French Green Beans
French Green Beans are tender sauteed green beans cooked in garlic butter with crunchy sliced almonds. This is a delicious keto green beans recipe to serve as a side to grilled meat or fish.
I was born and raised eating these French green beans, which is actually a delicious French keto recipe by itself.
In fact, green beans are keto-approved vegetables, and the French-style authentic recipe only uses keto ingredients. So as a French, let me share with you my favorite french way to cook green beans!
How to chose green beans?
Before you jump into this recipe, let me share the tips to select the best fresh green beans. A fresh green bean should be:
- Green with no dark spots on the shell.
- Firm – try to break green beans it must crack instantly, not bend or be soft.
How to prepare fresh green beans?
While you can make this recipe with frozen green beans, see the last paragraph. I highly recommend fresh green beans for the best texture and flavor.
First, before you start this easy green beans recipe, you must trim the tough, curly ends of both sides of each bean.
Next, you may want to peel off the edge to remove any fibrous texture in the dish. I personally don’t, as fresh crunchy green beans usually don’t have a fibrous texture.
Finally, it is up to you to cut each bean into pieces. Usually, French cut green beans are cut in third. It means each bean is cut into 3 even pieces.
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It is up to you to do so. Classic French Green Beans, as you would eat in a French restaurant, are served whole.
How to cook French green Beans?
Step 1: blanching the green beans
The secret to the most delicious French green beans is to pre-cook the beans in boiling water.
This technique is called blanching and refers to a quick-cooking process where the vegetables are plunged into boiling water for a short time and then cooled under cold water.
In fact, this shocking process allows the green beans to be crunchy, not mushy, and highly green in color.
Step 2: sauteed in garlic butter
The next step to make the best french green beans is to melt a good amount of butter to fry shallots and garlic.
Then, the blanched green beans are cooked in garlic butter with the addition of sliced almonds.
The trick is to sautee the green beans long enough to be fork-tender but still crunchy.
Step 3: deglaze with lemon juice
This is the ultimate trick to make the most delicious French-style green beans. The last step consists of deglazing.
If you are not familiar with this french cuisine technique, it simply means using lemon juice or water to unstick all the cooking fat from the pan to create the most simple and tasty juice.
Step 4: seasoning
Of course, seasoning is the key to any side dish, salt, pepper and if you really want to make this a classic french dish, add fresh chopped parsley just before serving!
Follow all these steps, and you will achieve the most simple, fancy yet, keto green beans recipe.
Why blanching green beans?
Blanching green beans has many advantages.
First, it cleansed the green beans from dirt and organism.
Next, it is a culinary French cuisine technique for boosting the bright green bean color, enhancing the crunchy texture and flavor.
Finally, it is also a great method to preserve nutrients and vitamins and a recommended method to freeze green beans.
Can I use frozen green beans?
Yes, you can use frozen green beans to make this keto green bean recipe. However, since frozen green beans are already blanched, follow the tips below to make french green beans with frozen green beans.
- Skip the first step of the recipe. In fact, frozen green beans are always blanched before freezing, so you don’t have to do this twice.
- Thaw the frozen green beans. You can either leave the frozen green beans in a sieve for 60 minutes at room temperature or microwave a few minutes to defrost them faster. However, the microwave technique sometimes cooks the green beans, so be careful about timing! You don’t want mushy green beans, or the recipe won’t taste the same.
- Follow the est of the recipe as if you were using fresh green beans.
More keto vegetable dish recipes
Below I listed some delicious keto dish ideas to bring more vegetables to your keto diet.
xoxo Carine
Recipe Card
French Green Bean
Ingredients
- 17 oz Fresh Green Beans small, firm, thin
- 4 cups Boiling Water
- 2 small Shallots peeled, chopped (or onion)
- 3 Garlic Cloves peeled, crushed
- 2 tablespoons Lemon Juice
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ⅛ teaspoon black pepper
- 2 oz Unsalted Butter or Extra virgin olive oil
- 2 oz Sliced almonds
- ¼ cup fresh parsley finely chopped
Instructions
- In a large pot, bring the water to a boil.
- Add the green beans and cover with a lid.
- Blanch the green beans cooking them for 3 to 5 minutes. Check the texture with a fork, the green beans must stay firm but tender.
- Drain and rinse under cold water, this will keep the green color of the green beans!
- Just before serving, warm the butter in a skillet, add the shallots, garlic and saute for about 1 minute or until golden and fragrant.
- Add the sliced almonds and roast/saute them for 1 minute until slightly brown. Stir often to prevent them from burning.
- Add the green beans and stir with the cooked shallots, garlic, and almonds to blend the flavors. Add salt and pepper, and saute briefly for no more than 2-3 minutes.
- Deglaze with lemon juice - it means you will use the lemon juice to create a tasty sauce with the oil that sticks to the skillet.
- Serve immediately as a side dish for any meat or fish. Top up with extra chopped fresh basil.
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Thanks for sharing your mum French recipe, I LOVE to read about you. Just made those French Green Beans, supe easy and delicious!