If you’re being good and eating your green beans, you may as well make a treat of them. These beans, sautéed in butter and maple syrup, are tender, sweet, and delicious.
Sweet Maple Green Beans
Ingredients
- 2 cups green beans
- 2 Tablespoons butter
- 3 Tablespoons pure maple syrup
- Salt and pepper, to taste
Instructions
- Steam green beans until softened, about 15-20 minutes.
- In a skillet over medium heat, melt the butter.
- Add the maple syrup and green beans. Saute for a few minutes.
- Add salt and pepper to taste and serve.
Need help with steaming green beans to softness? Check out these tips from The Spruce Eats.
Why do I recommend pure maple syrup? Read my post on the topic.
This recipe is really a proof of concept that empowers you to play around with different flavors to come up with different but similar recipes. Here are some ideas:
Tangy Molasses Green Beans: Instead of maple syrup, sautee with molasses. Molasses is less sweet and will give the beans a slightly more earthy or bitter taste.
Sweet Honey Green Beans: Instead of maple syrup, use honey. There is a wide variety of honey flavors, so you can even experiment within the honey palate!
Glazed Green Beans: Instead of maple syrup, use a combination of brown sugar and your choice of white wine, red wine, sherry, brandy, or even water. Heat together until it forms a syrup and then proceed with the recipe as normal.
If you’re not satisfied with salt and pepper to taste, there are other herbs, spices, and even some sauces, you can mix and match with your syrups. Here are some ideas:
- yellow mustard
- lemon pepper
- garlic salt
- garlic powder
- onion powder
- basil
- pesto sauce
- lemon zest
Also, if you wish to go completely off the rails, you can toss the maple syrup and butter out completely and use a touch of soy sauce and olive oil. Toss in some sesame seeds, and you have an Asian-inspired green bean dish.
Still not happy? Use honey instead of maple syrup, and curry powder instead of salt and pepper. Now you have curried green beans!
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This recipe was originally posted in 2015 and was updated in 2021.
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