Roasted Green Beans With Almond Breadcrumbs and Feta
Fire-up the oven to make these easy roasted green beans. Tossed in a crunchy mix of toasted breadcrumbs, almonds and sunflower seeds. They deliver on fresh flavor with lemon zest and crumbled feta. Roasted veggies always make a great side dish.
Why You Need This Recipe
There are a few ways to cook fresh green beans for an easy, healthy side dish. You can boil them, sauté them or steam them.
With any of these methods, it’s really important not to overcook them. That’s because you want the green beans to keep some of their signature snap.
Roasting is another way great way to prepare them that’s quick and simple. In this recipe, before I start cooking the green beans, I toast a mixture of panko breadcrumbs, almonds and sunflower seeds in the oven first. Then I toss the green beans in this crunchy topping once they have finished roasting.
Trust me, you will love the combination of roasted green beans and this toasty and nutty savory crumble. I finish everything with some salty feta cheese.
Tips for The Best Oven Roasted Green Beans
- Use fresh green beans. Skip frozen or canned. When you roast fresh green beans, they will caramelize, beautifully blister in spots, and still turn out with a nice bite.
- Spread out the green beans on the sheet pan. You want to use every square inch of cooking surface, so they are in a single layer. Give them space!
- Don’t overcook your green beans. No one likes mushy green beans. Make sure not to overdo it in the oven. Roasted green beans should still have some crispness when they are cooked.
How To Prepare Green Beans
There’s no need to trim each green bean one by one. Just line of up a group of them, and trim all those stem ends at once.
Wait to trim the green beans until right before you are about to cook them because you don’t want them to dry out.
The Ingredients
This is what you need for this roasted green beans recipe:
- For almond breadcrumbs:
- Panko breadcrumbs: These Japanese style breadcrumbs are the crunchiest, so that’s why I like using them whenever I’m cooking with breadcrumbs.
- Almonds: Chopped almonds give the topping a wonderful nutty flavor. You can substitute with toasted pine nuts.
- Sunflower seeds: Going all in on crunch, I like the variety in taste and texture that sunflower seeds add to the mix.
- Salt & pepper: It’s important to season the almonds, seeds and breadcrumbs with salt and pepper.
- Olive oil: I toss everything in olive oil before toasting the topping in the oven.
- Lemon zest: For something fresh, I stir in lemon zest once the breadcrumbs have finished toasting.
- For green beans:
- Green beans: Fresh green beans will be bright green without any yellow or brown spots. They should also snap when you try to bend them.
- Lemon juice: For some brightness and acidity, I toss the green beans in lemon juice along with olive oil.
- Olive oil: Since this is a simple recipe with so few ingredients, I use high-quality extra virgin olive oil for roasting the green beans.
- Salt & pepper: Not only do I season the almond breadcrumbs with salt and pepper, but I also season the green beans before I roast them.
- Feta: To finish this side dish, I sprinkle on crumbled feta cheese because I love that salty taste. If you want something more subtle, top with baked grren beans with shaved Parmesan cheese instead.
How To Make Roasted Green Beans
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
1. Combine the panko breadcrumbs, almonds, sunflower seeds, olive oil, salt, pepper and olive oil in a glass pie plate.
2. Toast the breadcrumbs in the oven until lightly golden. Stir in the lemon zest.
Increase the oven temperature to 425 degrees F.
3. Toss the green beans with olive oil, lemon juice, salt and pepper and spread across a baking sheet.
4. Roast the green beans until they are blistered and tender, about 12-15 minutes. The toss them with the almonds and breadcrumbs.
5. Arrange the green beans on a serving dish and top with crumbled feta.
Serving
Green beans are in season summer through early to mid-fall, but you can readily find them year round. This is such a fast side that I love it to go with anything from the most basic weeknight dinner to something more important like Thanksgiving or another holiday meal.
These roasted green beans are a perfect side with a dry rubbed turkey breast. You could cook them when the turkey is out of the oven and resting.
Leftovers
Store leftovers in an airtight container in the refrigerator up to 3 days. You can either eat them cold in a salad with lemon vinaigrette or warm them on a sheet pan in a 350-degree F oven. I don’t recommend a microwave for rewarming because it will soften and steam the green beans.
Did you try roasting green beans in the oven? Please leave a comment or rating below. Thanks!
Roasted Green Beans With Almond Breadcrumbs
Ingredients
- For almond breadcrumbs
- 1/4 cup panko breadcrumbs
- 1/4 cup chopped almonds
- 1 tablespoon sunflower seeds
- 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- Zest of 1 lemon
- For green beans
- 1 pound green beans trimmed
- Juice of 1 lemon
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
- 1/4 cup crumbled feta
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
- Stir together the panko breadcrumbs, almonds, sunflower seeds, 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt, 1/4 teaspoon black pepper and 1 tablespoon olive oil in a glass pie plate. Toast in the oven until lightly golden, about 12-15 minutes. Carefully stir in the lemon zest. Set aside.
- Increase the oven temperature to 425 degrees F.
- Toss the green beans with 1 tablespoon olive oil, lemon juice, 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt and 1/4 teaspoon black pepper on a sheet pan. Spread into a single layer. Roast for 12-15 until the green beans are blistered. (Make sure not to overcook the green beans.)
- Toss the green beans with the almond breadcrumbs. Transfer to a serving dish and top with crumbled feta.
WHAT DID YOU THINK?
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