Looking for more sides to pair with your dinner? Try Roasted Beets with Goat Cheese, Honey Brown Sugar Carrots, and Roasted Lemon Garlic Broccoli & Cauliflower. Whether you’re looking for an easy side dish for Thanksgiving or for anytime, really, I think you can’t go wrong with these Crispy Parmesan Green Beans. Green beans are one of my favorite vegetables, and my family approves of them, too. (They approved of them so much, I was kind of sad that I wasn’t able to go back for seconds myself because they were gone in an instant.) Fresh green beans were on sale (and looking so pretty and irresistible) at my grocery store, and I just couldn’t not grab a big old bunch of them. I am always looking for a new way to prepare green beans, and I was thinking about how good they are when they’re baked, but also how much better they would be if they were a little crispy. And cheesy. And savory. Okay, I was thinking how good they’d be if they were all the things they could possibly be. It’s like I told these green beans to shoot for the stars, and they did. I recommend rinsing the beans and patting them dry, and then trimming off the ends of the beans to get rid of the tough, chewy bits before baking. This little, extra effort is worth it. Nothing ruins an amazing green bean like a little bit of stem stuck in your teeth.
What Is Panko?
Panko is a Japanese bread crumb. It’s often used in Japanese cuisine to give fried foods a crunchy coating (think tempura). It’s made by “baking” bread with an electrical current and then grinding the bread up into tiny little crumbs, putting them in a bag, boxing them up, and then delivering them to stores around the world. I have no idea how you cook with an electric current, but I do know that panko makes for a lighter breading than other bread crumb varieties and it keeps its crispiness, which works well as a topping for veggies when you don’t want your breading to get soggy.
What Other Ways Are There to Cook Green Beans?
Although in this recipe, I chose to bake my green beans, you can certainly cook them other ways (or a couple ways). Keep in mind, though, that this particular recipe only works if it’s baked with the ingredients I have listed below. If you are looking for a straight-up “how to cook green beans” recipe, though, I have you covered:
Boiling: You can boil your green beans (still rinse and trim them). Bring a large pot of water to a boil, add a pound of green beans and cook for about 5-6 minutes (you don’t want to boil them too long or they will get grey and soggy). Drain and add whatever flavors you fancy — olive oil, salt, and pepper is a simple way to serve them. (In this recipe for Lemon Parmesan Green Beans, I boiled, then baked the beans.)
Steaming: Rinse and trim about a pound of green beans. Bring that pot of water to a boil, but then add a steamer basket to the the pot (making sure the basket isn’t submerged in the water). Cover the pot and basket and cook for about 5-6 minutes. Transfer to a dish and add your favorite flavors.
Microwaving: Rinse and trim your beans and add them to a microwave-safe dish (I prefer ceramic or glass) and add a little bit of water to the bottom of the dish. Cover and cook on high for about 4-5 minutes. Flavor as you see fit.
Sautee: You know the drill: rinse and trim those beans. Get out a big skillet and add a little olive oil. If you prefer, sautee other ingredients first (like garlic, onion, or spices), then add the green beans and cook them, stirring around as they cook, for about 2-3 minutes. Make sure you don’t cook them over high heat the entire time. Lower (medium heat) and slower is the trick here to not getting overdone, mushy beans. Once removed from the heat, add in your other ingredients — like some Parmesan or red pepper flakes, perhaps. (For these Brown Sugar Green Beans with Bacon, I first boiled, then sauteed.)
