Need a fast, delicious vegetable side dish everyone will love? 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.
Recipe ingredients:
Ingredient notes:
- Green beans: Remove the stem ends with a knife or kitchen scissors. If your beans have them, remove any tough strings that run along the length of the beans. 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.
- Arrange on a baking sheet in a (mostly) single layer.
- Bake until browned in some places but still crisp, about 20 to 25 minutes. Serve hot or at room temperature.
Recipe tips and variations:
- Other beans: This recipe works perfectly for edamame, sugar snap peas, Chinese long beans, haricots verts, or Romano beans.
- Add crunchy bacon or nuts: Crumbled, cooked bacon and red pepper flakes on top make it even more delicious, or toss a handful of roasted slivered almonds onto the platter once the beans are served.
- Mushrooms: Include some shiitake mushrooms or smaller button mushrooms in the sheet pan; mushrooms and green beans are incredible together.
- Cherry tomatoes: Halved or quartered cherry toms get super sweet when you oven roast them. Add a drizzle of balsamic vinegar before serving and stand back!
- Carrots: Because they’re a firmer vegetable, get the carrots started before you add the beans (see my recipe for Roasted Carrots for the details).
More tasty roasted vegetables:
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 with a knife or kitchen scissors. If your beans have them, remove any tough strings that run along the length of the beans. 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.
- Other beans: This recipe works perfectly for edamame, sugar snap peas, Chinese long beans, haricots verts, or Romano beans.
- Add crunchy bacon or nuts: Crumbled, cooked bacon and red pepper flakes on top make it even more delicious, or toss a handful of roasted slivered almonds onto the platter once the beans are served.
- Mushrooms: Include some shiitake mushrooms or smaller button mushrooms in the sheet pan; mushrooms and green beans are incredible together.
- Cherry tomatoes: Halved or quartered cherry toms get super sweet when you oven roast them. Add a drizzle of balsamic vinegar before serving and stand back!
- Carrots: Because they're a firmer vegetable, get the carrots started before you add the beans (see my recipe for Roasted Carrots for the details).
I love roasted green beans, this recipe is so simple! I make these for meal prep all the time.
My go-to recipe after I pick all the green beans from my garden. So great with just a little bit of lemon and salt! Sometimes I add parmesan too….
These were great!
Glad you liked them, thanks Angie!
Ohh! Love green beans. I’d also try it with asparagus.
I have a crowd coming over for dinner tomorrow and I just got a basket of green beans at the farmers market for our side. This recipe made me so happy! It looks so easy and I don’t have to worry about another pot on the stovetop. Thanks!
Hooray Diane, thank you so much! Sometimes you need space in your oven, sometimes you need fewer pots on the stove. Glad this one worked out for you. :)
I’m a sucker for any vegetable that’s oven roasted. I was just saying I don’t care if it’s hot out– I’m roasting vegetables!! This looks so simple and the flavors are perfect. Gorgeous.
I really love this recipe, Meggan. I truly believe that good cooking is as much about good ideas as it is good recipes, and this is both a good idea AND a good recipe!
I’m going to try this this week … probably with my classic baked salmon!
The perfect summertime side! I’m always looking for ways to make my veggies more interesting–thanks for the inspiration!
I don’t like green beans, but I do love them roasted and that changed it for me. I can’t believe I’d been eating them wrong all my life, love this recipe.
I love roasted veggies! I don’t think I’ve tried doing green beans yet, but once I get back to where I have an oven I will be trying them. Great idea!