Grilled green beans wrapped with bacon
One of the easiest and most popular side dishes to serve here for Christmas are grilled green beans with bacon or as we also call it haricot verts with bacon. It’s a super easy green bean recipe and also easy to adjust to your liking.
Grilled green beans with bacon
In order to make this green beans recipe you need fresh green beans. You can also use green beans from a can but those are generally overcooked, too salty and are bit limp. You need them to be firmer to be able to make green bean bundles to wrap the bacon around.
So this simple recipe consists of two steps.
Cooking the beans
The first step is to clean the green beans and cook them in a pan for a couple of minutes. You want them to be cooked but still firm enough. So it’s ok if they still have a bit of a bite. You drain the beans and leave them to cool down. Now heat a large skillet on medium heat with a bit of butter and olive oil. Add garlic and thyme and turn the heat down to let it infuse for a bit. You can use garlic powder if you prefer but add that later as it tends to burn quicker.
Now you take a slice of bacon and add roughly 5 green beans in a bundle together in the middle of the bacon strip and wrap it around the beans. Tie is together with a piece of string. That is optional but if you don’t use something to hold the bacon together it might fall apart while cooking.
Add the wrapped beans to the pan and bake in the pan on both sides or until you have crispy bacon wrapped around the sautéed green beans. And that’s it! Super simple side dish that will be perfect for Christmas dinner although it can be used all year round.
Few tips
Now while this is a very easy recipe still a few things to keep in mind while making it. I like to make this with haricot verts as they are slightly thinner and longer when compared to regular green beans, but both will work well. In terms of the bacon; make sure you use long strips and not round ones. Also make sure not to use a thick cut of bacon. You want the slices to be thin. Round ones will be harder to wrap around the beans. Make sure you use a small bundle so it’s easy to wrap the bacon. As it is perfect for the holiday season it pairs really well with turkey or roasted ham. Or pork chops work really good here too.
The wrapping of the beans is quite a retro thing to do but I think it looks pretty and is a fun way to present the otherwise boring green beans. That said; if you find that a bit too much fuss you can also cut the bacon into small strips and prepare it differently.
From easy to easier
If you want this side dish recipe to be even quicker, you can simply cut the bacon in small pieces. Prepare the beans as mentioned here before, but instead of wrapping the beans you add the bacon into the pan and brown until cooked through. Now you can use the bacon fat to add the garlic and the thyme and the beans. Toss it all together and your dish is done. It’s one of my favorite recipes and a delicious easy side dish. If you’re making this for a dinner, you can prepare the beans upfront so they only need finishing in the pan.
For such a simple recipe this has tons of flavor. It wil be delicious also with roasted potatoes or roasted sweet potatoes.
Also try this recipe for green beans with garlic and almonds
Grilled green beans with bacon
Ingredients
- 500 g haricots vert cleaned. not chopped small!
- 100 g bacon in thin and long slices
- 2 tbsp butter
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 2 sprigs fresh thyme leaves rustled
- 2 cloves garlic
- Cook the green beans until tender about 10-15 minutes.
- Drain and let cool slightly. Now grab about 5 beans each and wrap a slice of bacon around them. If necessary, use kitchen twine to secure it or a toothpick. (Rope sticks best)
- Now heat a skillet over medium heat with the butter and olive oil. Add the garlic and thyme and sauté briefly. Turn down the heat slightly so the garlic doesn’t burn.
- Add the haricots verts rolls and fry until the bacon is golden brown. Serve immediately
Nutrition Information per portion
Disclaimer
The nutritional values above are calculated per portion. The details are based on standard nutritional tables and do not constitute a professional nutritional advice.
