Green beans aren’t only an American Thanksgiving staple, they’re a holiday meal must-have! My Green Beans with Almonds and Sage Butter Onions make the perfect side dish to any festive meal! They come together in less than 15 minutes, have only a handful of ingredients, and are gluten-free.
Can you tell I’m super psyched about the holidays? Especially Thanksgiving?! Call me uneducated, but do other cultures have this one random day that is ALL about the food?? I mean…giving thanks. Food.
I’m sure there are random national holidays around the world that are celebrated with food, but I’m not so sure people freak out like Americans do and plan for a whole month for ONE dinner.
Anyways.
As for holiday foods, all roads lead to green beans. Is that a saying? I think it’s a thing.
I believe you’re either on Team Green Bean Casserole, Team Green Beans Almondine, or Team Both…three teams. Or maybe your family never did the green bean thing and you were always wondering what those Campbell’s commercials were about and why in the world there are so many canned and fresh green beans in the store right now.
My family was always Team Green Bean Casserole. My mom made it for every holiday and even to this day, she makes it probably twice a month because my dad loves it so much. Then one Thanksgiving almost 10 years ago my dad’s cousin brought his green beans with almonds out for T-day dinner.
GAME CHANGED.
At least for me, I couldn’t let a holiday pass without a version of those green beans on the table too. In fact, last year I hosted Thanksgiving dinner at my house (yup, 3 days out from my due date) and made only the green beans with almonds.
Ok, so what am I sharing with you? I think it’s the best of both worlds. A whole new world. A green bean magic carpet ride, if you will.
Lord.
My Green Beans with Almonds and Sage Butter Onions are a one-two-THREE punch of holiday flavor.
I steam green beans in some chicken broth until bright green and fork tender. Then I throw in some almonds and let those cook while the broth cooks off. In a separate pan, meanwhile, I let some butter and olive oil simmer with some sage and garlic until it’s killer flavorful.
Then I quickly toss some thinly sliced onion in rice flour and let those sizzle in the butter until they are soft yet have a crispy little bite to them. I toss the onions on top of my beans along with those fried garlic cloves and a few good drizzles of the butter. DONE!
Start to finish, we are talking 10-15 minutes. It doesn’t get much easier than that.
You can make as many or few of the onions as you’d like, but I liked them as a little garnish, not the main show. If you want to do a bunch, I’d do them in batches, starting with new butter every few rounds of frying just so your butter doesn’t burn. Browned butter = fabulous; burnt butter = sad panda.
Ok, are you ready?! Here’s the recipe!
- 12 ounces fresh green beans, ends trimmed
- ½ cup chicken broth (I used a low sodium, all natural one with no sugar in the ingredients)
- ½ cup chopped almonds
- 4 Tbs. unsalted organic butter
- 2 Tbs. extra virgin olive oil
- 2 large garlic cloves
- 1 large sage leaf
- white onion (you’ll only need a few thin slices, maybe ¼ an onion)
- 1/3 cup brown rice flour (or gf baking flour)
- In a large skillet combine the green beans and chicken broth over medium-low heat. Cover with a lid and set the timer for 6 minutes.
- In a very small saucepan over low heat, combine the butter, olive oil, garlic cloves and sage leaf.
- When your timer goes off, stir your green beans. Recover for another 2 minutes and they’ll be perfectly aldente (if you’re afraid yours are cooking too fast, turn down your heat and skip the extra 2 minutes). Next, uncovered, add the almonds and stir them to the bottom of the pan. Let the almonds cook and simmer until the broth is practically gone, which will be maybe 2 minutes but not terribly long. Taste a bean and make sure it is seasoned to your liking (chicken broth cooks down to be quite flavorful and can be salty, even the reduced sodium ones, so don’t add salt and pepper until your beans are fully cooked and you can taste them. Nobody likes a salty dish.).
- Put your beans into your serving dish.
- Your butter should be smelling nice and flavorful and should be picking up a tiny bit of color (you need to have had it on very low heat so it doesn’t burn). Turn the heat up to around medium. Remove the sage leaf (trash) and the garlic cloves (add to beans).
- Slice a few very thin slices of onion. Break apart the rings. Toss each in the brown rice flour (in a small bowl) and knock off the excess in the bowl. Put a few onions at a time in the hot butter. It should simmer around the onion right away but not splatter and burn (too hot). Carefully turn the onions over and around as they cook in the butter and when they get some tan coloring to them and a bit crispy on the outside, take them out (I use metal tongs) and add them on top of the green beans. Continue doing this until your onions are all ready. If your butter is starting to get too dark, stop frying onions in it because you don’t want the butter to burn. Drizzle a little of the browned butter on top of the beans (a couple tablespoons).
- Serve, enjoy!
Here’s our previous recipe in the Thanksgiving series, in case you missed it!
LEFTOVERS: These green beans reheat really easily so you can eat them the next day. You could also heat them just slightly, slice them up and toss them into a big fall salad. I’m also a big fan of making a frittata with the beans all chopped up and more garlic and onions! xoxo
These look so simple and yummy, you could even serve these in place of a traditional green bean casserole for Thanksgiving!
Mmm! Sounds like a delicious holiday side dish!
These sound amazing. I love green beans with butter (and almonds!). I’ll have to try your version soon. Mmm.