This vegan Green Beans with Lemon-Almond Pesto recipe is a twist on the classic combination of green beans and almonds. It's a super easy side dish!
Growing Beans
I don't know what's up with my green beans this summer. The plants themselves are looking nice and lush (despite a few brown leaves here and there), but they're not producing many beans. This has been my harvest so far:
Sad, right? Whenever I attempt to grow beans, I end up having to buy more beans to supplement what I grow. Because dinner with 5 beans to split between my husband and me as a side dish? That's just not going to work. So when I made this Green Beans with Lemon-Almond Pesto recipe, I used my 5 beautiful, perfect, delicious heirloom beans and then bought the rest from the farmers market. The beans from the farmers market were delicious, but they definitely weren't as pretty.
About the Recipe
Green beans and almonds are a classic combination, so I thought I'd try making a pesto with almonds to put my own twist on Green Bean Almondine. Green Bean Almondine is one of those dishes that I find myself loving sometimes and loathing others. When it's done right, it's so good! When it's done wrong, those soggy little slivers of almonds bring absolutely nothing to the table.
Unlike the soggy buffet version of Green Bean Almondine, the almonds really shine in this easy summer side dish. A bright note of lemon and the pungent flavor of garlic are the perfect addition to the traditional green bean and almond pairing. In fact, the pesto is so tasty, you might want to start putting it on everything you eat!
![Green Beans with Lemon-Almond Pesto [angle]](https://ohmyveggies.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/green_beans_with_lemon_almond_pesto_angled.jpg)
Ingredients
- cooking spray or olive oil mister
- 1 ½ lbs green beans trimmed
- ½ cup almonds
- 1 garlic clove
- 1 tbsp lemon juice
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400°F.
- Spray a rimmed baking sheet with cooking spray. Place beans on sheet in a single layer and spray tops with additional cooking spray. Roast for 15 minutes or until tender.
- Combine almonds, garlic, lemon juice, olive oil, salt, and pepper in food processor and process until roughly chopped. Spoon over green beans before serving.
The Mrs @ Success Along the Weigh says
Sassy twist on a classic! I hear ya on the bean shortage. I tried for 2 years and gave up. But this reminded me I need to grab some at the farmers market.
Kiersten says
Do you have electricity again!? I hope so!
Liz @ A Nut in a Nutshell says
I absolutely love fresh green beans. I can seriously eat them by the cupful. I think I'd really like this recipe of yours!
Kiersten says
Me too! Especially when they're roasted--so, so good. And healthy!
Courtney Rae Jones says
I love this idea. I love green beans, but am tired of dressing them up with a basic vinaigrette. Lemon almond pesto is a fantastic idea. So fresh for summer 🙂
Kiersten says
I love beans any way I can get them, but they are SO good with almonds and lemon. 🙂
Jennifer H says
this looks delicious and is a change up from just plain old green beans
Kiersten says
Thank you! 🙂
Jackie @ The Beeroness says
Your beans look gorgeous! Even though they are making themselves rare. I love the lemon pesto idea, beautiful.
Kiersten says
I know, I especially love the purple speckled ones--Dragon Tongue Beans. They are the tastiest beans I've ever had too, if they'd only grow more!
Heidi @ Food Doodles says
Aw, I so wish I grew green beans this year. They do a little too well here and we always get sick of them, but maybe I'll try again next year. Your lemon almond pesto sounds delicious! I love lemon on veggies 😀
Kiersten says
Aw, thanks for making me feel even worse about my paltry 5-bean harvest. 😉
Heidi @ Food Doodles says
Heh... Sorry! Trust me, there are plenty of things that don't do so well in my garden 🙁 lol
Mary Beth Elderton says
This sounds wonderful!
Brenda Williams says
What a neat new side dish for summer. Thanks for sharing this recipe.
Kiersten says
Of course! 🙂 I love green beans in the summer.
Kelly @ Texas Type A Mom says
This looks like an easy way to make green beans more sophisticated! I can't wait for the sales on beans because I didn't even try growing them from seeds this year.
Kiersten says
I think next year I'm just going to have to plant a lot more so I get enough to make recipes with (without having to buy more). The plants themselves seem to grow really well here, but for some reason I have an issue with yield.
Anna @ hiddenponies says
I just love fresh green beans, I don't eat them enough! Mine aren't doing too well this year either, thanks to the neighbourhood deer 😛
Kiersten says
I spotted a deer in the yard a few houses down from ours the other day! Now I think I know where my vanishing eggplant plants went. Maybe next year I'll have to put up a fence...
Stefani says
I would LOVE to try this.
Tiffany Kidder says
Yum!! Perfect example of good ingredients = good food without being overly complicated! Thanks for the great recipe. Beautiful pics too.
Kiersten says
Who doesn't love a good, unfussy side dish, right? 🙂
[email protected] says
i love love this side! so pretty, simple and perfect.
Kiersten says
Thank you! The simplest sides are the best sides, I think. 🙂
Mary @ Fit and Fed says
Made this tonight, everyone loved the almond-lemon pesto. It was nice and lemony and also added a good crunchiness. Thanks for helping me dress up the green beans!
Kiersten says
I'm glad to hear it was a success! 🙂
Elizabeth says
I love the look of this dish and one can never go wrong with Lemon or Almonds when it comes to cooking. However, I do not own a food processor!!! D: I am thinking about using my mortar/pestle to grind up the almonds and garlic, and then mixing them up in a bowl with the lemon and olive oil, etc. Do you think this would have about the same outcome? I so want to try this recipe, and I will! (:
Kiersten says
I think that would work just fine! If you have a hand chopper, that would work too--just coarsely chop the almonds and garlic with it. Let me know how it turns out! 🙂
Elizabeth says
I am so old school that I do not even own a hand chopper! I still made this dish despite my handicap and I served it for Thanksgiving! My family loved it! The flavor was still spot on and the dish was actually a huge success! I will be making it again next year! 😀 I had a little bit under 2 lbs. of green beans and I used a cup of almonds. I used two cloves of garlic, two tablespoons of meyer lemon juice (I am a HUGE lemon flavor fan), and one and a half tablespoons of olive oil. It just tasted marvelous (: Thank you so much for sharing this recipe!
Kiersten says
Oh, I love Meyer lemons too! I'm totally going to have to give this a try with them. 🙂 I'm glad it turned out well!
Bonnie says
I love this idea! I've never baked green beans like this and then to top them with such an awesome pesto?! Love it. Want to try it. Thank you.
Kiersten says
Green beans are really good when you roast them--it's my favorite way to cook them! 🙂