Variations and Substitutions
This is a GREAT base recipe for simple green beans. It comes together quickly, the recipe steps are easy, and many ingredients can be omitted altogether or replaced with something else similar. The recipe is versatile and easily adjustable to what you have available on hand.
Nuts. While pine nuts is an excellent choice here, you can easily use many other types of nuts, including pecans, cashews, or slivered almonds. Make sure to lightly toast the nuts for the best flavor. You can also omit the nuts altogether!
Don’t like nuts? Not a problem! Use pumpkin seeds or sunflower seeds instead. I also prefer to lightly toast them before adding to the green beans.
Cheese. While grated Parmesan cheese provides amazing flavor, saltiness, and texture to this recipe, you can easily replace it with other cheeses. Use Asiago, Pecorino Romano, goat cheese, or feta cheese. If you prefer not to use the cheese, omit it altogether.
Olive oil. This is THE RECIPE to use high-quality olive oil. The simplicity of these green beans will showcase the flavor of high-quality olive oil. If you don’t like or don’t have olive oil, use butter instead.
How to cook green beans
Boil. If you like softer green beans, bring a large pot of water to boil, add salt and green beans and boil them (on medium heat) for 5 minutes. Drain.
Blanch. If you prefer crunchier green beans, bring a large pot of water to boil, and boil green beans for about 1 or 2 minutes until a little tender but still crunchy. Drain.
What goes well with green beans?
Vegetables. Many types of vegetables taste amazing when combined with green beans. These include potatoes, onions, carrots, butternut squash, spaghetti squash, tomatoes. Add these cooked veggies to the green beans, season with salt and pepper, and you will have a wonderful and satisfying meal!
Mushrooms. Various mushrooms will pair well with green beans. These include portobello, Bella mushrooms, shiitake, oyster mushrooms.
Bacon. Cooked and chopped bacon will add lots of flavor to the green beans and pine nuts!
