for it with the other items I served this with. Also, I left my beans whole instead of snapping them in half {I think they’re pretty that way!} and I decreased the amount of soy sauce and sugar, based on the amount of beans I was cooking. They were THEE BEST green beans I’ve ever had! And, like another reviewer, I really caramelized the onions…to black caramelizationy goodness! They were like dessert! I think I will cook them less for a more desired appearance next time….yes, there WILL BE a next time! and a next time after that! {and so on!} Thanks, Kate!
I’m making this with filet mignion for v-day dinner tomorrow sounds super yummy… I’m going to cut my bacon up before frying though makes it alot easier
Made this tonight for company. Huge hit! Thank you! I will be making this again and again.
This was AH-MAZING! My husband is addicted to it!
Thanks for this yummy dinner idea!
So, after a year of me pestering my husband to buy me your cookbook, he finally did this year for Christmas…I’d made this recipe before, but was so excited to have a real recipe in the kitchen with me while I made it. I thought my parents were coming to dinner last minute and I didn’t have enough of what I had planned on, so I paged through the cookbook to find something to make for them. I picked this recipe, but then realized I was out of frozen green beans. My husband was going to pick some up on the way home from work, but when it turned out my parents weren’t staying for dinner, I decided to give it a try with the frozen broccoli I had in the freezer instead, and I thought they turned out good. The green beans are still better, but the broccoli was tasty too. Thank you!!
Made these for Christmas dinner and turned out great! Will make again!
Wondering if anyone has tried this with balsamic vinegar instead of soy sauce??
Lori and Gail:
I have had great success making these and then reheating. A trick: don’t add the bacon until just before serving so it stays nice and crisp. hope you find that helpful!!!
Hi Kate – do you think this recipe could be one that could be made up earlier in the day and reheated in the microwave before dinner? I would like to make it for Christmas dinner but would not have the time to make it fresh.
I have the same question as Lori Holt…I’d like to make it for Christmas as well, can I make it earlier in the day and microwave it before dinner?
It would be helpful if you had a link to print the recipes instead of
having to copy 3 pages for one….great recipes!
thx
I made this Sunday and it was FABULOUS! Leftovers were even good.
I HATE green beans, and most veggies. Always have, always will. We got a giant amount of green beans in our Bountiful Basket last week, and I luckily found this recipe in your glorious cookbook. LOVED IT! This is honestly the first time in my life I have ever enjoyed eating a green bean. So thank you. I got my vegetable intake. 🙂
Ok – Why can’t I find the Print button on this recipe????
My two year old loved this recipe, as did my husband and I. I’ve never been a fan of green beans, but add bacon to anything and I’m game. The funny part was that my two year old only ate the green beans and onions and didn’t touch the bacon in it!
I made these last night and my husband asked if these could be our regular green beans! They were awesome–not that I should be surprised, you girls always have awesome dishes!
Had these tonight for our pre Easter dinner. Delicious. Delicious. Delicious. I think next time I might leave out the salt in the soy sauce/sugar mix though. It doesn’t need the extra salt with the bacon. Thanks for a great one!