This recipe for Garlic Butter Green Beans just may be the BEST vegetable side dish ever! You only need 4 simple ingredients and about 15 minutes to make them.
It's all done in one pot and no boiling water is needed! They are cooked to absolute perfection right in your pressure cooker. No guessing if they are done, no burning the outside before they fully cook on the inside. As a bonus, this green bean recipe is naturally low carb!
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There are so many different ways to make fresh green beans, but if you want really easy and delicious green beans, this is the recipe for you! Easy Peasy!
Ingredients & Substitutions
Green Beans
I used 1 pound of fresh green beans in this recipe. I have not tested the recipe with frozen green beans, but I think those would work fine as well.
You could also use canned green beans if you want an easy way to add tons of flavor. Make sure they are cut green beans, not the French style. I would wait to add the salt until after they cook since canned green beans have salt in them. You can use the liquid from the can instead of the vegetable stock if you like.
You can also use wax beans instead of green beans. The only difference between wax beans and green beans is wax beans do not have chlorophyll so they are yellowish in color.
Seasonings
As the recipe name indicates, the main flavors are the beans themselves and garlic and butter. The combination of broth, garlic, and butter creates the most delicious sauce and, if you are a garlic lover, this is the perfect side dish for you. If you don't like garlic, you can always omit it and make butter green beans.
The seasonings are kept very simple: salt and black pepper. Of course, you can add or omit ingredients based on your personal preferences.
Garlic
Fresh garlic is important in this recipe and I don't recommend substituting it for garlic powder or garlic salt. The results won't be the same.
The garlic flavor is meant to be prominent in this recipe and, therefore, it calls for minced garlic. Mincing the garlic exposes more surface area and delivers a strong garlic flavor. If you want a milder garlic flavor, you can use sliced garlic or smashed garlic cloves instead.
The garlic can be omitted or substituted with diced onions, if you prefer. The cooking time will stay the same.
Butter
I used salted butter in this recipe, but you can use unsalted, if you prefer. You can also use ghee or clarified butter. Any type of oil can also be substituted for the butter or you can simply omit it. Vegan butter should also work fine.
If you decide not to use butter, your green beans won't have the same kind of sauce, but they will still be good.
Vegetable Stock
I used vegetable stock in this recipe, but you could use chicken broth or stock if you prefer. The flavor might be slightly different, but they will still be delicious.
You can also use plain water if you don't have any broth. The broth does add flavor, so you may need to season with extra salt and pepper to taste.
Optional Additions
There are so many ways you can change up the base recipe to make it a tasty side dish for what you are serving. You could use bacon grease instead of butter and add bacon bits after cooking the green beans.
If you want your beans a little spicy, add some red pepper flakes.
If you have leftover ham, cut it into bite-sized pieces and cook it with the green beans.
How to Make Garlic Butter Green Beans
What I love about this recipe is you don't need a steamer basket, you don't have to stand over the stove sautéing the green beans. Everything is cooked right in the inner pot of your Ninja Foodi Pressure Cooker, Instant Pot, or any brand of electric pressure cooker.
Pressure cooking creates a sauce right in the pot and because the beans cook in this flavored sauce, they have so much flavor and they don't lose their bright green color. I literally could eat these all the time. They are my new go-to side dish!
The Prep
The first part of the prep is getting the fresh beans ready for cooking. I like to look through the green beans and discard any that are shriveled-looking or have a lot of brown spots. If the brown spots are towards one of the ends, but the middle of the bean looks nice and green, you can simply cut it off.
The thought of cutting a pound or two of green beans may seem like it will take a long time, but it can be done in just a few minutes by using the method I use.
Grab a handful of the whole beans and line up the ends. Don't worry that the other end has various lengths, we will take care of that in a minute. Once they are lined up, take a sharp knife and cut the green beans about ¼-½" from the end.
Then flip them all over and line up the other ends and cut them as a bunch. This is a huge time saver!
Once they are all cut, place them in a strainer and rinse them.
Mince the garlic so it is ready to go. I use my (affiliate link)Pampered Chef garlic press to make this part really easy and quick.
Pressure Cooking
Add the vegetable stock, the minced garlic, the butter, and the beans to the inner pot of your pressure cooker. In my video, I added the garlic on the bottom and it was fine, however, if you are using an electric pressure cooker with a stainless steel inner pot, put the garlic on top of the beans so it doesn't burn.
You will see in the recipe below that I changed the order of the ingredients from the way I did it in the video. This is to reduce the chance of the garlic burning. Mine never did, but why take the chance when burnt garlic will ruin the entire pot of beans?
Add the salt and pepper to the pot. I recommend starting out with just a touch of salt and pepper because I found that using more than ¼ teaspoon of salt made them too salty. You can always add more salt after you taste them. The type of vegetable broth used will alter the saltiness and overall flavor.
Put the pressure lid on and make sure the valve is in the sealing position. Select high pressure and the cooking time of 1 minute. Hit start. Once the pot comes to pressure, which can take 8-10 minutes, and the countdown starts, immediately release the pressure by turning the sealing valve to vent. If you want a slightly softer bean, let the pressure naturally release for 1-2 minutes, then release the remaining pressure manually.
Toss the beans in the garlic butter sauce and transfer them to a serving bowl.
Serve & Enjoy! These beans are delicious and decadent enough for Thanksgiving dinner and easy enough for any weeknight dinner.
What to Serve with Garlic Butter Green Beans
Honestly, I can't think of anything that won't pair with these delicious beans, but here are a few main dish recipes that come to mind right away. Click the name of the dish to be taken to the recipe.
- Whole Roasted Chicken
- Chicken Cordon Bleu
- Parmesan Crusted Chicken
- Flanken Style Short Ribs
- Salsibury Steak with Onion Gravy
- Air Fryer Steak
- Sous Vide Turkey Breast
- Turkey Wellington
- Salmon Patties
Frequently Asked Questions
Nothing! They are exactly the same vegetable. It used to be that string beans had a string that had to be removed along the side because it was very fibrous and not pleasant to eat. I remember having to pull the strings from my mom's green beans that she grew. Those days are long gone though and the green beans we grow today don't have the fibrous string that needs to be removed.
Yes, of course. If you want to make 2 pounds of garlic butter green beans, I would double all of the ingredients and keep the cooking time the same.
Absolutely! Make sure the beans have completely cooled before freezing to minimize ice crystals. Put the cold green beans with the garlic butter sauce into an airtight container and freeze. If packaged correctly, they will last 6 months or longer. To reheat them I would use the sear/sauté function on the Ninja Foodi Pressure Cooker or Instant Pot. Or, you could use the slow cook function from frozen and cook them long enough to thaw and warm through.
More Irresistible Side Dishes!
Garlic Butter Green Beans
Equipment
- Pressure Cooker
Ingredients
- 1 pound fresh green beans
- ¼ cup vegetable stock
- 3 Tablespoons butter salted or unsalted
- 1 Tablespoon minced garlic about 5-6 cloves
- ¼ teaspoon fine grind sea salt or kosher salt
- ¼ teaspoon black pepper
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Instructions
- Rinse and cut the ends off of the whole green beans. Mince the garlic.
- Add the vegetable broth to the inner pot of the pressure cooker. For 6.5 quart size and smaller, use ¼ cup of broth. For 7 quart size and bigger use 6 Tablespoons.¼ cup vegetable stock
- Add the prepared green beans to the inner pot.1 pound fresh green beans
- Put the butter and the minced garlic on top of the green beans and don't stir. *This varies from my video where I put the garlic on the bottom of the inner pot. Putting the garlic on top will prevent it from burning which is more likely to occur if you are using a stainless steel pot.3 Tablespoons butter, 1 Tablespoon minced garlic
- Season with salt and pepper. Don't stir.¼ teaspoon fine grind sea salt, ¼ teaspoon black pepper
- Put the pressure lid on and turn the valve to seal. Set the pressure cooker to high pressure and the time to 1 minute. It will take about 8 minutes for the pot to come to pressure and once the 1 minute cook time is up, turn the valve to vent to immediately release the pressure. *If you want your beans softer, allow the pot to naturally release for 1-2 minutes before venting the remaining pressure.
- Toss the beans to coat with the garlic butter sauce and taste for seasonings. Add salt and pepper to taste. Transfer to a serving bowl with the sauce. Serve & Enjoy!
Nutrition
About the Recipe Author, Louise Long
Louise is a full-time recipe creator and food blogger @ The Salted Pepper. She has over 30 years of experience with cooking and recipe development. She owned a restaurant for several years and was a full-time RN until retiring to blog full-time.
She published her first cookbook in the Fall of 2018 and is very interested in writing several more.
Louise is also the creator of an online Ninja Foodi Pressure Cooking Course with over 100 instructional step-by-step videos. People absolutely rave about the course and all the value they have received from it.
Louise has several very active Facebook groups that help people with the basics of cooking and learning more about the appliances they love.
Ninja Foodi Pressure Cooker & Air Crisper 101
Ninja Woodfire Outdoor Grill & Smoker
Louise is also a YouTube creator and you can find most of her recipes in video format on The Salted Pepper YouTube channel.
She is very responsive to messages and eager to help in any way she can. Get more Information about Louise & contact information
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Chris
Hello, my name is Chris and I love your channel, I have used tons of your recipes, so thank you. I have made these beans 4 times now and would like to know if there is anything I can do to make them crisper? I have the 8qt Ninja and put it on 0 mins., so not sure what I can do. Thank you for your time.
Louise
What I would do is turn off the Ninja after it has been building pressure for 5-7 minutes and not even let it go under pressure. What sounds like is happening is the 8 quart is taking just a little bit longer to come to pressure which normally isn't an issue, but with vegetables every minute matters. Once you turn off the Foodi, immediately release the pressure. I hope that fixes the problem and you have crisper beans! Please let me know.
Laurie Province
Hi Louise,
Thank you so much for this recipe! My husband absolutely loves these green beans. I've made them several times now and they always turn out perfectly!
Question- do you think I could substitute the green beans for fresh broccoli florets? If yes, how long should I pressure cook? Any other adjustments needed? Thank you in advance for your help!
Laurie 😊
Louise
I don't recommend pressure cooking broccoli, but if you want to try it I would PC for zero minutes. Even when the broccoli florets are large they tend to turn a muddled green color and can be too soft.
Laurie Province
Thank you for letting me know. 😊