How to make canned green beans taste better
If you love good green beans and crave 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.
Tips for the best canned green beans
- Use a good beef bouillon like Better Than Bouillon. 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.
- Allow the beans to simmer until part of the liquid is cooked off then turn them off and let them sit on the stove at room temperature for a few 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 bothers you 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.
- You can simmer some bacon or ham hock in with them if your bouillon isn’t too salty.
- Add bacon bits or sauteed onions at the end (optional).
To slow cook: Cook the beans on the stove as directed then transfer to a slow cooker to keep warm.
To make ahead: Cook half way and then cool to room temperature and refrigerate for up to 4 days. Rewarm on the stove or in a slow cooker.
To freeze: These do not freeze.
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.
Ingredients
- 2 14.5 ounce cans green beans of your choice canned in water
- 1 teaspoon beef bouillon base We tested with Better than Bouillon Beef base
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
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I thought you were always supposed to drain liquid off beans?
No there’s no reason to. It’s just water and salt from the canning process.
Tried for the first time last night! They were amazing and the family loved them this way. I used only the Better Than Bouillon for seasoning as directed and they were great! Thanks for the recipe. So simple!
Finally had to comment because this is my go-to page every time I cook canned green beans. Which is OFTEN. Better Than Bouillon is my favourite brand too, and I always have at least 2 kinds in my fridge, so this is pure serindipity, and it makes my budget beans taste INDULGENT. Thank you forever Rachel ♥️
You’re so welcome Susan.
Would this work for frozen green beans?
Eh…big maybe Kelly. Frozen beans are so rubbery when they thaw and cook. If you don’t mind that, you could try simmering them and see what happens. –Rachel
If usuing beef broth do I drain the water off the green beans nd replace with the broth or how much broth would I use
That’s what I would do Beverly. Just add enough broth to bring it almost over the top of the beans but not quite just like the water in the can would be. –Rachel
have you ever tried sauted onion in a small amount of bacon drippings then add a dash of tarragon vinegar and add small.amount of crumbled bacon all poured.over your 3/4 drained green beans
Nope I haven’t! Sounds great!
Wonderful way to make a can of green beans not just a can of green beans! Delicious!
when using onions can I use a red onion?
Sure Tina!
Hoping for some advice- I have to make green beans from 6 cans for a girl-scouts Friendsgiving tonight, @Sidney can you give a little more detail on your modification recipe? If I use 6 cans- how much Tarragon vinegar and do I still use the beef bouillon as originally posted? and how much crumble bacon & (Sauté) onions should I put?
the picture shows bacon bits in your green beans, yet it’s not on your ingredient list..
Right. They were just a garnish for the photo so it wasn’t just a bowl of plain old beans. 😉
I make very good and flavorful canned green beans on the stovetop. The problem I have is that the bean comes out of the pod and I don’t like that. What am I doing wrong?
That’s totally normal Debra!
This is the ONLY way I cooked store-bought canned veggies and hubby says it is unhealthy. HUMPH.
Well, depending on what part he feels is unhealthy Pam, he’s probably partly right. In the years since I wrote this recipe I have given up all bouillons because of their junk ingredients. Now I just use homemade stock (chicken or beef) in place of the bouillon and it works great but using those concentrates and certainly any kind of dry pressed bouillon cube isn’t the kind of food we want to eat a lot of on a regular basis. 🙂 –Rachel
Great recipe/trick! I did it exactly as you wrote AND added some bacon bits during the resting period. They even look like home snapped and cooked. Thanks!