Garlicky green beans
Bright green beans steamed in the pan until crisp-tender, then tossed with golden garlic and a squeeze of lemon, done in twenty minutes.
- 20 min total
- 20 min hands-on
- Anyone can make this
- Serves 4
- About $1.07 a serving
- 100 calories
- Vegan
- Gluten-free
- Dairy-free
Dolly says: It’s ready in 20 minutes, start to finish.
Ingredients
For 4 servings.
- 1 lb green beans
- 3 cloves garlic
- ½ lemon
From your pantry
- ¼ cup water
- ½ tsp salt
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 1 pinch red pepper flakes (optional)
Each serving has about 100 calories, 2 g protein, 9 g carbs and 7 g fat, and costs about $1.07 at typical US grocery prices. Both are estimates from what the recipe uses.
Missing something?
- No green beans? Frozen green beans work.
- No lemons? Limes work.
Steps
Tap an underlined word for a quick explanation.
the stem ends off the green beans. Line up a handful and cut them all at once to go faster.
Trim. Trimming means cutting off the parts you don’t eat, like stem ends, tough bits or thick fat. It keeps chewy or bitter bits out of the finished dish.
How you’ll know: What’s left is the good part, with no dry ends, woody stems or thick white fat.
the garlic.
Thinly slice. Thinly slicing means cutting slices about an eighth of an inch thick, roughly two coins stacked. Thin slices cook in seconds and soften fast, which quick dishes need.
How you’ll know: A slice bends a little when you hold it by one edge, and slow, steady cuts beat fast ones.
Put the beans, water and salt in a large , cover, and cook over medium-high heat 4 to 5 minutes, until bright green and .
Skillet. A skillet is a frying pan: wide and flat with low, sloped sides. The shape lets steam escape, so food browns instead of stewing.
How you’ll know: It’s the pan you’d fry an egg in, and a 10 or 12 inch one handles most recipes.
Tender-crisp. Tender-crisp means vegetables cooked until just tender but still with a little snap. They keep their bright color and crunch instead of going soft and dull.
How you’ll know: A fork goes in with slight resistance, and the color is bright, not olive or gray.
Medium-high heatTimer: 4 min 30 sec
Dolly’s tip: Bite one. It should snap, not squeak.Uncover and cook about 1 minute more, until the last of the water bubbles away.
Medium-high heatTimer: 1 min
Turn the heat to medium, push the beans to one side, and add the oil and garlic to the empty space.
Medium heat
Cook the garlic 1 to 2 minutes, , until pale and , then it through the beans.
Stir. Stirring means moving food around with a spoon or spatula so it cooks evenly and doesn’t stick. Unless the recipe says constantly, every so often is plenty, and it gives food time to brown.
How you’ll know: When you drag the spoon across the bottom, nothing is sticking or scorching.
Golden brown. Golden brown is the color of good toast, somewhere between yellow and light brown. It means the outside is cooked and crisp but not burnt.
How you’ll know: It looks like toast and smells toasty; dark brown with a bitter smell means it went too far.
Fragrant. Fragrant means cooking until you can clearly smell it, usually garlic or spices, often in about 30 seconds. That’s the moment the flavor is ready, just before it can burn.
How you’ll know: You can smell it from a step back, and garlic is pale gold, not brown.
Toss. Tossing means gently lifting and turning food so everything gets coated, like pasta in sauce or vegetables in oil. It coats every piece evenly without mashing anything.
How you’ll know: Every piece looks glossy or evenly coated, with no dry spots hiding underneath.
Medium heatTimer: 1 min 30 sec
Dolly’s tip: Pull the pan off the heat as soon as the garlic turns pale gold. Darker garlic tastes bitter.Squeeze the lemon over, add the pepper flakes if you like, and serve.
Plan this in Dollop, and get the grocery list
When you host a dinner, Dollop builds the menu around your guests’ allergies, works out a cooking timeline back from when everyone sits down, and puts it all on one grocery list.
