Green Beans with Bacon & Candied Pecans
November 20, 2011 in sides
I have to tell you, I love the traditional green bean casserole. I especially love it the day after Thanksgiving, still cold from the fridge. Dare I say that it’s the thing I most look forward to at Thanksgiving. But I know not everyone thinks so highly of the casserole so I wanted to give another awesome option.
It includes bacon.
And pecans.
But not just pecans. Candied pecans.
Omg. The sweet pecans and the salty bacon? Done. Those two combined with a slightly tangy dressing make even super-healthy green beans ridiculously addictive.
And yes, I was spotted stealing bites directly from the fridge the day after these were made.
From Savory Sweet Life
Ingredients
For the candied pecans:
1 cup pecan pieces
1 egg white
1 teaspoon water
¼ cup sugar
¼ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon cinnamon
For the beans
3 tablespoons maple syrup
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
½ teaspoon Dijon mustard
2 cloves garlic
1 pound fresh green beans (trimmed), or frozen
6 slices cooked bacon, crumbled
salt and pepper
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 250F. Spray a baking sheet with oil or line with parchment paper.
- In a small bowl, whisk together egg white and water until frothy.
- In a separate small bowl, stir together sugar, salt, and cinnamon.
- Add the pecans to the egg white. Use a fork to transfer the pecans from the egg white to the sugar mixture, allowing the excess egg to drip off. Toss in the sugar mixture; place on baking sheet in a single layer.
- Bake for an hour, stirring every 15 minutes.
- If using frozen beans, boil according to package instructions. If using fresh beans, boil for 3 – 5 minutes or until crisp; transfer to a large bowl of ice water to stop the cooking process. Drain.
- Combine maple syrup, olive oil, red wine vinegar, dijon mustard, and garlic in a blender or food processor.
- Toss the beans in the dressing and top them with the crumbled bacon and pecans. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
To make the pecans:
For the beans:
I’m going to go buy some beans!
These do look like a fantastic alternative to green bean casserole! I could make these anytime! Great recipe.
These beans look great! I love the sweet salty combo…yum! Also, I totally love love love green bean casserole. You’re not the only one :)
I have a quick question… How do you format your recipes? I rarely share recipes on my blog, but I wanted to share one soon. I love how reader friendly your recipes are, and if you don’t mind giving up some blogging secrets I would be truly grateful. ;) BTW those green beans look AMAZING!
It’s called ZipList Recipe Plugin: http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/ziplist-recipe-plugin/
It’s really easy to use! Let me know if you need any help. I don’t know if I have any blogging secrets though! ;)
Aaahhh! Seriously I eat *that* dish cold the mext day too…secretly of course. But these look amazing and fresh. Look at that beautiful green color!!
Oh the flavor! The Crunch! The wonderful-ness of those beans! What a great combination.
I loooooove candied pecans! I think I might make these as “munchies” for guests prior to the main dinner on Thursday :) seems so easy!
The bacon just might get me to eat my veggies more :)
I really like the sound of this! Bacon makes just about anything okay, but it sounds like a perfect complement to green beans AND candied pecans! Yum!
Oh yum, yum. I may not make this for Thanksgiving, but I will be making it soon. It is going into my Friday Finds post this week. I’ll bet that the pecans would be great additions to salads, too; and that the same method could be used with other nuts. Thanks for sharing such great information. Have a Happy Thanksgiving.
I just printed this recipe and can’t wait to make it tomorrow! The combination of sweet and salty looks out of this world.
What can I say? These were absolutely delicious. However, I must say this was probably one of the most difficult recipes I have ever made. Not that any of the procedures were difficult (in fact very, very simple. The difficult part was not eating the bacon and pecans before adding the to the green beans. The pecans were the right combination of sweet and ‘cinnamony’ flavor. Bacon goes without saying, it just fits so well with green beans. The dressing is perfect, sweet with a just enough “bite” from the vinegar. Thanks for sharing.