Marinated Green Beans Make Backyard Barbecues Delicious!
Marinated Green Beans are a simple and delicious make ahead side dish that tastes better the longer it marinates. Made with a simple balsamic vinaigrette, it’s a recipe your backyard barbecue guests will love!
This Marinated Green Beans recipe is sponsored in conjunction with #BBQWeek. The sponsors, Rainier Foods and Intensity Academy generously provided samples to participants to aid in the creation of the #BBQWeek recipes and prize packages to give away to the readers. However, all opinions are mine alone.
I’m going to confess. I made these marinated green beans for a completely different event. But, I was lazy and didn’t get around to publishing it for that event. So, it sat there waiting for the right time to share this recipe. And now is the right time!
Green beans are a total summer food in my book. In this area, they’re in season from May to October. So, to me that’s a summer food. Perfect for summer barbecues. But most think of green beans as slowly simmered in broth with some ham hocks or bacon. That does sound good.
But when most think of green beans, they don’t think of marinated or tossed in a salad. Maybe a three-bean salad, but even then, it’s not something I think about when green beans come to mind. Niçoise salad? Maybe. Green bean casserole? That’s not very barbecue like.
Where did green beans come from?
Peru. A lot beans we eat today came from Peru. Green, navy, kidney, and black beans are all in the same boat. They seem to come from Peru and spread throughout the world by explorers. However, there are species of beans that originated in Europe and Asia. Like the long bean. That’s an Asian bean. And it looks weird.
As with most food plants way back in the day, they were grown more for ornamental reasons. Beans back then were tough and stringy. Fast forward to the mid 1700’s where farmers and scientists started combining cultivars to make more desirable and more edible fruits and vegetables.
But it wasn’t until 1889 when a developer for Burpee created the snap beans. That’s when green beans really took hold and became the most popular variety of beans. However, they still weren’t the staple in the kitchen as they are today because of their short growing season.
Enter canning and freezing! Remember what I was saying about preserving foods in yesterday’s kimchi slaw post? Well, the same is true here. Green beans are now a staple in most kitchens thanks to canneries and home freezers! It allowed companies and homeowners to preserve their crop of delicious green beans. I bet you have either canned or frozen green beans in your house right now!
What’s the difference between pickling and marinating?
Pickling is a way of preserving fruits and vegetables in either a salt brine or vinegar brine. Yes, there are herbs and spices in pickling. They penetrate the produce allowing the flavors to be throughout. The biggest difference is that pickling is a way to preserve produce in a brine.
Marinating, on the other hand, is just a method of flavoring produce using herbs, spices, and vinegars. It’s merely a means to flavor produce and not a way to preserve it. Marinated foods are usually cooked after marinating. Not usually the case with the canning. And sometimes canned foods aren’t cooked before canning. They’re cooked in the process of canning.
What is blanching?
I blanched the green beans. What does that mean? Blanching is where you quickly immerse produce in hot water. Typically, blanching recipes call for shocking the produce. Shocking is putting the blanched produce in cold water to stop the cooking process. However, they don’t always have to go together in a recipe.
There are many reasons why you might blanch produce. One might blanch produce as a prelude to further cooking. Like blanching green beans to keep their color before sautéing with some garlic and butter. Blanching also helps loosen skins on tomatoes and stone fruits.
Blanching is a way to prepare produce for canning and freezing. And some might blanch cut potatoes before frying. The blanching cooks the insides, and the frying makes the outside super crispy making for a delicious French fry.
How do you blanch green beans?
It’s important to have all your ingredients and tools ready to go because this is a pretty quick process once the water boils. Start by bringing the pot of water to a boil. While you’re waiting for the water to boil prepare the green beans by trimming the ends and removing any that are damaged or soft.
Next, have a large bowl of ice water ready for when the green beans finish cooking. This will shock the beans and stop the cooking process. Shocking the beans after blanching will keep them nice and green and crispy. You don’t want your marinated green beans to be too soft with this recipe.
What do marinated green beans taste like?
Delicious. Obviously! I know the ingredients are simple and few, but that’s what you want deliciously fresh, in season green beans. You don’t want so many herbs and spices that you can’t taste the green beans. So, I stuck with some basics.
There’s a good balsamic vinegar. One that’s a little on the sweet and syrupy side. I have some flavored oils in the pantry from the local olive oil store. I chose the gremolata. Gremolata is parsley, garlic, and lemon zest. To highlight the lemon flavor in these marinated green beans, I added some lemon juice. And then to make it stick I added Dijon mustard.
Finally, there’s a kick with some crushed red pepper. I always like adding a little crushed red pepper to vinaigrette and sauces. It just adds a little heat but not so much that your mouth is burning. It’s just a little kick of heat.
You can make these green beans several days ahead of time. And for a barbecue party, that’s always a good thing! And the longer they marinate, the more flavorful these marinated green beans will be when you get to the backyard barbecue.
Don’t forget the enter the giveaway! It’s a little further down in this post. And you can read about the great prizes in yesterday’s barbecue pork burgers post. I gotta tell you, those prizes are AWESOME! You have to enter the giveaway!

Marinated Green Beans
Marinated Green Beans are a simple and delicious make ahead side dish that tastes better the longer it marinates. Made with a simple balsamic vinaigrette, it’s a recipe your backyard barbecue guests will love!
Ingredients
- 1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
- 2 tablespoons Gremolata flavored olive oil
- 1 tablespoon Meyer lemon juice
- 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
- 2 teaspoons dried dill
- 1 teaspoon minced garlic
- pinch crushed red pepper
- 1 pound green beans
Instructions
- Bring a pot of water to boil.
- While the water is coming to a boil, combine the first eight ingredients in a small mixing bowl.
- Blanche the beans until crisp tender about 5 to 7 minutes.
- Toss the beans with the vinaigrette.
- Refrigerate overnight.
Nutrition Information
Yield
8Serving Size
1Amount Per Serving Calories 76Total Fat 4gSaturated Fat 1gTrans Fat 0gUnsaturated Fat 3gCholesterol 0mgSodium 79mgCarbohydrates 10gFiber 2gSugar 7gProtein 1g
Wednesday #BBQWeek Recipes
Starters and Sides
- Cowboy Caviar from The Freshman Cook
- Grilled Chili Lime Butter Corn from Jen Around the World
- Grilled Garlic Honey Boneless Wings from Blogghetti
- Marinated Green Beans from A Kitchen Hoor’s Adventures
- Smoky Blackberry Grilled Fruit Salad from Cindy’s Recipes and Writings
- Watermelon Cucumber Salad from The Spiffy Cookie
Dinners
- Asian Ribs from A Day in the Life on the Farm
- Grilled Buttermilk Chicken from Jolene’s Recipe Journal
- Grilled Chicken Caprese from Cheese Curd In Paradise
- Grilled Tuna Steaks with Honey Vinaigrette from Karen’s Kitchen Stories
Desserts
- No Churn Thai Tea Ice Cream from Hezzi-D’s Books and Cooks
- Peanut Butter Rice Krispie Treats from Art of Natural Living
DISCLAIMER:
Thank you #BBQWeek sponsors Saucy Queen and Rainier Foods for donating the prizes for this event. The #BBQWeek giveaway is open to U.S. residents, age 18 & up. All entries for the winner are checked and verified. By entering you give the right to use your name and likeness. The number of entries received determines the odds of winning.
Two (2) winners are selected at random from entries received. The prize packages are fulfilled by and sent directly from the giveaway sponsors. #BBQWeek bloggers are not responsible for the fulfillment or delivery of the prize packages. Bloggers hosting this giveaway and their immediate family members in their household are not eligible to enter or win the giveaway. No purchase necessary. Void where prohibited by law. This promotion is in no way sponsored, endorsed or administered by, or associated with Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, Twitter or any other social channel mentioned in the #BBQWeek posts or entries.
I can’t wait to try these- I love green beans!
Thank you! I hope you enjoy them as much as I did.
I love all the flavors on the beans! They look very tasty and I love them with ham also!
Thank you!
Hi Christie! We make pickled green beans during the summer and they are so good 🙂 Your recipe is quite different from mine, it will be a nice change to try them your way! They look fantastic!!
Thank you! I’d like to see your recipe, too!
The marinade sounds wonderful and green beans are great for summer cookouts
Thank you!
Delicious marinade ingredients! Fun to have something new to do with green beans!
You can use the marinade for a vinaigrette too!
A perfect side dish. They would also be a wonderful addition to a charcuterie platter.
Agreed! And perfect to make ahead.
Green beans are one of the few veggies my guys eat and I’m always excited when I find new ideas to try!
These are so good. I am making them again soon.