The Crunchy Ingredient You Should Start Adding To Canned Green Beans

As an inexpensive canned food you'll use all the time, green beans are a top-tier pantry staple when you're looking to get some quick vegetables. However, after eating them so much, you may be looking for an upgrade. Luckily, nuts are as easy to add as they are delicious, adding plenty of protein and texture to your meal.

One of the best parts about nuts as an addition to green beans is their versatility. Whether you like to make green beans shine with garlic and Parmesan or prefer baking them with cream of mushroom soup in a casserole, there are very few nuts that won't pair well. However, the key is to maximize the flavor of your new ingredient. While seasonings are always optional, you should never skip on roasting nuts at home if you want the best side dish possible.

Roasting brings their oils to the surface, improves their flavor and texture, and makes them a bit easier to digest. You can safely eat most nuts raw, but they can never compete with the satisfying crunch, rich aroma, and caramelized sugars of toasted varieties. This is especially important if you plan to only use your nuts as a topping since they won't have time to spread their flavors to the beans themselves. However you choose to include them and whichever type you pick, roasted nuts are the absolute best crunchy ingredient when you want to upgrade your canned green beans.

As a simple topping sprinkled on top, nuts provide a dichotomy of texture to the soft chew of canned green beans. While boiling or simmering nuts with your green beans can compromise their texture, there are plenty of tricks to infuse nutty tastes directly into the veggies while preserving crunchiness.

Giving your nuts a quick fry in a bit of fat is a great way to draw out their oils and prepare a flavorful sauce for your beans. Whether you use butter, olive oil, or even beef tallow, fry your nuts for a couple minutes until they're lightly brown, remove the nuts, then pour the fat directly into your pot of green beans while they simmer. You can set the nuts aside as a snack or let them cool, chop them up, and sprinkle over the beans before you serve them. This method not only adds a bit of heartiness to your vegetables, but creates the same flavorful benefits as toasting your nuts, enhancing their texture and flavor.

If you're looking for a hands-off side dish with extra crispy nuts, try using them as a topping for baked green beans. This is especially great if you're a fan of green bean casserole, as the nuts grow extra crunchy from the dry heat of the oven, producing a fantastic crust. Try giving the nuts a sprinkle of salt and sugar first to help them both dry out and develop a crispy exterior.