This easy sautéed green beans recipe delivers perfectly cooked green beans in a deliciously flavorful garlic butter in just 15 minutes!
I love cooking fresh green beans in a skillet on the stovetop. It makes them so quick and easy. They’re seriously delicious, especially when you add my garlic butter to the skillet.
These sautéed green beans will be perfectly tender in about 15 minutes. I also love our easy sautéed zucchini! Or, for a more hands-off green bean recipe, try my easy roasted green beans.
Key Ingredients
- Green Beans: I prefer fresh green beans in this recipe. They should look vibrant green and feel firm. If you bend them, they should snap. String beans, haricot verts, and wax beans work in my green bean recipe below.
- Olive Oil and Butter: I start cooking the beans with a tiny bit of olive oil, and then add that delicious garlic butter at the end. Plant-based butter is a great alternative to keep this recipe vegan.
- Garlic: I use three cloves of garlic for this recipe and love it. You can increase or decrease the garlic based on your tastes. You can also swap the garlic for ginger, like I do for these ginger green beans.
- Lemon: I love adding lemon to most dishes! A little lemon zest and juice keep these green beans tasting bright and fresh.
How to Make Sautéed Green Beans
I like my green beans to be bright green with a few blistered spots on the outside and tender and flavorful in the middle. To achieve this, I cook fresh green beans in a wide skillet with oil and salt and toss them every few minutes. The beans won’t cook through at this stage, but you should see a few blistered spots.
Then, to cook them through so they are tender, I pour in a small amount of liquid (like water or stock) and cover the skillet with a lid. After about 2 minutes of cooking, the green beans should be tender.
You can serve them as is or add more flavor with minced garlic, butter, and other spices you love. Toss everything around for a minute or two, and then serve! It’s so easy!
In this recipe, the green beans are not blanched. Adding a bit of liquid and covering the skillet achieves the same results. I save blanching green beans to make this green bean casserole or salad, like my green bean salad with crispy shallots or this green bean potato salad.
What to Serve with Sautéed Green Beans
This green beans recipe is fast. It’s one of the best ways to cook fresh green beans, so we make it often! Here are a few of our family’s favorite dishes to serve them with:
- Turkey Meatloaf (see our secret for making sure it isn’t dry)
- Juicy Skillet Chicken Breasts
- Lemony Baked Chicken Breasts
- Juicy Skillet Pork Chops
- Amazing Chicken Parmesan
- Lemon Herb Baked Salmon
Garlic Butter Sauteed Green Beans
- PREP
- COOK
- TOTAL
This easy garlic butter sautéed green bean recipe delivers perfectly cooked, flavorful beans in just 15 minutes! It’s a family favorite that everyone will love.
Watch Us Make the Recipe
You Will Need
1 pound (450g) fresh green beans, stem ends snapped off
1 teaspoon olive oil
1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt
1/4 cup (60ml) water or stock
1 tablespoon butter or vegan butter
3 medium garlic cloves, minced, about 1 tablespoon
1/2 teaspoon lemon zest
1/4 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper
Lemon wedges, for serving
Directions
1Add oil to a wide skillet over medium-high heat. Add the green beans and 1/4 teaspoon of salt.
2Cook for about 5 minutes until lightly blistered, tossing the beans around the pan so they cook evenly.
3Pour in water (or stock). Cover the skillet (or use foil if needed) and cook for 2 minutes.
4Uncover, reduce heat to medium-low, and cook until the remaining liquid evaporates.
5Stir in the butter, garlic, lemon zest, and pepper. Cook for another minute, stirring the garlic. Serve!
Adam and Joanne's Tips
- Storing: Allow the green beans to cool, then store them in an airtight container in the fridge for 3 to 4 days. Gently reheat them in a skillet over medium heat and enjoy.
- The provided nutrition facts are estimates. Garlic butter is included.
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I made these tonight as a test run for our Christmas meal. Excellent. Just excellent. I didn’t have stock and did not want to use water so I mixed a bit of chicken bullion and water together and omitted the salt and lemon ( the bullion is already salty). My 15yo granddaughter and I are fighting over the few remaining beans :) Thank you for such an easy and delicious recipe.
Absolutely delicious! I served these up to accompany a pasta dish for my family and some visiting friends, and everyone loved them. So easy to do and incredibly tasty. I made them using vegan butter, as I’m vegan, and it worked really well. I will definitely do this again. Really, REALLY good!
Absolutely delicious! I served these up to accompany a pasta dish for my family and some visiting friends, and everyone loved them. So easy to do and incredibly tasty. I will definitely do this again. Really, REALLY good!
Just made these green beans to go with Inspired Taste “Best Meatloaf We’ve Ever Made”. My husband I love how the green beans came out, complimented the main dish, had great flavor, love veggies that dont turn out mushy and have lots of flavor. What a quick, easy and tasteful way to use fresh green beans – a new go to side dish!
These were delicious! I used the chicken stock and my very favorite French butter, omitted the lemon as not a fan. Very good recipe! Much appreciated.
Would this green bean recipe be ok making in advance?
Hi Diane, Yes, these sautéed green beans are great for making ahead of time.
I made these last night, it was so easy to make and so delicious, this is definitely my go to recipe for fresh green beans
I’ve made these before and they are delicious! Wondering, though, if I could make them ahead of time and reheat in a skillet?
Hi Darcy, we are thrilled you enjoy the recipe. Yes, you can definitely make these and then store in the fridge for a few days. To reheat, toss them back into a skillet and warm over medium heat.
I didn’t have green beans, but used the sauce on asparagus and it was soooo good. Can’t wait to try it with the green beans.