Delicious and Easy Southern Green Beans {Recipe & Video}

Tender, Smoky, and Real: Southern Green Beans slowly simmered with Bacon & Salt Pork for a comforting soul food side dish.

Yo yo yo, my fellow flavor lovers — this right here is southern green beans that know how to be real. We’re talkin’ tender green beans slow-simmered with smoky bacon, a touch of onion, and that soul-soaked salt pork that knows how to speak fluent comfort.

I’m tellin’ you this dish hits with rich, earthy, and deep flavor that don’t front. This ain’t your steamed, squeaky, no-season green bean situation. This is low ‘n slow, about an hour on the stove, coaxin’ every bit of flavor outta the pot.

You want to turn your basic humble veggie into the star of the story that gets an "ooh wee” at every bite. Let’s get into it — because to be real, your green beans deserve better.

Every snap of a green bean is a bite of that time spent with grandmama, every ounce of that rendered bacon fat is a memory of country front porch summers. And just like Tank and the Bangas say in “To Be Real,” this dish don’t fake the funk—it delivers depth, texture, and love in one long, simmered story.

Beats and Eats (Music to pair with Southern style green beans)

Tank and the Bangas’ “To Be Real” floats between the playful and the profound, just like these green beans—bright, soulful, and steeped in layers. The song’s rhythm builds like the simmering pot: slow, steady, and packed with anticipation, until all the elements—bacon fat, salt pork, pepper, and tender green beans—harmonize in a savory chord that feels as good as that final verse.

Serving Suggestions

Making green beans with a lil crispy bacon takes me back to those large Sunday meals my grandmother cooked. If green beans were on the menu then odds were high that creamy Southern style mashed potatoes with gravy were the other side dish and country chicken fried pork steaks was the paired main entree.

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Southern Green Beans

Fresh string beans cooked low and slow with lots of pork to full flavored tenderness.

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Prep Time: 8 minutes minutes

Cook Time: 2 hours hours 10 minutes minutes

Course: Side Dish

Cuisine: southern

Servings: 8 people

Calories: 252kcal

Author: Marwin Brown

Ingredients

• ▢ 1 lb fresh green beans tips removed
• ▢ 2 garlic cloves chopped
• ▢ 1 medium yellow onion slice
• ▢ 4-6 slices Bacon chopped
• ▢ 4 oz Salt Pork sliced
• ▢ ½ lb Smoked Pulled Pork optional
• ▢ 2 cups Chicken Stock
• ▢ 1 cup Water
• ▢ 1 teaspoon paprika
• ▢ ½ teaspoon allspice
• ▢ ½ teaspoon salt
• ▢ 1 teaspoon black pepper
• ▢ 1 tablespoon cider vinegar

Instructions

• Mix spices together in small bowl.
• Pre-heat skillet to medium heat. Add bacon and salt pork. Saute to release their flavor. Cook until bacon is fully cooked. Remove and set aside the bacon and salt pork.
• Add sliced onions and saute 3-4 minutes. Add chopped garlic cloves and cook another minute. Season the vegetables with a ⅓ of the spice mix.
• Add the smoked pulled pork if using and cook for a minute or two just long enough to release the flavor.
• Add green beans and mix well to coat most of the beans in the infused bacon fat. Add chicken stock, water plus half the remaining seasoning. Mix well and bring to a boil then reduce to simmer. Cook covered 1 ½ - 2 hours. Halfway through cooking add remaining spices and the cider vinegar. Remove from heat and serve.

Video

Notes

Traditional Southern Green Beans are cooked with either bacon or salt pork or both. The added pulled pork was just me being a nerd about flavor. If you’ve followed me then you’re probably familiar with my cabbage cooked in smoked brisket fat cap. This is a similar technique.

Use fresh green beans. They will hold up to the long slow simmer. 

To speed up prep time use kitchen shears to snip the ends off the green beans.

Do not rush things. The key to the best green beans is to let them simmer for a good while.

Serve these green beans with jerk fried chicken and pair with another side like Mac and cheese or mashed potatoes.

Nutrition

Calories: 252kcal | Carbohydrates: 13g | Protein: 8g | Fat: 19g | Saturated Fat: 7g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 2g | Monounsaturated Fat: 8g | Trans Fat: 0.01g | Cholesterol: 33mg | Sodium: 859mg | Potassium: 249mg | Fiber: 2g | Sugar: 8g | Vitamin A: 565IU | Vitamin C: 9mg | Calcium: 46mg | Iron: 1mg

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