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These easy Roasted Green Beans are loaded with garlic and lemon and roasted to perfection. They’re simple to make any night of the week, but special enough for holidays, too.
Oven-roasted string beans have to be one of the easiest things to make in the world. The high heat of the oven does all the work, making each bite nutty, sweet, and irresistible. Just pop them into the oven and go about your cooking.
I love the flavors of lemon and garlic here, but you can definitely get creative. Green Beans with Bacon is always a classic combination, or try roasting some thinly sliced onions or shallots along with the green beans, then top slivered, toasted almonds. In the summer, roast the season’s juiciest tomatoes along with the beans, then sprinkle with fresh basil. There’s no wrong way to roast green beans.
Table of Contents
Recipe ingredients
At a Glance: Here is a quick snapshot of what ingredients are in this recipe.
Please see the recipe card below for specific quantities.
Ingredient notes
- Green beans: Remove the stem ends and any tough strings that run along the length of the beans, if applicable. There’s no need to trim off the tails. Some love their green beans “frenched,” or sliced lengthwise down the middle.
- Lemon: The zest of one lemon (about 1 teaspoon) can be added with the lemon juice. Just zest the lemon before you cut it to squeeze it.
- Salt: For 2 pounds of beans, I like at least ½ teaspoon salt, but sometimes I do a full teaspoon. If you’re not sure, start with a small amount, then taste test after roasting and add more if needed.
Step-by-step instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. In a large bowl, toss together beans, olive oil, garlic, lemon juice, and salt to taste.
- Spread evenly on a rimmed baking sheet.
- Bake until browned in some places but still crisp, about 20 to 25 minutes. Serve hot or at room temperature.
Recipe tips and variations
- Yield: 2 pounds of beans will serve 8 as a side dish (½ cup per serving).
- Storage: Store leftovers covered in the refrigerator for up to 4 days. They are great tossed into salads or grain bowls.
- More beans: This recipe works perfectly for edamame, sugar snap peas, and haricots verts.
- More mix-ins: Add small button mushrooms or halved cherry tomatoes to the pan before roasting. After roasting, toss with crumbled, cooked bacon, red pepper flakes, or a handful of roasted slivered almonds.
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Roasted Green Beans
Ingredients
- 2 pounds green beans trimmed (see note 1)
- 1/4 cup olive oil
- 4 cloves garlic minced
- 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice from 1 lemon (see note 2)
- Salt and freshly ground black pepper (see note 3)
Instructions
- Adjust an oven rack to the middle position and preheat oven to 400 degrees. Line a large rimmed baking sheet with foil for easy cleanup.
- In a large bowl, add green beans, olive oil, lemon juice, garlic, and salt to taste and pepper to taste (I like at least ½ teaspoon salt and ¼ teaspoon pepper; sometimes I do a little more).
- Transfer to prepared baking sheet. Roast until lightly browned in some places but still crispy, about 20 to 25 minutes.
Recipe Video
Notes
- Green beans: Remove the stem ends and any tough strings that run along the length of the beans, if applicable. There’s no need to trim off the tails. Some love their green beans “frenched,” or sliced lengthwise down the middle.
- Lemon: The zest of one lemon (about 1 teaspoon) can be added with the lemon juice. Just zest the lemon before you cut it to squeeze it.
- Salt: For 2 pounds of beans, I like at least ½ teaspoon salt, but sometimes I do a full teaspoon. If you’re not sure, start with a small amount, then taste test after roasting and add more if needed.
- Yield: 2 pounds of beans will serve 8 as a side dish (½ cup per serving).
- Storage: Store leftovers covered in the refrigerator for up to 4 days. They are great tossed into salads or grain bowls.
Nutrition
Meggan Hill is the Executive Chef and CEO of Culinary Hill, a popular digital publication in the food space. She loves to combine her Midwestern food memories with her culinary school education to create her own delicious take on modern family fare. Millions of readers visit Culinary Hill each month for meticulously-tested recipes as well as skills and tricks for ingredient prep, cooking ahead, menu planning, and entertaining. She graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and the iCUE Culinary Arts program at College of the Canyons.
Could I used infused lemon olive oil in place of olive oil and lemon juice?
Hi A., Sure! Sounds delicious! – Meggan
Absolutely the best way to cook green beans! They are easy to make, 30 minutes start to finish and fancy enough for company!
Can I toss all the ingredients together before hand (say in the morning), cover it and refrigerate and then cook this around dinner?
Hi Troy, yes! – Meggan
Can I use frozen green beans?
Hey there, yes you can. You need to thaw them first and make sure they are 100% perfectly dry (otherwise they will steam instead of roast). I personally think there is some loss of texture but they still taste good (they are just harder to get tender-crisp). But they still taste good. Good luck! -Meggan
Description at the top implies 10 minute’s roasting time, total time is given as 13 minutes, yet detailed instructions say cook 15-25 min. At 400 degrees, is it closer to 10 min or 25 min?
Hi Linda, I’m so sorry about that. At some point I went back and adjusted the recipe to be “15 to 25 minutes” but I failed to update the cook time. I will go fix that now. I am going to make them again this weekend and see how long it takes! I’m guessing it’s 15 minutes in the oven. Thanks! -Meggan
Hi Linda, I made the green beans over the weekend. I really think the beans are perfect after 20 minutes in the oven. My cooking assistant thought she might leave them in for another 5 minutes, but we both gobbled them up. It was like eating French fries, they are so good. I had forgotten how tasty they are! Anyway, I fixed up the post. I hope this is helpful. thank you for your question and sorry for the confusing recipe. -Meggan