Grilled Green Beans with Almond Gremolata
on Jun 14, 2025
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Fresh and citrusy with lots of good smoky flavor, these grilled green beans are an easy side dish. Before the veggies make it to the hot grill, I quickly stir together an herby and nutty almond gremolata with chopped parsley, garlic and lemon. Once the green beans are grilled, I toss them with the gremolata. This is one of those quick side dish recipes that goes with grilled mains with Mediterranean ingredients.
Table of Contents
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
If you have your grill preheated for an entree, this is an easy go-with-(almost)-anything side dish. Green beans don’t take long to grill. You can keep your focus on the main dish while still having something exciting to go with it.
Green beans are quick to prep and cook. Especially during summer grilling season, I am always looking for no-fuss recipes. This is the time when vegetables are at their peak, so there’s no reason for cooking to be complicated.
Gremolata is an Italian condiment with a base of fresh herbs and lemon. In this version, I also include almonds. It’s garlicky and nutty with lots of chopped parsley, enhancing these grilled green vegetables.
You can use an outdoor grill or an indoor stovetop grill pan to grill green beans. This makes them a convenient, all-purpose side no matter your summer cooking setup. I also include roasting instructions, if grilling isn’t an option for you.
The Ingredients
This is what you need:
- Green beans: At the grocery, trimmed green beans are not hard to find. If you’re at the farmers market, you will see wax beans that are yellow and purple string beans. Any of these will work in the recipe too. I skip French green beans (also known as haricot verts) because they are too thin and delicate for the grill. To trim them, put the green beans in a row on my cutting board and cut off the stem ends.
- Olive oil: This recipe has a short ingredient list, so I recommend using high quality extra virgin olive oil for the best taste. You toss the green beans with oil before grilling them, and it’s an ingredient in the gremolata.
- Kosher salt and black pepper: I season the green beans before grilling them.
- Parsley: Use a sharp chef’s knife to finely chop the parsley. The recipe calls for 3/4 cup fresh parsley leaves.
- Garlic: Mince the garlic clove fine enough, so it turns into a paste. Then it will mix right into the gremolata.
- Lemon: I use the entire lemon, both the juice and zest. So much of the aroma and essence of a lemon is in the peel.
- Almonds: I prefer roasted unsalted almonds. If you only have raw almonds, toast them on a sheet pan in a 350-degree F oven for 5-7 minutes to bring out their flavor.
How To Grill Green Beans
Preheat a gas or charcoal grill or a stovetop grill pan over medium high heat.
1. Make the gremolata. In a small bowl, stir the chopped parsley, garlic, fresh lemon juice and zest, almonds and oil.
2. Prep the green beans. Toss them with oil, salt and pepper in a large bowl.
3. Grill the green beans (perpendicular to the grates). They will only need 2-3 minutes until they are blistered and have char marks. Don’t grill them too long because they should be tender but still somewhat crisp.
4. Toss the lightly charred green beans with the gremolata.
Alternate Cooking Method: Roasting
If you don’t have any kind of grill, you can roast the green beans. Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F. Toss them with olive oil, salt and pepper and spread the green beans across a sheet pan. Roast for 12-15 minutes until they are blistered.
Tips for Grilling Green Beans
I like when they directly touch the hot grates. To try to prevent the green beans from falling in, I put them perpendicular to the grill grates. If you have a grill basket, you can use that. Or if you are really concerned, you can grill the fresh green beans on a sheet of aluminum foil. They may not get as grill marked. You can also just grill more green beans assuming you might lose some.
Serving
With the ingredients in the gremolata, these grilled green beans go with other Mediterranean dishes. For proteins, shrimp, steak, salmon and chicken all work. For vegetarian and vegan main dishes, try this green bean side with grilled halloumi and veggies, grilled vegetable ciabatta sandwiches or this grilled vegetable orzo salad.
Leftovers & Storage
Grilled green beans are best when you eat them warm or at room temperature. If you do have leftovers, you can store them in an airtight container in the refrigerator up to 3 days. You can reheat them in a skillet with a little olive oil over medium heat on the stove. I like to chop them and eat them cold tossed in a salad.
More Grilled Side Dish Recipes
Lemon Pepper Grilled Cauliflower
Grilled Corn Couscous
Edamame Corn Succotash
Easy Grilled Broccoli
Grilled Corn with Avocados and Cilantro Pesto
Grilled Green Beans with Almond Gremolata
Ingredients
For almond gremolata
- 3/4 cup parsley leaves, finely chopped
- 1 garlic clove, minced into a paste
- 1 lemon, juice and zest
- 1/4 cup chopped roasted unsalted almonds
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
For green beans
- 1 pound green beans, trimmed
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
Instructions
- Preheat a gas or charcoal grill or a stovetop grill pan over medium high heat.
- To make the gremolata, stir the parsley, garlic, lemon juice and zest, almonds and 1 tablespoon olive oil in a small bowl.
- Toss the green beans with 1 tablespoon olive oil, 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt and 1/4 teaspoon black pepper in a large bowl.
- Grill the green beans, turning occasionally, for 2-3 minutes until they have grill marks and are crisp-tender. Arrange the green beans so they are perpendicular to the grates. (You can use a grill basket or a sheet of foil if you are worried about them falling between the grates.)
- Toss the grilled green beans with the gremolata before serving.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
