Blackened Green Beans

Made it? Rate it!
blackened green beans
Just like grilling, without the grill!

We all know how grilling brings out some really tasty flavors in foods. Those little charred bits are always just so tasty. But, what do you do if you want to achieve those charred flavors, but you don’t want to be bothered firing up the grill? We have the answer.

Basically, we made up this side to go along with our polenta this past week. We had some green beans that had been sitting in the crisper for almost a week. Long enough that they were getting a bit limp, but not so long that they couldn’t be salvaged. So, we thought, how could we use them? Well, the first thing that came to mind was to grill them, right along with the polenta, but we could just see green beans slipping between the gratings and into the ashes. No, we don’t have a grilling basket. Then, we thought, well, let’s run them under the broiler. That would work, too, except that the oven was in use at the time. Out with the broiler and in with the skillet.

Blackened Green Beans

Servings: 2
Author: Shawn

Ingredients

  • 8 ounces fresh green beans
  • 1-2 Tbs olive oil
  • 1/2 tsp kosher salt

Instructions

  • Heat skillet and oil over medium heat until oil just begins to smoke.
  • Add green beans in one layer and cook 3-5 minutes or until beginning to blacken on one side. Adjust heat as necessary.
  • Stir beans and allow the other side to blacken, another 3-5 minutes.
  • Sprinkle with salt, and serve.

Ingredient discussion:

Okay, not really an ingredient, but you’ll probably want to use a cast-iron skillet here. And definitely fresh green beans. The oil, we recommend olive oil, but it isn’t adding flavor here, so just use one that’s mild and has a high smoking point — canola would work, or peanut, or corn oil.

Procedure in detail:

Heat skillet and oil. You’ll want to get the skillet really hot. We set it to medium heat, added the oil, and watched and waited until the oil just began to smoke. Watch carefully, you don’t want the oil to catch fire, which it can, quite easily.

Add beans. When the oil is really hot, toss in the green beans. Try to get them in a single layer, and then let them sizzle, adjusting heat if necessary. Resist the urge to stir; just let them blacken a bit on one side, about 3 to 5 minutes.

blackening green beans
Get that skillet really hot for this one! Be careful!

Stir. Stir around the beans, but really try to flip them over so the other side can blacken, too. Once flipped as best you can, cook for another 3 to 5 minutes.

blackened green beans
A nice tasty side!

Salt and serve. Sprinkle with kosher salt, and serve immediately.

Yum!. Green bean cooked like this are a real step up from the typical steamed or boiled green beans. The blackening really brings out the flavor and some sweetness, and, that touch of salt really complements the sweetness. The only thing that we’d change would be to add just a few shavings of Parmesan cheese on top just before serving. That little bit of umami flavor from the cheese would make them perfect. Five stars, because anything this easy shouldn’t taste this good!

Worth the trouble?

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.

Recipe Rating




This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.