Baked green beans with bacon are the perfect side dish for almost any meal. This easy green bean recipe features a sweet and savory sauce with brown sugar and garlic topping tender green beans sprinkled with bacon.
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😊Why you will love this recipe
- We all need reliable side dishes, and this one has never failed us.
- Perfect for almost any meal, even holiday or company meals.
- Easy to double.
- It is our best green bean recipe with bacon and a sweet and savory sauce of brown sugar, soy sauce, and garlic.
- Uses frozen or fresh green beans.
My wife came up with this inspiration piece, Smothered Green Beans at Plain Chicken. I'm sure Stephanie at Plain Chicken would not even recognize it coming from her inspiration.
🥓Ingredients
- Green beans—whole, frozen, or fresh
- Bacon
- Soy sauce
- Pantry ingredients—butter, brown sugar, garlic powder
👨🍳How to Make Baked Green Beans with Bacon
- Dice bacon and fry until almost crisp the drain on a paper towel.
- Combine melted butter with brown sugar, soy sauce, and garlic powder.
- In an 8 by 8 or 6 by 9 baking dish, add whole green beans, sprinkle with the bacon, then drizzle on the sauce.
- Bake until the beans are tender, with the smaller ones browning—about 35-40 minutes for frozen beans and about 20-25 minutes for fresh green beans.
Green Beans Tips
- Using frozen whole beans has produced consistent results. They are already blanched but not cooked. Do not use cut or French-cut frozen green beans.
- Picking the Best Fresh Green Beans
- Pick fresh green beans with vibrant green color and smooth skin without seed swells.
- Avoid large, thick, or skinny beans.
- They should have good firmness, no bad spots, and not be wrinkled.
- Fresh off the vine is the best or from the farmer's market. Use the store produce department if you must.
- If using fresh green beans, I suggest blanching in boiling salt water for 2 minutes, then an ice water bath to cool. And watch closely for browning.
❓FAQs
Let leftovers cool completely, and store in the refrigerator sealed airtight for 3 days.
Spead out cold leftovers on parchment paper in a single layer and freeze. Store in an airtight container, freezer zip-lock suggested, with minimal air for 3 months. Thaw overnight before reheating.
Spread over a baking sheet with parchment paper. Bake in a 400° oven until hot—10-15 minutes. You can also reheat it in an air fryer or a skillet on the stovetop. Avoid the microwave.
📖Vegetable Recipes
Green Beans with Toasted Almonds
Roasted Garlic Parmesan Asparagus
Green Bean Casserole Without Soup
This recipe is listed in these categories. See them for more similar recipes.
🖼️Step-by-Step Photo Instructions
Preheat oven to 375° convection or 400° conventional.
Cut 3-4 pieces of bacon into pieces and fry. Stop just before crispy and drain on a paper towel.
Melt 2 tablespoons of butter in a microwave. Add 2 tablespoons brown sugar, 1 tablespoon soy sauce, and ½ teaspoon garlic powder.
Add 1 pound of fresh or frozen green beans to an 8 by 8 or a 6 by 9 baking dish. Spread the bacon over the beans. Drizzle the liquid over the dish. Note: fresh green beans should be blanched first.
Bake until beans are tender and any thinner beans are browning. About 20-25 minutes for fresh beans or 35-40 minutes for frozen whole beans.
📝Recipe
Baked Green Beans with Bacon
Ingredients
- 1 pound whole green beans - frozen or fresh
- 3-4 strips bacon
- 2 tablespoons butter
- 2 tablespoons brown sugar
- 1 tablespoon soy sauce - low sodium preferred
- ½ teaspoon garlic powder
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375° convection or 400° conventional.
- Cut 3-4 pieces of bacon into pieces and fry. Stop just before crispy and drain on a paper towel.
- Melt 2 tablespoons of salted butter in a microwave. Add 2 tablespoons brown sugar, 1 tablespoon soy sauce, and ½ teaspoon garlic powder.
- Add 1 pound of fresh or frozen green beans to an 8 by 8 or a 6 by 9 baking dish. Spread the bacon over the beans. Drizzle the liquid over the dish. Note: fresh green beans should be blanched first.
- Bake until beans are tender and any thinner beans are browning. About 20-25 minutes for fresh beans or 35-40 minutes for frozen whole beans.
Your Own Private Notes
Recipe Notes
Pro Tips
- Doubles easily in a 9 by 13 dish. Cooking time will be about the same.
- This works fine with frozen whole green beans. Do not use cut or French green beans. I keep frozen beans in the freezer for this recipe.
- Fresh green beans also work well for this but pick firm beans with good color, smooth skin, and no seed swells. Also, mostly the same size works best. Blanching first is highly recommended.
- Tips on buying the best green beans are in the post.
- If using fresh green beans, blanch in boiling salt water for 2 minutes, then an ice water bath to cool.
- Easy to prep ahead for dinner. Cook the bacon, make the sauce and then assemble and bake.
- We use this for company meals and usually make it with frozen whole beans. It is reliably done for use at 35-40 minutes in the oven. Great for planning.
To adjust the recipe size:
You may adjust the number of servings in this recipe card under servings. This does the math for the ingredients for you. BUT it does NOT adjust the text of the instructions. So you need to do that yourself.
Nutrition Estimate
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Editor's Note: Originally Published February 22, 2017. Updated with expanded options, refreshed photos, and a table of contents to help navigation.
Connie
I made this recipe last night with fresh from our garden new young beans. After 30+ minutes the beans were still not done. The sauce and bacon were good but not the beans. We don't like mushy beans but also don't like under dine ones.
I use many of your recipes and love them
Disappointed in this one....will go back to cooking beans on stove top.
Stephanie
I just recently stumbled across your blog and am so happy I did. My husband is the cook in our home. On my "cooking nights" we went out to eat. ;) But during this pandemic, I have been trying to be fair to my husband and take on some of the cooking. So far I've tried the Tuna Noodle Casserole and the Apple Crisp. I know there are a ton of recipes to try, but I'm trying to start small with things I can do. I am admittedly, a terrible cook. I made these green beans last week and my husband loved them. I plan on making them again very soon. Thank you for sharing. I much prefer baking as I am very analytical and precise. I am a decent baker and will be checking out all of your yummy baking recipes at some point. Thank you again!
Terri
Really, really good.
Dan Mikesell AKA DrDan
Hi Terri,
Welcome to the blog.
Glad you enjoyed the recipe and thanks for the rating.
Dan
KIm F.
Super good... what a great flavor combo! I did end up baking for about 50 minutes... I tend to over cook our vegetables, we like them on the soft side. Thank you for sharing another great recipe!
DrDan
Hi Kim,
Welcome to the blog.
This is one of our favorites. I think it is the bacon for my wife.
Thanks for the note.
Dan
S
This was delicious. I made it for a family gathering and almost all of it was eaten! I doubled the green beans/bacon and over-doubled the sauce recipe, with a little more soy sauce, as I felt the original sugar to salt ratio was somewhat overpowering. I used my toaster oven to bake it, at regular 375 (vs. convection) for about 50 minutes. I would make this again. :) Thanks for sharing!
DrDan
Hi S,
Welcome to the blog.
This has become our go to veggie recipe for company steak meals. So I have done it probably 30 plus times.
What I find surprising is that frozen whole green beans work better than fresh... Unexpected.
Thanks for the note.
Dan
Pat
Looks delicious!