Green Beans With Mushrooms And Bacon

Looking for more fresh holiday sides? Then you must check out my popular posts for Slow Cooker Mashed Potatoes, Cranberry Salad, and Classic Traditional Homemade Stuffing. Green bean casserole will always have a place in my heart at every holiday dinner table, but for the other 363 days of the year, this is my-go to when I need a star vegetable on the menu. I love a good green bean dish when the beans really are the star. These cook up tender-crisp and are coated in the deliciousness that is bacon, butter, and garlic. Plus, I added mushrooms for their savoriness and texture, but you could easily leave them out if you’re not a fan!

Why This Recipe Works

Fresh green beans — There’s just something about fresh green beans that can’t be beat. Easy to cook, and so tender and crispy in this recipe, plus, they soak up all the flavors of bacon, butter, and garlic just perfectly. Bacon — Everything’s better with bacon, green beans are certainly no exception. Fast — This recipe takes less than an hour from start to finish and that includes trimming the beans and cooking the bacon. Plus, you could always prep the beans and cook the bacon ahead of time for easy, dinner-time assembly. Options — Can’t stand mushrooms? Leave them out! Lover of bacon? Double up! Need a little crunch? Sprinkle some breadcrumbs or French fried onions on top. These green beans are as versatile as they are delicious.

Here’s How You Make It

How to Select Fresh Green Beans

When presented with a bin of fresh green beans, how do you know which ones to choose? Do you pick out green beans one-by-one, or just grab a bunch of handfuls and hope for the best? I kind of do a little bit of both. I’ll first look over the beans to see how they look overall. Keep in mind, the freshest ones will be buried underneath the older ones, generally, so you can do a bit of digging there. Once I find a lot of fresh-looking ones, I’ll start grabbing by the handful from that section. Between each handful, I’ll look into my bag to see what I grabbed, tossing back any that are brown or wilted. In general, the beans should look bright green and be free of any blemishes. This is darn near impossible to find 100% of, unless you want to stand there and pick all day. The good news is, any imperfect ones you bring home can be trimmed down to just the good part or composted without too much waste.

How to Trim Green Beans?

After rinsing the beans in a colander in the sink, I usually trim the beans one of two ways: I think both ways end up taking about the same amount of time, so do whatever way feels best for you.

Expert Tips

Don’t overcook. Avoid grey, soggy green beans by watching your cooking time. 10-12 minutes should be plenty to cook them to tender-crisp. Stick a fork in them to test for tenderness at the 10-minute mark, and keep checking every minute thereafter till they’ve reached tenderness yet are still bright green. Store leftover green beans with mushrooms and bacon for up to 3 days in the fridge. Reheat in the microwave or stovetop. Do not freeze. Prep green beans ahead of time by trimming ends and storing in the fridge till you’re ready to use. Rinse them right before cooking them. (Rinsing them before putting them back in the fridge will start to break down the beans sooner.) You can also cook the bacon a day or two before cooking this dish. Store it in a container in the fridge for up to three days before chopping and adding to this recipe. Mushrooms should be sliced and cooked the day-of as the recipe indicates.