Southern Green Beans
See my updated Southern Green Beans recipe here!!
I was raised on string beans and this southern green beans recipe is a favorite with my family. I love that it’s so easy, yet full of flavor.
Now I won’t even lie, I usually only fix homemade, fresh green beans for holidays and special occasions. Normally I just crack open a can of green beans, throw them in the pot with some chicken broth, Goya seasoning and call it a day! I got a TON of fresh green beans from Aldi’s because they were on sale and I just couldn’t pass them up. I’m so glad I did! Canned green beans just can’t compare to a pot of homemade, savory green beans.
You can easily substitute the smoked turkey sausage with crispy bacon if you’d like or just leave the meat out altogether. That savory chicken broth, fresh onion, and garlic do quite the job with seasoning these southern green beans to perfection.
If adding bacon, fry it up separately and add it to the greens beans when done. That way you won’t have soggy, weird-tasting bacon.
Watch me make these southern green beans from start to finish!
Get the Recipe: Southern Green Beans
Ingredients
- 1 lb. fresh green beans
- 1/2 cup finely chopped white onion
- 1 garlic clove
- 1/2 cup chopped smoked sausage or smoked bacon
- 1-2 cups chicken broth
- 1 Tablespoon butter
- 1 teaspoon red pepper flakes seasoning salt & black pepper to taste.
Instructions
- Wash the green beans.
- Snap off the ends of the greens beans and cut or snap the green beans into pieces. Set aside.
- Finely dice the onion, garlic, and smoked sausage. Set aside.
- In a pot, melt butter.
- Add in onion, garlic, smoked sausage and chicken broth.
- Bring to a boil and add in red pepper flakes.
- Add in green beans.
- Cover and simmer for 1- 1½ hours. Check the green beans every 5 minutes after the one-hour mark. You don't want to overcook them or they will be mushy!
- Season with seasoning salt & black pepper.
- Serve and enjoy!
I am a northern girl who has always had a so-so relationship with green beans… don’t hate them but don’t love them either. Until I tried some green beans with my dinner at a restaurant in Murrells Inlet South Carolina. I LOVED them and wanted to learn how to make them. I searched online for a recipe for Southern Green Beans and several recipes popped up. Yours sounded like the ones I had at that SC restaurant so decided to try your recipe. So glad I did as it ended up tasting exactly like the green beans I ate in SC! When I try a new recipe, I normally try to follow the instructions exactly as stated in the recipe. This can be challenging as I live by myself and a lot of recipes make at least 4 servings. So this time, I reduced the amount of green beans to 10 oz. (I bought very freshly picked green beans from my Farmers Market and they were wonderful in this recipe). But decided to use 2 full cups of unsalted chicken broth and am so glad I did as I had enough green beans to eat with four meals and there was plenty of broth for all four meals. I substituted a red onion for the white onion because I didn’t have any white onions and didn’t want to wait another day to make this recipe until I could buy white onions. The red onion tasted great in this recipe. The smoked sausage I used was smoked Polish sausage from a local Polish deli and it was wonderful in this recipe. And I omitted the red pepper flakes as that would have made this too spicy for me. I absolutely LOVED this recipe and now love green beans (as long as they are made with your recipe!). Next time I’ll make them with one pound of green beans so I can freeze some for a later day!
I looooove these beans! Bacon and a little spice- so delishhhhh!!!
I feel like a true cook in the kitchen following these recipes! Thank youuuuu!!!! My every day go to option!