Green Beans Almondine

Grean Beans Almondine!! Doesn’t it sound fancy? Green Beans À la Française… Try saying that to your guests this holiday season instead of regular green bean casserole.

This dish not only makes your humble green beans fancy, but it’s absolutely delicious and elegant in its simplicity. Vibrant French style green beans tossed with brown butter, toasty almonds (that’s where almondine comes from), shallots, garlic and a squeeze of lemon to brighten it in the end.

This French classic is a MUST for this year’s Holiday entertaining…

But then, I think why just for holidays? This side dish is perfect for anything that you have green beans with. Move aside those steamed beans and start tossing your green beans with some almonds on any regular night.

It’s as fast as it is fancy. All you need is few ingredients that you can count on your hand and 10 minutes of your time. And I bet you, it would be hard to stop popping them in your mouth before they even reach your dinner table.

I mean, how good can simple green beans be… But some how they are. Trust the French when it comes to culinary marvels…

Check out our collection of favorite Green Bean Recipes!

What is Green Beans Almondine?

Haricots Verts Almandine, as it’s known in French. It’s pronounced as “Almandine” and anglisized as Almondine. This simply translates into almond green beans.

This green bean dish is simplicity at its best, and would really stand out on any holiday table. Almondine, or almandineis, is a culinary term for an almond garnish. Anything with almond as a garnish can be called almandine, like fish almondine, chicken almondine and so forth. Such is their love for almonds, that they often finds a way into many French dishes.

Green Beans Almondine is simply tender, yet crunchy green beans tossed with tender shallots and garlic with bright lemony notes, all topped with buttery toasty almonds. There are little add-ons here and there, but the basic concept is the same. Perfectly cooked, flavored green beans with almonds as a constant.

Tips for perfect Green Beans Almondine

This dish is super simple. Yet to make it absolutely delicious, you need that ingredient ratio perfected and a few simple cooking tips and methods.

1. Keep all the ingredients handy. While you wait for the water to boil, you can prep shallots and garlic to make this dish quicker.
2. Use Haricots Verts. They are French style green beans that are slender and delicate and have a little better flavor than standard green beans. You can usually find bags of them in the produce section. Look for a fresh, vibrant green color. The packaged beans are often trimmed, which reduces prep time. Saying that, this recipe works with regular green beans too, just steam them 2 minutes longer.
3. Blanching the Green beans: To retain the beautiful vibrant green color, you need to blanch the green beans quickly in heavily salted boiling water, and then quickly add them to an ice bath to stop the cooking. Salting the water helps the green beans retain their bright green color, and also seasons them well.
4. Don’t overcook them. You should blanch the haricot verts just for a couple of minutes to keep them al dente (you want them tender, yet crisp and not mushy and droopy). They will cook further in the pan with the shallots and garlic.
5. Watch the almonds carefully while they are browning. You don’t want them to burn. Be sure to stir them occasionally. You can reduce the heat slightly if you find them browning too quickly.

Green Beans Almondine recipe ingredients

• Fresh French style Green Beans
• Almonds – We used slivered almonds. You can used sliced almonds too. I go heavy on the almonds, as we just can’t get enough of those toasty nuts on my green beans.
• Shallots and Garlic – They add sweet and savory notes to the dish. You can use regular onion in absence of shallots.
• Fresh lemon juice and lemon zest
• Butter
• Salt and pepper

How to make Green Beans Almondine

Start by blanching the green beans: Boil water in a large pot with at least 1 tablespoon of salt. Add in the green beans and cook for 2 minutes, until they are crisp-tender and bright green.

Transfer the to an ice bath to stop the cooking process. Then, drain them in a colander. You can dry them and keep them in a plastic bag in the refrigerator if prepping them ahead of time for your holiday dinner. You can blanch them up to a day in advance.

Toast the almonds: Melt the butter in a skillet and sauté slivered or sliced almonds. Stir them occasionally and keep a close watch so as not to burn them. They should be light brown in color. Just toasty and buttery. Plate them out.

Sauté shallots and garlic: In the same pan, add a little more butter and sauté sliced shallots and garlic till they start turning brown. Add in green beans and cook for a minute, or until warm.

Season: Squeeze in lemon juice, and season with salt and pepper to taste. Transfer green beans to a serving platter. Top generously with browned almonds and fresh lemon zest.

Admire and try to resist plopping them in your mouth before they make it to the dinner table.

Some variations

There are few additional toppings and add ins that go great with green beans almondine…

1. Bacon. Stir in some cooked and crumbled bacon along with the almonds to top the green beans.
2. Sauté mushrooms along with the shallots and garlic before you add the green beans to the skillet.
3. Sprinkle parmesan cheese on top for a different flavor profile.

What to serve Green Beans Almondine with

1. Green beans almondine is an ultimate veggie side dish for your holidays. Skip the green bean casserole and wow everyone with the freshness and flavors of this French classic. It’s so much lighter, yet jammed full of flavors.
2. It goes great with any roast chicken meal.
3. Serve it along with your favorite steak.
4. This one is great with seafood. Think your favorite salmon or shrimp.

Well, we wonder how many of you are going to ditch your regular boring steamed green beans or heavy ”same old, same old” rich green bean casserole this holiday season and go this Francaise route.

They are easy and quick and perfect to feed the large crowd. Just double or triple the recipe and see those admiring glances when you take that platter to your holiday spread. Have fun and enjoy this holiday season. Merry Christmas from GypsyPlate…

Green Beans Almondine, on my Gypsy Plate… enjoy!

Try these other great holiday sides!
Chili Maple Glazed Sweet Potatoes
Creamed Peas with Pearl Onions
Sweet Potato Casserole with Pecan Streusel
Goat Cheese Mashed Potatoes
Southern Squash Casserole
Cherry Tomato Gratin
Green Rice Casserole
Succotash

Green Beans Almondine

Yield: 6 servings

Prep Time: 5 minutes

Cook Time: 10 minutes

Total Time: 15 minutes

Green Beans Almondine - This dish not only makes your humble green beans fancy, but it’s absolutely delicious and elegant in its simplicity.

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Ingredients

• 1 pound Haricots Verts or green beans (see note 1)
• 3 shallots, halved and sliced
• 3 garlic cloves, sliced
• 1/2 - 3/4 cup almond, slivered or sliced
• 1-2 tsp lemon zest
• 1/2 lemon, juiced
• 3 Tbsp butter, divided
• Salt to taste
• Pepper to taste

Instructions

1. Bring a large pot of salted water to boil. Set a large bowl of ice water nearby. Add green beans into boiling water and blanch for 2 minutes. Drain and immediately put them in the ice water to stop the cooking process. Drain them once cooled off.
2. Melt 1 tablespoon butter in a skillet over medium high heat and add in slivered almonds. Sauté for 3-4 minutes, or until golden brown, stirring occasionally. Plate them out.
3. In the same skillet, add in 2 more tablespoons of butter and sauté sliced shallots and garlic for 5-6 minutes, until they start turning brown. Add in green beans and cook for a minute, or until they warm back up again.
4. Stir in lemon juice and season green beans with salt and pepper to taste.
5. Transfer the beans to serving platter. Top with toasted almond slivers and fresh lemon zest. Serve immediately

Notes

1. You can use traditional green beans in absence of haricot verts. Boil them an extra 2 minutes, as they are firmer than conventional green beans.

Nutrition Information

Yield 6 Serving Size 1
Amount Per Serving Calories 149Total Fat 11gSaturated Fat 4gTrans Fat 0gUnsaturated Fat 6gCholesterol 15mgSodium 189mgCarbohydrates 12gFiber 4gSugar 5gProtein 4g

Nutrition information calculated by Nutritionix.

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Welcome to GypsyPlate! I'm Alpana, former wordwide tour manager and professional caterer, now full time blogger. I love exploring cuisines from around the world, and my recipes have been featured on sites such as MSN, Parade, Brit + Co, CNET and AOL. You can explore my entire collection of sortable recipes in my Recipe Index or learn more about me here.