We’re just regular folks. We get into ruts and seem to eat the same things in an endless rotation. And like most families, we’ve got some picky folks in the clan.
While they are certainly getting more adventurous, getting them to eat veggies is a real challenge. When Heather and I got married, there was only a handful of things she would eat. She didn’t mind trying stuff, she just didn’t like much.
She grew up in a traditional Southern family where they cooked vegetables until they were soft and tender. And I did, too. I’ll never forget the first time I had steamed green beans that were still crunchy. Woo, I thought those folks had messed up!
I learned early on that for her, it was really more about texture than anything else. Noticing that she loved the texture of roasted haricot verts at a restaurant one time, I set out to get her to try new veggies – just cooked differently.
Since then, we’ve roasted just about any vegetable we can get our hands on. And she’s taken a liking to almost all of it. So it really was about texture and prep more than the actual veggie.
One of her favorites is roasted green beans. But they can get a little boring having them at least once a week, so I’m constantly changing the seasonings and spices to mix things up. A few weeks back I threw some Cavender’s Greek Seasoning on them along with some smoked paprika. After they came out of the oven I squeezed some fresh lemon juice over them and instantly our new favorite way to make green beans was born.
Everyone just loved them. I even got a “Dad, these are really good” from Jack, which is quite a feat since he’s in that weird preteen phase where he hates just about everything.
These aren’t the traditional Southern, cooked-to-death green beans your mama made. You can find those here. Nope, these are cooked until they’re tender but still have some texture. Some folks call it “tender crisp,” but that seems like an oxymoron to me. Regardless, I like green beans both ways, but we’re far more likely to make them this way because that’s how the rest of the Little crew will eat them.
Roasting them intensifies the flavor, gives them just a bit of char, and allows them to maintain some texture.
The other enormous benefit of this recipe is the crazy easy cleanup. By lining a baking pan with aluminum foil and mixing everything right on the pan, clean up consists of nothing more than crumpling that foil up and tossing it. That in itself makes these beans taste even better. Y’all enjoy!
Recipe Card
My Favorite Roasted Green Beans
Ingredients
- 1 pound green beans, washed and trimmed of stems
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 1/2 teaspoons Cavender's All Purpose Greek Seasoning
- 1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika
- 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 425°F and line a baking sheet with aluminum foil for easy clean up.
- Add the green beans to the baking sheet and drizzle with the oil. Use your hands or tongs to toss them to coat them in the oil. Sprinkle with the Cavender's seasoning and paprika. Toss again to get the seasonings evenly distributed.
- Roast in the oven for 15 to 18 minutes or until the beans are starting to shrivel and some ends are starting to turn dark brown. Cook less for crisper green beans or more if you like them more tender.
- Remove from the oven and drizzle with the lemon juice. Toss to coat. Serve immediately.
* If nutritional values are provided, they are an estimate and will vary depending on the brands used. The values do not include optional ingredients or when ingredients are added to taste. If calorie count and other nutritional values are important to you, I recommend grabbing your favorite brands and plugging those ingredients into an online nutritional calculator.
Susan L Suchower
Stacey, I have a question about the oven setting. My oven has air-fryer inside of it that starts at 425 degrees unless you punch in a different temperature. would it be better to use the Air-fryer setting or the Bake setting for roasting the green beans?
I think they’ll be great using either method. If you do them on the air fryer setting, I’d reduce the temperature to 400°F and just keep in mind that they make cook a little faster than the oven method.
Carey
These turned out beautifully for Thanksgiving dinner. I added more salt after tasting them halfway through cooking, but other than that, the recipe is spot on. I also tried cooking them in the air fryer today. Honestly, the regular oven gave better results. In the air fryer, I cooked them on 400 for 14 minutes. They were over done. Probably 10 or 11 minutes would have worked better. Even though they were over cooked in the air fryer, they did not have the crispy bits that they achieved in the regular oven. Thank you, Stacy, for providing all your delicious recipes. You are becoming a regular part of our holiday meal planning.
That’s quite the honor. I don’t take the trust you put in me and my recipes lightly! Thank you!
Carey Sakert
Just letting you know that I tried cooking these on the stove top and that worked well, too. I put the seasoned green beans in a large skillet with a little butter and some chicken stock (just enough to cover the bottom of the pan), covered and cooked them on medium heat for about 8 minutes, removed the cover, and continued cooking until all the liquid had evaporated and the beans were slightly blistered and brown on the outside. Roasting is still better, but if you’re short on oven space or time, stove top cooking yields good results, too.
Great tip! Thanks for sharing! So glad you enjoyed them!
Emily Lewis
I’m going to try it in the air fryer!
Let me know how they turn out!
Sally
I grew up on green beans with bacon grease, but started using Cavender’s instead 35 years ago. I can’t eat them any other way now, it’s delicious on green beans!!
We sure love it!
Winnie Mom
I love chicken spaghetti. I’ve been making for a long time but had never used the Ro-tel tomatoes or cream cheese. Made this for a church covered dish supper and combined your recipe and my recipe and WOW!!. My husband normally doesn’t like casserole dishes but he said this was a keeper. Thanks for all the delicious receipes from Southern Bite..
I’m so glad y’all enjoyed it, Winnie Mom!!
Shannon Moore
My husband and I grew up on wonderful “cooked to death” green beans and we still love them. However, we were introduced to roasted/grilled (not sure which) at Bravo in Huntsville and what an eye-opening experience these green beans were for our southern palates. They had some sort of smokiness and just the right amount of salty flavor. They don’t serve them anymore (it’s asparagus instead), but we dream of those roasted green beans often. Thank you for this recipe! Will be trying soon!
Hope these taste just as good! Enjoy, Shannon!
Jane M.
Ohhh, need to try this soon, Stacey! I’m burned out on canned/frozen green beans (50+ years). Will be picking up “fresh” green beans soon, now that I have a new and decent recipe that doesn’t make me boil them to death. Thank you!
Sure hope you’ll enjoy them, Jane!