Creole Green Beans. Fresh green beans smothered with bacon, onions, and tomatoes in a rich stock with just a hint of Louisiana cane syrup sweetness. This simple, no-angst green bean recipe is so packed with flavor that it will keep them coming back for more. A special side dish that can be served on any occasion, but it's so simple you'll want to serve it all the time.
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What Makes This Recipe So Good?
This is one of my favorite ways to cook green beans. This simple green bean recipe is perfect with fresh or frozen green beans but even canned Green Beans will work. Tomatoes and Creole seasoning provide that Creole edge when slowly smothered with yellow onions and garlic in a rich stock. The rich flavor starts with bacon and bacon fat and finishes with just enough Louisiana Cane Syrup to provide a sweet balance to the recipe's savory elements.
Here’s What You Need
Here are some of the key ingredients for this recipe:
Note on the Green Beans: I like fresh green beans for this recipe but frozen works very well. If you're in a hurry, canned green beans will also work. I prefer using whole green beans, but if you have cut or even French cut, those will work as well. If you use canned beans, make sure to drain them first. Canned green beans will likely not take the full time.
Note on the Tomatoes: I like to use canned whole tomatoes (in sauce) for this. Canned chopped tomatoes also work very well and won't be as much work. Fresh tomatoes are also very good in this recipe if they are very ripe. Make sure to peel and de-seed as well as drain fresh tomatoes.
Equipment
Here is some of the equipment I used to prepare this recipe:
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Here’s What You Do
First…you have a beer. You want to prepare yourself and prepare all the ingredients before you start cooking. That way all you have to do is assemble the dish. Mise en Place for the cook and Mise en Place for the meal! Pop the cap off of an ice-cold bottle of beer and read the recipe all the way through so you know you have everything you need and you know what you’ll be doing with each item.
Mise En Place
- Fresh green beans: leave them whole but pull off any stems that are still on.
- Slice the bacon into 1’ slices.
- Rough chop the onion because large pieces work well when you smother the beans.
- Rough chop the garlic.
- If you use canned tomatoes, drain them and reserve the liquid.
- If using fresh tomatoes, make sure they are very ripe. Peel and deseed fresh tomatoes.
- Measure the stock, cane syrup, and creole seasoning.
- Place a heavy-bottom Dutch oven with a heavy lid on the stove.
- Take a sip of your beer.
Saute the onions and garlic in the bacon grease
What happens in this step? Smoked bacon begins the first layer of flavor in which we will saute the onions and aromatics.
Toss the bacon into a cold Dutch oven placed over medium-high heat. The chopped bacon should fry pretty quickly.
Pro Tip: You can leave the fried bacon in the Dutch oven throughout the recipe, or you can remove the bacon before you add the onions, then add it back at the end.
Once the bacon is crispy, either remove it or leave it in, then add the onions. Stir the onions pretty much constantly for about 10 to 12 minutes until they're getting clear and starting to brown on the edges. At this stage, some of the sugars are being extracted from the onions and this will add a lot of flavor to the beans.
Stir in the garlic until aromatic. This only takes about 2 minutes.
Next, add about half the Creole seasoning, kosher salt, and pepper. Stir this for a minute or two until everything is well mixed.
Add the green beans and seasoning
What happens in this step? We want to coat the green beans in the bacon renderings and aromatics. A slight char on the green beans helps intensify their flavor.
Add the green beans to the Dutch oven and stir to mix the green beans, bacon grease, onions, and garlic together. Make sure the heat is still fairly high so that the green beans can just start to char, but don’t let them burn. This should take about 10 minutes and helps draw out the sugar from the beans, intensifying their flavor.
Add the tomatoes, stock, and cane syrup
What happens in this step? The flavored green beans will slowly simmer for about an hour to distribute the flavors. As the stock simmers and reduces, the flavors concentrate.
Add the drained tomatoes and the remaining Creole seasoning and kosher salt and pepper. Stir to thoroughly combine.
Pro Tip: The tomatoes should be drained. If using whole tomatoes, smash them a bit with your hand before mixing them into the beans. Chopped tomatoes (fresh or canned) should be drained and then added as is.
Add the stock. Give everything a quick stir, then add the cane syrup. Stir well and bring it to a low boil.
When it reaches a low boil, lower the heat, cover the pot, and let it simmer for an hour. Stir it occasionally so that it does not stick.
After simmering for an hour, the beans will be tender and the tomatoes and stock will have made a nice sauce. We want to thicken it a bit, so uncover the Dutch oven, and increase the heat to a heavy simmer for about 10 to 15 minutes, stirring often. The sauce should reduce and thicken slightly.
Taste the green beans and adjust the seasonings, if needed.
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Hints and Tips (FAQs)
I like fresh green beans here, but frozen beans or canned green beans will also work. Keep them whole if possible. Canned green beans should not take as long to cook.
Leftover Creole Green Beans can be held in the refrigerator for 3 to 5 days and in the freezer for about 6 months. Make sure to store them in an airtight container. Defrost in the fridge overnight. You can reheat them on top of the stove until warmed through or in the microwave.
The bacon and stock contribute significantly to the flavor profile of this recipe. If you need to substitute something for the bacon, try smoked ham hocks or ham shanks, or smoked sausage. Pancetta is a good substitute as well but will not provide a smokey undertone. In place of the chicken stock, you can use chicken bouillion, vegetable stock, or water. Substitute lard, butter, vegetable oil, or olive oil for the rendered bacon grease.
Fresh green beans can be refrigerated for a few days without losing quality. Snip the stem end off just before cooking.
There is no need to soak green beans prior to cooking. The long, slow simmer will make the fresh green beans very tender.
The most important ingredient in this recipe? Time...make sure to simmer everything slowly while the flavors come together. That will bring out the sweet and smokey flavor! If you use canned beans, you may be able to reduce the simmer time, just test them and see how they are doing.
Cane syrup is a rich syrup made from the juices extracted from raw sugar cane stalks and boiled down into thick syrup. It’s a Louisiana staple, similar to molasses in general appearance and consistency but molasses is a byproduct of sugar refining while cane syrup is pure cane juice boiled down.
Creole Green Beans can be served as is as a side dish. You can also serve them over rice.
What to serve Creole Green Beans with:
Here are some other great side dishes from Sweet Daddy D:
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Note from the Author: This article and recipe were originally published in April 2018. I am revising it now to clarify the instructions and tips, as well as updating the images to be more search friendly. Please let me know if you have questions or suggestions.
Recipe
Creole Green Beans
Here's What You Need
- 1 ½ pounds fresh green beans See Notes
- 4 slices smoked bacon
- 15 ounces peeled tomatoes drained (See Notes)
- 1 ½ cuos yellow onion 1 large onion; rough chop
- 1 tablespoon garlic about 4 cloves; rough chop
- ¼ cup cane syrup See Notes
- 1 cup Chicken Stock
Herb and Spice Blend
- 2 tablespoons Creole seasoning
- ½ teaspoon Kosher salt
- ½ teaspoon ground black pepper
- ½ teaspoon cayenne pepper optional
Here's What You Do
- Slice bacon into 1" pieces; rough chop the onions; rough chop the garlic. Measure the stock, cane syrup, and seasoning. Trim the stem from the green beans. Drain the tomatoes.
- Starting in a cold Dutch oven, fry the bacon over medium heat until it's crispy and the fat has rendered. (Optionally remove the fried bacon to add back later, or leave it in the Dutch oven)
- Increase the heat to medium-high; add the yellow onions and saute, stirring constantly until they start to brown; about 10 minutes.
- Add the garlic and half of the Herb and Spice Blend; stir well until aromatic; about 2 minutes.
- Continuing over medium-high heat, add the green beans. Mix thoroughly to coat them with the bacon grease, onions, and seasonings.
- Sauté the green beans until they have a slight char, stirring occasionally.
- Add the remaining creole seasoning, kosher salt, and pepper. Mix well.
- Add the drained tomatoes; crush whole tomatoes by hand as you add them to the Dutch oven; mix well with the green beans. (See Notes)
- Add the chicken stock and the cane syrup. Stir well to combine all the ingredients.
- Bring the Dutch oven to a high simmer, then lower it to a slow simmer and cover.
- Continue to simmer on low, covered for 1 hour; stir occasionally.
- After an hour, remove the cover and increase the heat to medium-high; simmer for 10 to 15 minutes until the sauce is slightly thickened. If you previously removed the fried bacon, add it back now before serving.
Recipe Notes
Louisiana Cane Syrup can be purchased from Amazon!
Leftovers can be held, in an airtight container in the refrigerator for 3 to 5 days or in the freezer for about 6 months. Defrost in the fridge overnight. Reheat them on top of the stove until warmed through or in the microwave.
I like fresh green beans for this, but frozen works really well also. I recommend keeping them whole but you can cut them into 1 or 2-inch pieces if desired.
I recommend whole canned tomatoes, crushed by hand when you add them. Canned diced tomatoes or peeled and deseeded fresh tomatoes also work well. If using fresh tomatoes, make sure they are very ripe. Any tomato should be drained of its liquid prior to adding.
Molasses may be substituted for Cane Syrup.
Substitute smoked ham hocks or ham shanks, or smoked sausage for the bacon. Pancetta is a good substitute as well but will not provide a smokey undertone. In place of the chicken stock, you can use chicken bouillion, vegetable stock, or water. Substitute lard, butter, vegetable oil, or olive oil for the rendered bacon grease.
Many commercial creole seasoning blends and commercial stocks contain salt. Make sure to give the green beans a taste before adding more salt.
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