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How to make canned green beans taste better

Reality is that most people don’t have a garden. And if you want to get even more real, it’s probably safe to say you haven’t so much as stuck your pinky finger in any dirt to grow anything, ever. But you like yourself some good green beans and would love that home-grown, slow cooked taste on your dinner table.  You can actually get it from a canned green bean. Here’s every tip you need to make canned green beans taste better–or dare I say–good enough you won’t even need a garden. 

a plate of green beans with bacon on a napkin

The secret to make a canned green bean taste better isn’t the least bit difficult, I promise.

And while my grandmother and even my mom still use the bacon or ham-hock approach to their beans, I’ve gone a different route over the last year or so and I have to say, they make some pretty fabulous green beans–leaving them tender and full of slow-cooked flavor when they didn’t take very long at all.

You can use my great bean approach with any style you like.

The trick here is simple: you need canned beans, some beef bouillon and two cooking times. Now don’t die…let me explain.

A note on salt and bouillon

You start by dumping your canned beans into a pot (don’t drain them).

Then I use my favorite beef bouillon called Better Than Bouillon or you can use a cube of it if you’d prefer.

You can find either of these in the soup section of your grocery store.

Certain brands of bouillon are very salty. Powdered ones are terrible. Please keep this in mind and start with half as much if you are afraid of over salting.

I’ve never had any issues with Better Than Bouillon being too salty but I cannot speculate on the others–some can ruin a dish easily so try to get what we know works.

a shallow bowl of cooked green beans with a serving spoon on a napkin

Then you turn your beans on high heat and bring them to a boil. Turn the heat down to medium-high and then cook about 90% of the water off.

When there’s a 1/2 left in the bottom of the pan, turn your beans off and walk away.

If you can, leave them sitting on the stove top for several hours. It’s fine to leave them there all day while you’re gone to work or you can put them in the fridge if that freaks you out and do the second step when you get in.

The final step is to bring them back to a low simmer and cook off the rest of the liquid and serve–that takes about 10 minutes or so.  

A long rest between cooking gives the bouillon time to really get in to the beans and they take on a soft, slow-cooked flavor.

No one will ever know you don’t have a half-acre of them in the back yard.

I’ll attempt to make this in to a logical recipe you can follow.

a plate of green beans with bacon on a napkin

How to make canned green beans taste better

Just because your beans come canned and from a grocery store doesn’t mean they can’t have that classic slow-cooked flavor you crave. Easy steps and no-fuss. 
Prep Time 5 minutes
Cook Time 25 minutes
Total Time 30 minutes
Servings 4 people
Author Rachel Ballard

Ingredients
  

  • 2 14.5 ounce cans green beans of your choice canned in water
  • 1 teaspoon beef bouillon base 1 cube beef bouilon would also work but watch the salt!

Instructions
 

  • In a medium sauce pan, empty in the cans of green beans with their water. Add the beef bouillon. 
  • Bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce heat to medium-high and cook until the water reduces by 3/4. Turn off heat and set beans aside on the stovetop or in the fridge for one to two hours or overnight is fine. 
  • When ready to eat, bring the beans back to a simmer on the stove top and cook to remove the remaining water. Serve warm. 

Nutrition

Calories: 63kcal
Tried this recipe?Tag us on Instagram @feastandfarm and hashtag it #feastandfarm
Course Side Dish
Cuisine American

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183 Comments

  1. Hi Rachel, I was looking for a different way to season canned green beans from the usual butter with onion or garlic or lemon pepper, etc. and found your post. I’ve used Better Than Bouillon chicken & beef flavors for several years now in many different dishes, but never would I have thought to add it to green beans. Can’t wait to make this as part of our Christmas dinner in 2 days. Saw this just in time. Thanks!…Carolyn

  2. I’m not 100% sure but I think this is the blog I found a few years ago and since I only stumbled upon it at 5pm with plans on having dinner done at 5:30pm, I decided to try the beef bullion cube just to make the beans more flavorful in that short time span and WOW it worked! I very rarely make green beans (husband generally prefers broccoli if we have a green veggie with dinner) and before finding this blog, I just assumed canned beans were always just bleh, no matter how much salt and pepper and butter you use. I am going to try your method of boiling it down and leaving overnight for Christmas dinner, but for those who don’t have time, just using beef bullion at all will improve bland canned beans. I’m hoping I don’t make them too salty – going to have some backup beans in case I need to just do it the quick and dirty way I did it the very first time. Thanks for this blog post!!!!

  3. It can be hard for a southern girl to change from her tried & true recipes. I’ve made green beans with ham hock or salt pork all my life – sometimes canned and sometimes fresh. While my mom taught me many wonderful recipes that were passed down to her, I’ve gradually been trying simpler, equally delicious one over the last several years. You can’t get much simpler than these green beans and they definitely will be my new go to. I used a larger pot than my 3 cans of Allens Italian beans needed because the liquid could cook down faster. I used the Better Than Bouillon that Rachel suggested and it was delicious without any extra seasoning. Cooked for about 30 mins in the morning. Changed them into a smaller pot to take up less room on the stove on Thanksgiving and reheated them for a 4PM dinner. They were delicious and simple. Thanks for an updated way to fix green beans that tastes like a whole lot more effort went into them!

    1. I’m assuming you mean non concentrated, regular beef broth. If that’s the case then you can simply swap half the water in the beans for half beef broth or you can use all beef broth but you sometimes have to be careful as it boils down because the salt content can get very strong so just make sure you’re using a low sodium version. –Rachel

  4. 5 stars
    This recipe is very easy to make and full of flavor. I use Vegan Not-Beef bouillon cubes. I’ve made this recipe before and my entire family loves them. I’m following this recipe again tomorrow as one of my Thanksgiving sides. Thank you for sharing with us!

  5. 5 stars
    Outstanding!

    I want to apologize for the few ignorant people that comment negatively. Some people just aren’t kind.

    Your time and recipes are greatly appreciated.

    Thank You.

  6. 5 stars
    Used this recipe in a take over dinner to a young couple w a new baby. Delicious! Did add a little crumbled bacon as it simmered and left that in.

    1. What are the pieces in the picture? They look like bacon bits, but nothing like that is mentioned. Thanks!

  7. 2 stars
    I didn’t like these. They took a full hour to boil down, were a rubbery texture from being overcooked, and were way too salty (you should probably specify that you need low sodium canned green beans in your recipe).

    1. Hey Austin, Thanks for your thoughts. While the beans should simmer for awhile, I don’t usually simmer mine for an hour maybe you had yours down a little lower than it needed to be. I’ll also add that when beans are overcooked they fall apart– they don’t usually turn to rubber– so that makes me wonder if the beans you were using maybe weren’t so great to start with. I never use low sodium canned green beans, and I have had this recipe work with a variety of types . What matters more is the type of bouillon that you used . Was it a powder? If so, those are often riddled with salt and will ruin a recipe in a flash. That’s why I recommended a particular one in this for this version. –Rachel

    2. @Austin, I never had rubbery beans from overcooking either. Try using the brand of beans she did. Everyone’s taste buds are different, so buy no salt added green beans.

    3. @Austin, i rinse the canned beans add fresh water over them in the pan, add beef bouillon cube , a little pepper, cook for a hour or so let sit then cook for awhile before serving.
      Just have to use your own thinking

    1. i have yet to try these- just saw austin’s comment and your response to him. i just wanted to note- because now i’m incredibly nervous about them being too salty- that not everyone reads the precursor when looking up a recipe. some of us simply don’t have the time. and to be perfectly clear: you did not state (still to date) anything about the risks of using cubed bouillon over anything else in your recipe (the part that i came to your website to read).

      i can’t help but to ask: is it really fair to even call a product named ”better’ than bouillon’ by just bouillon? by definition, they are not the same.

    2. Hey Jo,

      Thanks for your thoughts. Bloggers can sure write some stupid stuff in their posts–I get 100% that reading something about someone’s cat is annoying. I don’t want to read that either. There are, however some of us who try to make the meat of our content helpful. I did discuss bouillon in the post (it’s the only sentence in bold in the whole post) and a reader would have to scroll right past it to get to the recipe. That said, I would never be able to address all the types of bouillon on the market, and which ones to avoid because 1) there are too many and 2) I don’t use powdered bouillon or cubes. Instead, I try to give readers just what works so they don’t have to experiment. I’d guess the whole post and its information could probably have been read in the time it took to read the recipe, Austin’s comment, my response, and then type yours.

      As the master of your kitchen, you can take the reigns and start by adding half the bouillon cube (if that’s what you have–Austin has still never replied to tell me what he used) and see how the beans turn out. If they aren’t flavorful enough, you could add the whole cube in your next batch. You could also try a site like All Recipes or Simply Recipes. It may suit your style more.

      And I didn’t name Better Than Bouillon so you can take that up with the company. Have a great day. –Rachel

    3. @jo, Don’t be so argumentative. Move on if you don’t have ‘time’ to read the full post. You had ‘time’ to post your comment?. I can’t help to mention: you also had time to complain about ‘Better Than Bouillon’ too. Bye Karen?

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About the Author

Rachel Ballard, RN, BSN brings more than 20 years of professional nursing expertise to Feast and Farm. With a love for nutrient dense foods that support wellness, she works to distill complex health information and current trends into recipes that fuel the best version of yourself. Read more about Rachel here.