Southern-style Green Beans–Printable Version

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Southern-style Green Beans

Ingredients:

Nonstick cooking spray

1 small onion

3 strips bacon or turkey bacon

Black pepper to taste

2 cans green beans, drained

1/3 cup firmly packed brown sugar

1-2 Tbs. soy sauce

Directions:

You can make these in a small batch or enough to feed an army. For convenience’s sake, I’ve prepared this recipe post using 2 cans of green beans, which feeds about 2-3 people as a side dish.

Begin by spraying a saucepan with nonstick cooking spray and placing over medium heat.

Next, chop onion into many pieces and shred uncooked bacon into small bites.♥ Add onion and bacon to the heated pan and stir. Leave cooking for 5-6 minutes or until onions begin to look transparent. Sprinkle with black pepper to taste.

♥Chef’s note: I like to use turkey bacon in cooking in place of pork because it shreds very easily, cooks evenly, and has no super-fatty areas. Plus, you can usually get name-brand turkey bacon for a dollar less than generic pork bacon, so it’s easier on the wallet.

A good rule of thumb I use when making green beans in bulk is (2) pieces bacon for the first can of beans, and (1) piece of bacon for every additional can of beans I add.

Once onion bits and bacon are beginning to brown, drain the cans of green beans and add to mixture. Bring to simmer.

Stir in brown sugar and soy sauce into the now-simmering pot, cover, reduce heat a little and walk away. Good beans need to cook down for at least 15 minutes. Uncover, stir, and serve to adoring mouths.

(Keep in mind when preparing these green beans that because they’re going to cook down quite a bit, you want to overestimate the number of cans you’ll need because they’re going to be both drained AND cooked down before you serve them so there’s not going to be as much volume there as what you started with.)