Harvest Skillet Green Beans with Bacon & Cranberry Pear Balsamic
Celebrate fresh garden green beans with this easy skillet recipe featuring crispy bacon, garlic butter, and cranberry pear white balsamic vinegar. A simple garden-to-table side dish ready in under 20 minutes.
When the garden is overflowing with fresh green beans, simple recipes are often the best. My Harvest Skillet Green Beans recipe combines tender garden beans with crispy bacon, rich garlic butter, and a splash of cranberry pear white balsamic vinegar. The result is a side dish that’s both savory and lightly sweet, allowing the fresh flavor of the beans to remain the star of the meal.
My Jade bush green beans produced an unbelievable amount of beans this summer. The more I picked, the more it grew! When I’m not blanching and freezing them, I’m cooking them.
Bush Green Beans in the Kitchen Garden
Bush green beans are ridiculously easy to grow! One of my favorites for beginner gardeners-they germinate within a week and produce beans within 7-8 weeks.
Bonus: they’re nitrogen fixers that basically feed themselves and nearby plants.
You can read my review and guide to growing these green beans in my post: Garden to Table: Easy to Grow Jade Bush Green Beans where I also explain in detail how to store your fresh green beans (short term and long term).
Why Cranberry Pear White Balsamic?
This recipe uses freshly picked green beans straight from the garden, butter and garlic, leftover crispy bacon, and my surprise ingredient-cranberry pear white balsamic vinegar.
In my opinion, the cranberry pear white balsamic is the key ingredient. Don’t get me wrong; I love some garlic butter and bacon! However, adding this simple flavor at the end takes it from good harvest skillet green beans to excellent harvest skillet green beans.
My husband and I found a new store in Seneca, SC near Lake Keowee called Drizzle on the Alley. It had recently experienced a damaging fire, and the owners had to rebuild their small business. Thankfully, no one was hurt and we were able to sample some incredible products including this cranberry pear white balsamic vinegar.
We snagged a few bottles for making mocktails and salad dressing-I will add those recipes, too! But when I was making green beans (like I always make them- in a skillet with garlic, butter and bacon) I saw this bottle sitting on the counter saying: “Pick me! Pick me!”
I doused the beans with a good splash of the vinegar and let it cook down for a couple minutes. The sugars caramelized a bit and coated the green beans like a glaze. Gorgeous!
In case you can’t find some in your neck of the woods, here’s a link to their online shop Drizzle on the Alley.
Why Make this Green Bean Recipe
The flavor alone is enough reason to make this dish; they really do taste amazing.
However, you will be happy to know that green beans are a fantastic source of fiber, vitamins K, C and A.
Finally, this dish is ready in under 20 minutes and even faster than that if you use leftover cooked bacon!
How to Make Harvest Skillet Green Beans with Bacon and Cranberry Pear White Balsamic
Begin by harvesting your fresh green beans or picking up a bag at the market and sorting through them to discard any questionable ones.
Next you will need to trim the stem end of the green bean. I just snap it off with my fingers, but you can use a sharp knife.
Some people also like to cut the other end off, but it’s not absolutely necessary. You can also cut them into two inch pieces if you prefer, but I like to leave mine whole.
Give everyone a good rinse and spin in the salad spinner. They are ready to be cooked!
Melt some butter and olive oil in a large skillet over medium/low heat. Sauté two cloves of minced garlic for one minute and add the green beans. Toss them around in the garlic butter to coat them evenly and then add 2-3 tablespoons of water.
Quickly put a lid on the skillet to cover and steam the beans for 3-4 minutes.
Remove the lid and let the water evaporate for a minute before adding the cranberry pear white balsamic vinegar. Sauté for 2-4 minutes until the liquid thickens and creates a delicious glaze over the beans.
Toss some crumbled bacon in with the green beans and serve. You can season with salt and pepper, but taste them first to see if you need it.
What to serve with Harvest Skillet Green Beans with Cranberry Pear Balsamic
My Harvest Skillet Green Beans with Cranberry Pear Balsamic pair nicely with any protein dish. I served this recently with filet mignon and roasted fingerling potatoes (also from the garden!) and it was one of the best meals I’ve ever made. My husband was like, “Why do we ever go to restaurants? This is better!”
You could also serve Harvest Skillet Green Beans with Cranberry Pear Balsamic alongside roasted chicken, seared salmon or roasted pork tenderloin.
Harvest Skillet Green Beans with Bacon & Cranberry Pear Balsamic
Ingredients
- 1 tbsp olive oil extra virgin
- 1 tbsp butter
- 1-2 cloves garlic minced
- ¼ cup water
- 1 pound green beans fresh
- ¼ cup cranberry pear white balsamic vinegar
- ½ cup crispy bacon crumbled
- ½ tsp salt coarse kosher
- ½ tsp pepper freshly ground
Instructions
- Prepare green beans by removing stem ends and rinsing beans.
- Heat a skillet over medium-low heat and add olive oil and butter.
- After butter is melted, add garlic and sauté for one minute. Don't let it brown.
- Add the green beans and toss with the garlicky butter.
- Add the water and cover with lid to steam the green beans for 3-4 minutes.
- Remove lid and allow the water to evaporate for a minute or two.
- Drizzle with the vinegar and toss beans together. Sauté for a couple more minutes until the beans are glazed and tender.
- Toss with the crumbled bacon and heat through.
- Season with salt and pepper, if desired.
