If you're looking for a lower carb great alternative to pasta salad or potato salad, or just a clever way to use up some extra string beans this is the perfect side dish any time of year.
This simple side dish is a great addition to your dinner table at a family gathering, holiday meals or to bring to summer cookouts. The best part? There are just a few simple fresh vegetables and other pantry staples involved, plus parmesan cheese. You'll love this easy recipe!
Craving more green bean recipes? Be sure to check out these roasted garlic and lemon green beans, this green bean casserole, or this cold green bean lemon and feta salad.
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❤️Why you'll love this
- Quick preparation - This awesome side is ready to go in less than 30 minutes. You know we love quick and easy!
- Simple ingredients - There are only 11 total ingredients to make this delicious salad if you include salt and pepper. These everyday ingredients get transformed into something totally crave worthy.
- Fresh and flavorful - Quick, easy, and made with tons of fresh flavor. What's not to love? Sometimes the tastiest things in life are the most simple!
🌿Ingredients
✏️Ingredient notes
- French cut green beans - We want crunchy and crisp green beans for this recipe, so you'll want to opt for fresh and not frozen.
- Extra virgin olive oil & balsamic vinegar - To make the base of the dressing.
- Fresh garlic - Finely minced for excellent flavor.
- Lemon juice - Freshly squeezed, this brings a lot of brightness to this dish.
- Seasonings - We use a mixture of kosher salt, black pepper, and red pepper flakes to the homemade dressing for lots of flavor.
- Parmesan cheese - Freshly grated is definitely your best bet.
- Cherry tomatoes - We like the small bites of sweet, cherry tomatoes, or grape tomatoes, but any type of tomato you prefer will work fine here.
- Fresh basil - Nothing beats fresh basil, and it complements this salad so well.
📖Instructions
We created a Google web story for this green bean salad recipe to view the instructions in a different format if you prefer.
🔪Prep work
- Clean the green beans, and trim off any woody stems or blemishes.
- Slice tomatoes in half.
- Bring a large pot of water to a rolling boil, add a few tablespoons of kosher salt to the water. You want to make sure it's very salty so the flavor can permeate the green beans while they are cooking.
- Make an ice bath with a large bowl of ice water. Add cold water only to the bowl, and lots of ice. This is used to halt the cooking process once the beans are cooked through and allows us to maintain the vibrant green color.
Once the water is ready, place beans in the pot of boiling water. Boil for about 5-7 minutes, until beans have softened but still have a bit of crunch to them.
Transfer immediately to the ice bath, then drain and set aside.
Meanwhile, while the beans are cooking, combine lemon juice, olive oil, balsamic vinegar, salt, pepper, and red pepper flakes in a bowl. Whisk to combine.
In a large serving bowl or plate, arrange the green beans and tomatoes with ribbons of fresh basil, and freshly grated parmesan cheese.
Drizzle on the dressing, and toss to combine, repeating until all ingredients are fully incorporated.
To serve, garnish with more fresh basil, parmesan cheese, freshly cracked black pepper, salt, and lemon. Enjoy!
Hint: Make sure not to overcook your beans! Leaving a little bit of crunch to the green beans will also preserve the flavor!
✨Substitutions
Trying to figure out where it's possible to make swaps? We've got you covered!
- Basil - You can always substitute for some dried basil or Italian seasoning.
- Vinegar - No balsamic vinegar? No problem. You can use white vinegar, apple cider vinegar, or red wine vinegar instead.
- Red pepper flakes - No into any spice? We promise this adds just a pinch of flavor, but you can leave it out if you prefer.
- Cherry tomatoes - Any variety of tomato you prefer works perfectly fine here.
- Use a variety of beans - If you have lots of fresh beans available, like wax beans, feel free to use those in addition to or in place of french beans.
- Garlic- Garlic powder can be used instead of fresh garlic, though fresh is definitely the tastiest!
💭Variations
Looking for more flavor or to make this salad suit your diet? We've included a few ideas!
- Dairy free or vegan - Don't do dairy? No problem. You can leave out the parmesan cheese, or use a vegan substitute. You may want to add in extra salt if you opt out of using cheese at all.
- Spicy - Add extra red pepper flakes, or some Calabrian chili oil or paste for extra flavor!
- Roasted garlic - Take this recipe a step further by adding roasted garlic.
- Pesto - Want to pack in even more flavor? Try mixing up a batch of this basil walnut pesto and drizzling it over top for incredible flavor!
- Onion - Love onion? Finely slice up some red onion and add it to the salad for extra flavor.
- Shortcut method - Low on time? Add some Italian dressing in place of the homemade dressing to cut the prep time in even less time!
- Add nuts - Nuts like pine nuts or crunchy almonds would make for a great addition to this cold green bean salad.
- Cheesier - Want more cheese? Fresh mozzarella would be a great option on this fresh salad!
- Protein packed - Add prosciutto di parma or any other of your favorite Italian deli meats and some cheeses to make this salad a whole meal. (Maybe you're craving this keto antipasto salad instead!)
🌿What to eat with this recipe
Looking for a main course to pair this with? Here's our top suggestions.
- Keto Fried Pork Chops
- Pesto Butter Salmon
- Creamy Keto Tuscan Chicken
- Chicken Wrapped in Prosciutto with Mozzarella Cheese
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🥣Storage
These will keep in the fridge in an airtight container for up to 2-3 days. To make them last longer, cut up tomatoes when serving as opposed to before.
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📖 Recipe
Italian Green Bean Salad
Ingredients
- 1.5 pounds green beans, trimmed
- 10 ounces cherry tomatoes, halved (1 pint)
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice (juice of 1 /2 a lemon)
- 1.5 teaspoons kosher salt
- ¼ teaspoon black pepper
- ¼ teaspoon red pepper flakes (optional)
- 1 clove garlic, minced
- 1 ounce fresh basil ribbons
- 2 ounces parmesan cheese, freshly grated
Instructions
- Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. place beans in the pot of boiling water. Boil for about 5-7 minutes, then transfer immediately to the ice bath, then drain and set aside.
- Meanwhile, while the beans are cooking, combine lemon juice, olive oil, balsamic vinegar, salt, pepper, and red pepper flakes in a bowl to make the dressing. Whisk to combine.
- In a large serving bowl or plate, arrange the green beans and tomatoes with ribbons of fresh basil, and freshly grated parmesan cheese. Drizzle on the dressing, and toss to combine, repeating until all ingredients are fully incorporated.
- To serve, garnish with more fresh basil, parmesan cheese, freshly cracked black pepper, salt, and lemon. Enjoy!
- Store in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 2-3 days.
Notes
- Season to taste, red pepper flakes are optional.
- Any type of tomato you prefer can be used.
- To prolong the amount of time this salad will keep in the fridge, cut tomatoes up only right before serving.
- For a full list of substitutions, variations, tips, and tricks, read the body text of the post.
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