Chili Garlic Green Beans

You know those people who go around saying that they have no regrets in life? I’m pretty sure those people are liars. You don’t regret that perm you got in 3rd grade from Fantastic Sam’s? Or the giant red glasses you picked out when you were 10 because you loved Sally Jessy Raphael that much?

Okay fine, that was me, not you.

But anyway! We all have regrets, but hopefully they’re of the bad perm and red glasses variety, and not of the I’m-$40K-in-debt-for-a-degree-I-don’t-use variety. (Ha ha, that would be me too. Think long and hard about that liberal arts degree, kids. It sounds cool now, but you’re probably going to end up blogging about tempeh in 10 years.) And as summer comes to an end, I feel a lot of regret over not posting more bean recipes…

Beans! I’m sorry for neglecting you! And the funny thing is, we ate lots of beans this summer, thanks to my abundant long bean crop, but most of the time I just threw something together rather than making an actual recipe. At first, I tried a lot of different things, but then I settled on either roasting or sautéing them with chili garlic sauce. It didn’t occur to me to post the recipe here because it’s so simple and easy, but then I thought “Aha! People will love it because it’s simple and easy!” And since you probably don’t have an abundant long bean crop (or any long bean crop), I decided to use green beans instead.

Not only are Chili Garlic Green Beans incredibly easy to make, they’re also my favorite green bean recipe at the moment. They are the official green beans of Summer 2013. With the spicy chili garlic sauce and a splash of fresh lime juice, they’re so tasty I could even eat them as a snack. And did I mention they take about 15 minutes to make from start to finish? 15 minutes! You can’t not make these beans.

(Well, you could not make them, but I think you’d regret it.)

Chili Garlic Green Beans

Roasted green beans tossed with chili garlic sauce and fresh lime juice.

• Prep Time: 5 minutes
• Cook Time: 10 minutes
• Total Time: 15 minutes
• Yield: 4-6 servings

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 pounds green beans, trimmed
• 1 tablespoon light olive oil
• 2 teaspoons chili garlic sauce
• 1 tablespoon fresh lime juice
• Salt to taste

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 425ºF.
2. Place the green beans in a large bowl and toss them with the olive oil and chili garlic sauce. Transfer the beans to a rimmed baking sheet and roast for 10 minutes, stirring halfway through cooking time, or until beans are tender and just starting to brown. Stir in the lime juice and season with salt to taste.

Notes

Chili garlic sauce is sold in the international aisle at most grocery stores. If you don’t have light olive oil on hand, any neutral-flavored oil with a high smoke point will work. Light olive oil is not the same as extra-virgin olive oil!