We love green beans, especially when they are cooked al dente and have some firmness and crunch to them. There are so many ways to add some flavor to fresh green beans, and this green bean recipe is one of our absolute favorites! Just some butter, salt and pepper and good balsamic vinegar bring some excitement to these humble vegetables. And adding some toasted sliced almonds takes them to another level! Enjoy this recipe for Balsamic Green Beans with Sliced Almonds with your favorite proteins to round out your next meal!

Looking for more side dish recipes like this? Try out our Sautéed Italian White Beans with Kale and Tomatoes or Easy Sautéed Balsamic Asparagus with Parmesan.
Jump to:
- Why You’ll Love this Recipe
- About Balsamic Green Beans
- Ingredients
- Substitutions
- How to Make Balsamic Green Beans
- Equipment
- Step-by-Step Instructions
- Variations
- Storage
- Top Tip
- Troubleshooting
- What to serve with Balsamic Green Beans
- What Wines To Drink with Balsamic Green Beans
- Mangiamo Cookbook
- FAQ
- Related
- Pairing
- 📖 Recipe
Why You’ll Love this Recipe
- Tasty and easy side dish for any protein
- Delicious way to serve green beans
- Nice textures make the dish shine
- Slightly tangy flavor along with some sweetness from the balsamic vinegar is perfectly balanced
About Balsamic Green Beans
Balsamic glazed green beans make a great side dish for almost any protein, and we absolutely love the flavor that balsamic vinegar imparts on green beans. A good balsamic vinegar can transform nearly any dish from ordinary to extraordinary. That is especially true with these green beans! With a few more additions, like toasted sliced almonds, you’ll have a new favorite preparation for these delicious vegetables.
There are a few keys in the cooking process for green beans to ensure that they don't turn into a mushy undesirable texture. Overcooked green beans are borderline awful (like canned green beans), but there is an easy way to make sure this never happens, and it involves blanching the green beans before adding them to a hot skillet. The result is crisp green beans with the perfect green vibrant color, texture and fresh flavor!

Ingredients
Here is what you need to make this green bean side dish recipe:
- Sliced Almonds: Pre-sliced almonds should be easily found at your local grocery store and with a little dry toasting in a pan, their flavor is amplified.
- Green Beans: We use haricots verts, or the skinniest version of green beans you can find (about the diameter of a pencil). Although you can use regular green beans or whatever you like here.
- Unsalted Butter: Using unsalted butter allows us to control the salt content and use the salt we desire to taste instead.
- Black Pepper: With so few ingredients, cracked black pepper gets a chance to shine here a bit more than usual
- Kosher Salt
- Balsamic Vinegar: Good quality, real balsamic vinegar (12 year aged or more) is perfect here. To make sure you are buying the real-deal balsamic vinegar, look for the DOP (Protected Designation of Origin) from Modena, Italy. Yes, it will be a bit more expensive, but the flavor is so much better that it barely compares to other versions and it's worth the extra price!
- Parmesan Cheese: Optional garnish that can make the dish even more decadent
See recipe card below for quantities.
Substitutions
Here are a couple of common substitutions for the ingredients in this recipe:
- Sliced Almonds: Slivered almonds or even pecan or walnut pieces, or pine nuts can be substituted
- Black Pepper: This is delicious with white, pink, green or even Szechuan pepper

How to Make Balsamic Green Beans
This is truly a simple recipe to make and it comes together quickly with only a handful of ingredients. It is the perfect side dish for weeknight dinners! Blanching the green beans takes no time and cooking them afterward in the balsamic sauce brings all the flavors together.
Equipment
Here is what you need to make this dish
- Large pot to blanch the beans
- Large skillet to toast the almonds and cook the beans
- Large bowl for the ice bath
Step-by-Step Instructions
Dry toast the almonds
- In a large skillet over medium-high heat add the almonds and toast. Toss and stir the almonds often for 2-3 minutes. The almonds will develop some brown color and the aroma is nutty. Remove and set aside once they are slightly browned.
Blanch the green beans
- Bring a large pot of salted water (about 2 tablespoon of salt) to a boil. Add the green beans to the boiling water for 1-2 minutes depending on the thickness of your green beans and the tenderness you prefer. We like them with a bit of crunch so just a couple minutes of blanching achieves this texture. Once done, remove to an ice water bath to stop the cooking process for about 1 minute, then remove to a paper towel lined plate to remove excess water.
Cook the beans
- In the same skillet used for the almonds, over medium heat, melt the butter. Add the green beans then the salt, pepper and balsamic vinegar. Cook for 1 minute, then add the almonds and toss to coat. Taste and add additional salt if needed. If desired, sprinkle with some parmesan cheese. Serve with your favorite main course.
Variations
Here are a couple ways to change up this balsamic green beans recipe:
- Use other green vegetables in place of the beans, such as broccoli, Brussels sprouts, asparagus or even peas. You could even use other fresh vegetables like cauliflower or carrots if desired.
- If you prefer the beans to be cooked even more, like a stewed green bean texture, simply blanch them longer. If you prefer the beans to be very crunchy and almost raw, skip the blanching altogether.

Storage
How to store leftover green beans:
- Store leftover balsamic green beans in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 4 days
How to reheat leftover green beans:
- Gently warm them in a covered skillet with a little bit of water over medium-low heat until warmed through.
Can you freeze leftover green beans?
Not recommended. These are best enjoyed freshly made.
Top Tip
The most important thing is the balsamic vinegar here. Only use the good stuff! Balsamic vinegar that is made in Modena, Italy the traditional way is an amazing product and other versions do not compare! When balsamic vinegar is mass produced in a factory outside of Italy, the result is an underwhelming vinegar with a terrible flavor.
Troubleshooting
The only thing that may be an issue is burning the almonds, which is easy to do if you don’t pay attention. There is no going back if they burn, so just start over. It only takes a couple of minutes to get this right.

What Wines To Drink with Balsamic Green Beans
Pair your wine with the main dish, not these green beans. But a crisp acidic white wine, such as a dry riesling, goes well with these if serving them with seafood or chicken. A nice Italian red wine, such as a Barolo, is perfect if enjoying this side dish with red meat.

Mangiamo Cookbook
Get your copy of our cookbook, Mangiamo, with 60 Italian recipes with drool-worthy images inspired by our Italian roots and travels!
FAQ
True balsamic vinegar is aged at least 12 years using an ancient process in specific areas of Italy. Balsamic glaze can be made from real balsamic vinegar by reducing the vinegar in a sauce pan until it thickens slightly. The longer balsamic vinegar is aged, the thicker it gets, so you do not need to reduce higher quality aged balsamic vinegars. If you see "balsamic glaze" at your grocery store, it is a likely commercialized product that is nothing like the real stuff. We always recommend buying the real deal DOP balsamic vinegar from Italy rather than spending money on commercialized imitation products.
This really depends on the techniques you are using and the doneness of the green beans desired. In a dish such as sautéed green beans and tomatoes, you don’t really need to blanch the beans first as they can cook as long as you want with the tomatoes in a skillet. For other dishes that don’t require the extra time, blanching can get you to the perfect point of doneness. Also, blanching in salted water will give the beans a beautiful bright green color and we prefer the texture and flavor of beans that have been blanched first in almost every application.
Aging allows more of the balsamic vinegar to evaporate. Therefore, the resulting product will become thicker, less acidic, more concentrated, sweeter, and will develop more umami flavors.
Related
Looking for other recipes like this? Try these:
Pairing
These are our favorite main dishes to serve with Balsamic Green Beans:
📖 Recipe

Balsamic Green Beans with Sliced Almonds
Equipment
- 1 large skillet
- 1 Large bowl
Ingredients
- ¼ cup sliced almonds
- 1 pound green beans
- 2 Tablespoons unsalted butter
- 1 teaspoon black pepper
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 Tablespoon balsamic vinegar
- 1 Tablespoon Parmesan Cheese Optional
Instructions
- In a large skillet over medium-high heat add the almonds and toast. Toss and stir the almonds often for 2-3 minutes. The almonds will develop some brown color and the aroma is nutty. Remove and set aside once they are slightly browned.
- Bring a large pot of salted water (about 2 tablespoon of salt) to a boil. Add the green beans to the boiling water for 1-2 minutes depending on the thickness of your green beans and the tenderness you prefer. We like them with a bit of crunch so just a couple minutes of blanching achieves this texture. Once done, remove to an ice water bath to stop the cooking process for about 1 minute, then remove to a paper towel lined plate to remove excess water.
- In the same skillet used for the almonds, over medium heat, melt the butter. Add the green beans then the salt, pepper and balsamic vinegar. Cook for 1 minute, then add the almonds and toss to coat. Taste and add additional salt if needed. If desired, sprinkle with some parmesan cheese. Serve with your favorite main course.
Nutrition

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