Gorgeous, glistening blistered green beans with just the right amount of char, salty umami and not-too-tender texture. Deliciously smoked flavor with lightly crisp exteriors.

Glistening, Gorgeous, Emerald Green: The Best Ever Blistered Green Beans Recipe!

What is it about glistening green beans that just brings an added element of elegance to your dining table? Today’s amazing blistered green beans recipe is one of my favorite vegetable side dishes because of the glisten and so much more!

Think: satisfying smoked flavor, the perfect balance between crisp edges and tender chew. Welcome to the best ever blistered green beans. Ready? Let’s make this!

The Ingredients You Need

Blistered green beans are one of my favorite vegetable forward recipes to make because they’re simple and elegant. The smoky char, salty goodness, and just right balance of tender bits & crispy bits is amazing.

This recipe includes:

Green beans
Butter – a combination of butter and olive oil make for a deliciously interesting and tasty flavor profile.
Olive oil – you can also use avocado oil or your favorite high-heat cooking oil.
Soy sauce – you may recall me adding a dash of this ingredient to my roasted potatoes and green beans – it’s the secret ingredient & really takes your blistered green beans to the Next Level.
Salt & pepper – use as much or as little as you’d like.

What Are Blistered Green Beans?

Blistered green beans are green beans that are prepared with very high heat until tender and charred (or blistered). If you’ve ever had Sichuan dry fried green beans or 干煸四季豆(ganbian sijidou), then you might have an idea of what we’re going for.

Today’s blistered green beans aren’t spicy or made with ground pork like ganbian sijidou is, but it follows a similar idea of searing/blistering green beans until just a touch crispy, with tender bits and a blistered surface that holds seasoning very well.

How to Make Blistered Green Beans

Prep the green beans

Prepare the green beans: wash, dry, then trim off the ends of the green beans.

Now, heat a sauté pan over medium high heat. Add butter and swirl to coat the pan. Add olive oil.

Turn up the heat

Turn the heat up to the high setting.

Next, grab some protective eyewear and add in the green beans. Yep, the beans are gonna sizzle and pop! (Drying them as much as possible helps, but bits of water always get in there. Green beans are packed with water, and the high heat is a bit tricky, so use caution to be safe).

Blister green beans

Allow the green beans to blister in the pan for about 3 minutes. You’ll know it’s ready when dark brown sear marks appear on the underside of the beans.

Flip half-blistered green beans, then cook the opposite side for 1-2 minutes.

Then, sprinkle in salt and pepper. Toss to coat.

Add the sauce

Now, for the fun part! Pour in the soy sauce. There’s going to be a bit of a flambé-eqsue situation—so again, make sure to wear your protective eyewear. Toss to coat, and cook for only 30 seconds.

Drip off excess oil & enjoy the best Blistered Green Beans!

Finally, grab a pair of tongs and drip off excess oil. Then, transfer to a dish and enjoy the best blistered green beans!

The Key to Perfectly Blistering Green Beans

The key to making perfectly blistering green beans is cooking the green beans enough, but not too much. Remember, making these blistered green beans are about a short cook time, with high heat. Fast cooking, here we come!

We’re going to begin by turning the heat up to high to quickly sear the green beans, then adding in a dash of soy sauce to help sorta-kinda flambé or almost wok hei the green beans. That flash of heat blisters your green beans and leaves them with a delicious smoky flavor.

More Vegetable Side Dish Recipes

Roasted Green Beans and Potatoes
Maple Brussels Sprouts
Roasted Potatoes and Carrots
and… more to come! Check back soon. 😉

Tools You Need

Thankful as Cluck… 🦃

For you. Can you feel our gratitude from over there? Erik and I are always grateful that you’ve stopped by and are making & sharing these kitchen adventures with us. Please be sure to let us know your thoughts on today’s recipe—we look forward to it! Til our next kitchen adventure…

Sending you all my love and maybe even a dove, xo Demeter ❤️

🧑‍🍳 📸 🍚

📸 Did you make this recipe? Take a pic and share it on Instagram with the hashtag #beamingbaker & tag @beamingbaker. I’d love to see it! 📸