Is your garden overflowing with green beans? Prepare this green bean salad recipe with basil, parmesan, and balsamic vinegar for a great summer side dish.
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do you garden The first of my green beans are starting to appear.
How to choose green beans
I never know how the beans will cook, even if they come from my own garden. The most important thing to look for when choosing beans in the market is that they will break if you bend them instead of flexing like a rubber band.
That means they are fresh. But even when they’re fresh, they can take forever to cook.
I had kidney beans last year that were still not soft after 20 minutes of cooking. I finally gave up.
Ideally, young, fresh green beans should be cooked through in a minute or two. Cooked but crisp. (If you’re faced with a load of green beans that are tough, stale, and refusing to tenderize, save them to cook in a soup.)
Here’s a tip. Green vegetables will turn a drab olive-green color when cooked for seven minutes or more, or when exposed to acids such as lemon juice or vinegar.
Therefore, if you want green beans that stay green, cook them for 6 minutes or less, then plunge them into ice water to stop the cooking. If you add vinegar, do so after coating the beans in oil.
My easy green bean recipe
This green bean salad recipe came from my friend Heidi H. in Massachusetts, adapted from a 1992 recipe in Bon Appétit. It combines blanched fresh green beans with lots of fresh basil and grated parmesan with a simple balsamic vinaigrette.
Heidi and her kids love it and so do we. Enjoy!
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Check out this green bean salad recipe
Swaps and Substitutions
You can easily adapt this extremely versatile salad to suit your own taste or what’s coming up in your garden. Here are a few suggestions:
- Herbs: Try parsley, cilantro, or mint in addition to or in place of basil.
- Cheese: Crumble feta over the salad instead of Parmesan.
- toppings: Garnish with other toppings like halved cherry tomatoes, toasted nuts (e.g. walnuts, pine nuts, slivers of almonds) and chopped hard-boiled eggs.
How to store green bean salad
Refrigerate your salad in an airtight container for up to 5 days. In fact, this tastes even better after a day in the fridge.
More easy green bean recipes
- Roasted green beans with onions and walnuts
- Green beans with almonds and thyme recipe
- Gochuyang green beans
- French green beans with butter and herbs
- Sriracha Orange Glazed Green Beans
From the editors of Simply Recipes
Green bean salad with basil, balsamic and parmesan
To save time, prepare the other ingredients while the water is boiling.
ingredients
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1 1/2 lb trimmed green beanscut into pieces 2 to 3 inches long
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Kosher salt
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1/2 Cup finely chopped Red onion (or shallots)
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2 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
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4 tablespoon Extra virgin olive oil
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3/4 Cup chopped fresh basil leaves
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3/4 cup fresh grated parmesan cheese (Above 1 1/2 ounces)
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Freshly ground black pepper
method
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Soaking Onions:
Place the chopped onions in a small bowl of water. This will help take the edge off the onions. Let it rest while you prepare the rest of the salad.
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Blanch green beans:
Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil (2 tablespoons of salt to 2 liters of water). Add the green beans to the water and blanch for just about 2 minutes, until the beans are just cooked but still crispy.
Fresh young beans should cook quickly. Older, tougher beans may take longer.
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Shock in ice water:
While the beans are cooking, prepare a large bowl of ice water. When the beans are done, use a slotted spoon to lift them from the boiling water into the ice water to stop the cooking.
Drain the green beans and red onions.
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Toss with red onions, balsamic vinegar and parmesan:
Place the green beans, red onion, and chopped basil in a large bowl. Drizzle with olive oil, toss. Sprinkle with balsamic vinegar and parmesan. Throw to combine. Season to taste with salt and freshly ground black pepper.
Refrigerate until ready to serve.
| nutritional information (per serving) | |
|---|---|
| 164 | calories |
| 11g | Fat |
| 13g | carbohydrates |
| 5g | protein |
