Easy Fresh Green Beans with Bacon
You know its summer in the South when there's Fresh Green Beans with Bacon cooking on the stove. Straight from the garden is hands down the best way to serve up this vegetable side dish. It's simple and easy to cook green beans Southern style.
Servings: 8 servings
Calories: 80kcal
Cost: 5
Ingredients
- 2 pounds fresh green beans
- 5 to 6 slices smoked bacon
- 4 cups chicken broth (32-oz carton)
- 1/2 teaspoon salt (or garlic salt and omit garlic powder)
- 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
- 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder or 1 clove garlic, minced
Instructions
- Stack the bacon on top of each other, three at time, and cut crosswise into slices. Cook in a 6 to 8 quart Dutch oven or cooking pot over medium heat about 8 minutes, stirring often, until crisp.
- Drain the bacon pieces on paper towels. I like to keep 1 tablespoon bacon drippings in the pot to cook with the green beans. Reserve about one-third of the bacon pieces to sprinkle on top of the cooked beans and leave the rest in the pot. (You can also skip this step and just toss the raw bacon into the bean pot.)
- Wash green beans, then snap or cut them into about 1 1/2-inch pieces. This is a personal preference. If your Grandma always snapped them into smaller or larger pieces, they will taste just the same!
- Combine green beans and chicken broth in the pot. Add just enough water to cover if the chicken broth doesn’t cover your beans. Add salt, pepper and two-thirds of the cooked bacon (or raw bacon). ( I hold back a little bacon to sprinkle on the top.)Cover with the lid and bring to a boil; reduce heat and simmer about 30 minutes or until the beans are as tender as you like them. Sprinkle with reserved cooked bacon before serving.
Notes
I like to hold back a little bacon to sprinkle on the top but feel free to add it all to the green beans while cooking.
Instant Pot Method to cook Fresh Green Beans:
Cook bacon in the Instant Pot insert on Saute mode about 8 minutes or until crispy. Add remaining ingredients; add lid and seal. Pressure Cook on HIGH pressure for 6 minutes (7 to 8 minutes if you like them extra tender like Grandma used to make them). Natural Release for 10 minutes. Carefully Quick release and serve.
Nutrition
Serving: 0.5cup | Calories: 80kcal