How to Cook Green Beans

Green beans are mostly seen as side dishes in family dinner table as well as in many restaurants. Green beans are low in calories and contain important nutrients such as vitamin C, Vitamin A, iron and manganese, thiamin, copper, omega 3 fatty acids, niacin, calcium and riboflavin. With green beans, you can make different varieties of tasty dishes. Green beans are available frozen and canned. Green beans can be harvested and eaten at an immature stage.

Buy beans that are slender, free spots and crisp. Wash the beans and remove the ends and while removing the tips, you can snap the end to pull the side of the beans to remove the string. Then put in the pot of boiling water for about 4 minutes, which is known as blanching. Blanching turns beans in to bright green color. Blanching also makes beans nice and crunchy. Boil beans for a little longer to make them mushy. After cooking properly, put the beans in to a colander to drain out excess of water. Sprinkle little garlic salt and pour olive oil on the cooked beans and serve. This method can be used for full fresh green beans, beans coming in bags and for frozen beans.

You can also sprinkle parmesan cheese over the cooked beans, which are normally liked by kids. Steaming of beans is the easiest and fastest method for cooking beans. Pour an inch of water in a saucepan with a steamer basket. Then add green beans in to the basket. When the water boils, cover the pan and steam the beans for about 4 minutes. Whatever the method using to cook the beans, you have to cook them in little amount of water and they should retain their color even after cooking. Green beans are also used in salads, soup and stir-fries.