These cute little bacon wrapped green beans bundles are so easy to make in advance: they only need 15 minutes in the oven! What a creative side dish for steaks these beans are as well!
Here is a cute little recipe to make at home!
Savory bacon wrapped green beans bundles are a classic side dish, especially for Thanksgiving and Christmas. I think I could also say an old-fashioned one.
You can find exactly the same bacon wrapped green beans in the freezer department here in Belgium. Especially around Christmas time.
But I like to prepare them from scratch myself at home!
Bacon Wrapped Green Beans
No matter what season we are in, I like these bacon wrapped green beans any time.
I had a couple of friends over for dinner.
But I realised that I wouldn’t have enough time to prepare these bacon wrapped green beans from scratch. So I started to look for a way to prepare them a little in advance. Here’s what I did.
Make Ahead
The day before I blanched the fresh green beans, let them cool down fully.
I then wrapped the crunchy blanched green beans up in a slice of bacon and stored these bundles in my fridge overnight.
The next day all I had to do was cook the bacon and bean bundles in the oven – easy peasy! I have cooked them in the microwave before as well: put the bacon wrapped bundles in a microwave dish and cover.
Hey, you can also put them in the microwave for about 4 minutes on high!
Best Bacon Wrapped Green Beans Bundles
You can add two things to the bacon wrapped green beans before baking them: white wine or chicken stock. It is up to you. I do have a slight weakness for the wine though.
I served these bacon wrapped green beans bundles as a side for a delicious steak dinner: juicy steaks with French marchand de vin sauce of red wine, butter, thyme and shallots.
Blanching the green beans keeps them crunchy enough so you don’t end up with limp or undercooked green beans after oven roasting the bundles. It is a matter of taste and texture here.
Steak Dinner
If you like your bacon wrapped green beans cooked a little more, go ahead and leave them in the oven for a little longer.
Oh that is right: these savory oven baked bacon wrapped green beans bundles are a fun thing to prepare with kids!
Enjoy this cheerful side dish!
Best Bacon Wrapped Green Beans Recipe
These bacon wrapped green beans are easy to make ahead!
- 7 oz green beans (200 g)
- 8 thin slices salted bacon or panceta
- ¼ cup dry white wine (60 ml), or chicken stock
- 1 tsp sesame seeds
- pepper
- salt
Trim and clean the green beans. Fill a large pan with water, add a pinch of salt and place it over high heat until boiling. Then add the green beans.
- Blanch the green beans for 4 to 5 minutes. Don’t overcook them. Then immediately drain the blanched beans and refresh them under cold running tap water to stop the cooking process. The green beans should still be a somewhat crunchy.
Transfer the blanched beans onto a clean plate and let them cool down further in the fridge for another 15 minutes. Once the beans are cold, make little bundles of the beans and bacon. I used 6 to 7 green beans per parcel. Wrap a slice of bacon around the middle. I made 9 bundles.
- If you are storing the bacon bean bundles in the fridge overnight, cover them with a piece of cling film. Place the bacon wrapped bundles in a large baking dish and pour in the white wine or the chicken stock.
Season with a dash of pepper and salt. Place the baking dish with the bacon and green beans bundles in a preheated oven at 400°F (200°C). Bake the beans for about 10 to 15 minutes until the bacon is cooked and the beans are tender. Then remove the baking dish from the hot oven. Place the baked bacon wrapped green beans bundles on a serving plate. Sprinkle with the sesame seeds and serve immediately.
Easy Green Bean Salad with Bacon & Onion
This drop dead easy green bean salad is what cheered me up on a very low-inspirational rainy day last week.
I had this opened bag of green beans in my pantry that cried out to be cooked before turning all dry and bland. I blanched them, added a handful of salted diced bacon to it that I found in my fridge as well.
Done!
I added a sprinkle of chopped fresh red onion and freshly ground black pepper to give this dish some extra punch, yum! Green beans and bacon, you just can’t go wrong with that!
Steak & Pork
It sometimes takes a bit less culinary hocus pocus to come to such savory side dishes like this one. And the main thing about it: it is such a simple side salad it goes well with almost everything!
A perfectly cooked steak in pepper sauce for instance. Or pork chops with a creamy Crosse and Blackwell sauce. Or a zesty chicken piccata with butter and capers!
I also like to add some fried onion to this salad if I have some in my pantry.
You can find fried onion in the supermarket, normally among the Asian ingredients or sometimes near the soups and croutons. Depends on what supermarket you are visiting.
Green Bean Salads
Are you looking for more creamier green bean salad recipe?
Then you should also check out my following idea: a creamy chopped green bean salad with a garlic and cream cheese dressing!
And certainly don’t forget that balsamic vinegar! Lightens this green bean and bacon salad up beautifully.
Enjoy!
Easy Green Bean Salad with Bacon & Onion Recipe
Green beans and bacon, perfect!
- 9 oz green beans (250 g)
- 3,5 oz salted bacon (100 g), diced
- 3 tbsp red onion chopped
- 2 tbsp balsamic vinegar
- pepper
- salt
1) Clean and trim the green beans and rinse them thoroughly. Fill a large pan with water and season with some salt. Bring the water to a good boil and then add the green beans.
2) Blanch the green beans for about 4 to 5 minutes. Don’t overcook them, keep the beans crunchy. Then take the pan off the heat and immediately drain the green beans. Refresh them under cold running tap water to stop the cooking process. Let the beans cool a little bit. Then chop them into bite-size bits.
3) Place a dry non-stick pan over medium heat and add the slices of salted bacon as soon as the pan is hot. Don’t add any butter or oil, the fat in the bacon is enough for this salad.
4) Stir and fry the bacon for about 4 minutes until the bacon is cooked thorough. Add the blanched green beans to the pan and stir well.
5) Stir and cook the salad for 4 more minutes. Season with a pinch of pepper and a little salt to taste. Pour in the balsamic vinegar.
6) Stir the green beans and bacon well. Then take the pan off the heat and let the bacon and beans cool a little. Add the freshly chopped red onion to the pan.
7) Stir again. Check the seasoning and add extra pepper and salt to taste if necessary. Transfer the beans and bacon to a serving dish. Sprinkle with extra freshly ground black pepper. Serve the green bean and bacon salad lukewarm.
Easy Parmesan Grilled Green Beans
I love these grilled green beans.
Green beans for me, that’s just like potatoes from a food blogger’s point of view: the number of recipes you can prepare with green beans are so numeous and versatile!
I think I have already made quite a lot of green bean recipes since starting my food blog. The most popular being the green bean and bacon salad above of course. And the bacon wrapped green bean bundles!
One of my personal favorite green bean recipes: my spicy Hong Kong style fried green beans in a homemade XO sauce. That one is definitely worth checking out, believe me!
XO Sauce
I tasted that recipe many years ago in Hong Kong and I have tried to reach that same crunch and flavor for a while. And I have to admit that my recipe is very close to the original one back then!
So here I was again, a bunch of fresh green beans on my kitchen counter.
Let’s see how well they do under a hot grill… I honestly didn’t know what to expect really. But it worked! I sprinkled them with some grated parmesan cheese right in the end.
All in all a gorgeous side dish!
Ice Bath
What I do in this recipe here below to cool the blanched green beans immediately is adding them to an ice bath that I prepared about half an hour before starting the recipe.
Fill a large bowl with water and add a couple of ice cubes (optional). Then place the bowl in the fridge to cool down. You can also drain the blanched green beans and refresh them under cold running tap water and then put them straight in the fridge or even freezer if you like.
It’s up to you!
Enjoy!
Easy Parmesan Grilled Green Beans Recipe
Grilled green beans with parmesan cheese!
- 10,5 oz green beans (300 g)
- a handful parmesan cheese grated
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- ½ tsp dried thyme or oregano
- pepper
- salt
1) Trim the fresh green beans and add them to a sieve. Rinse the beans well and let them drain a little.
2) In the meantime fill a large pan with some cold tap water, add a dash of salt and place the pan over high heat. Once the water starts to boil, add the trimmed green beans to it.
3) Turn the heat low immediately and let the beans blanch in the hot water for about 4 minutes. Then scoop the green beans out and place them in a bowl filled with ice cold water (preferably with a couple of ice cubes in it if you have any) to stop the cooking process.
4) Let the beans cool in the cold water for 5 minutes. Then drain them and place the beans on a large baking tray.
5) Sprinkle them with the olive oil and the dried thyme or oregano. Season the beans with a little pinch of pepper and salt.
6) Stir the beans to coat them evenly with the olive oil. Then grill them under a hot grill for about 8 to 10 minutes or until the outside starts to blister and blacked a little. Keep an eye on them! Stir halfway through cooking time. Then remove the tray from the grill and let the beans cool a little.
7) Transfer the grilled green beans to a serving plate or bowl and sprinkle them with the handful of freshly grated parmesan cheese. Also season with extra freshly ground black pepper or salt to taste. Serve the grilled green beans hot.
