Garden Green Beans and Carrots with Butter are the easiest side dish for your fresh green beans! Blanched in salted water until perfectly al dente, never mushy, never grey, and bright green every time! Topped with melting butter, this chef's timing trick makes this the best simple side dish for summer vegetables, holidays, and everything in between. Ready in 25 minutes!
- A Simple Side Dish Lets your Ingredients Shine! - Green Beans are one of my favorite vegetables to grow in the garden. They rarely have pests and are extremely prolific! This is the perfect simple weeknight side dish that really goes with any meal! It's simple blanching (boiling) the carrots and green beans, but the key is to time it just right so you end up with perfectly cooked al-dente vegetables, not overcooked mush!
- Freeze Green Beans to Make this Dish all Year! - When the green beans are growing out of control, freeze them! Learn How to Blanch and Freeze Garden Green Beans so you can make this recipe all year, even for a Thanksgiving, Easter, or holiday side dish! Or try my Roasted Frozen Green Beans!
- If you Love Green Beans, try this Bacon Mushroom Green Bean Pasta and these 8 Ways to Use Garden Green Beans!
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Ingredients & Substitutions
When you have fresh summer green beans and carrots, there's no need for a complicated dish! This simple preparation uses just salt and butter, letting the seasonal vegetables be the star.
- Carrots - Carrots take longer to cook than the green beans so you'll start them first. Wash them well and you can peel them if you like. Save the veggie scraps to make Homemade Chicken Stock for the Freezer!
- Green Beans - Green Beans are like watermelon and corn on the cob. They are really only good in the summer, and are one of the few truly seasonal produce items! They are tender and delicious in the summer, stringy and tough in the winter. So if you grow them in your garden, Blanch and Freeze Green Beans to make this summer fresh side dish all year long! Try this Lemon Feta White Bean Green Bean Salad too!
- Salt - We are simply blanching the vegetable here, which requires a good amount of salt to season the water, and will turn those green beans a vibrant color. You won't consume all the salt, most will be drained with the water, so use the full amount.
- Butter - A few pats of butter melting over the finished dish are all you need for flavoring! The tender carrots and green beans, seasoned with salt, are fresh and delicious!
See recipe card for quantities.
Instructions
This is very simple blanching, but timing is important as the carrots need much longer to cook than the green beans! Set a timer!
Step 1 - Peel and slice your carrots and trim the stem ends off the green beans.
Step 2 - Add the carrots to a pot of cold water. Cook over high heat for 15 minutes.
Step 3 - Add the salt and the green beans to the now boiling carrots and cook for 3 more minutes.
Step 4 - Drain the veggies together.
Step 5 - Add the green beans and carrots to a serving dish and dot the top with the butter to melt.
Helpful Tips
- Set a Timer - The carrots need to cook for 15 minutes, started in cold water, and then the green beans cook together with the carrots for 3 more minutes. Don't use a bigger pot than you need or the timing will be off trying to boil a huge amount of water. Set a timer so you don't end up with mushy vegetables!
- Add the Salt with the Green Beans - You want to add the salt when the water is boiling, not when it's cold. This will rapidly dissolve the salt and season the veggies as they cook.
- Picking Green Beans - Pick green beans often, usually daily in the peak of summer. You want them young, small and tender, not large, stringy and tough. When you pick them, lay them all in the same direction in a basket. This will make it quick and easy to trim off the stem end. No need to trim off the pointy tip.
- Garden vs Store-Bought Green Beans - Carrots are pretty reliable any time of year, but green beans are pretty seasonal! If buying green beans at the store, assume they are not going to be very good in the winter. Avoid large green beans where you can see the individual bulges of each bean. These are overgrown and will be stringy and tough. Also avoid limp or soft beans or brown spots. Store-bought green beans may need to cook an extra minute or two compared to garden green beans. Taste one to see if it's done.
- Other Topping Ideas - I love the simplicity of just salted veggies with butter, but you could also add shredded Parmesan cheese, fresh herbs, or fresh lemon wedges.
- Storage - Store leftover veggies in the fridge and eat within 1 to 2 days. You could also add the leftover veggies to a soup, Tater Tot Casserole, or Chicken Veggie Pot Pie.
Recipe FAQs
Yes! You can boil the carrots as instructed and then add frozen green beans for about 1 to 3 minutes. Taste one to make sure it's done. You can Blanch and Freeze Your Own Garden Green Beans, or buy frozen green beans. Either way, they are already blanched, so really they are just quickly reheating with the carrots. Frozen green beans may be a better option than fresh, out of season, green beans in the winter.
This recipe can be made with any amount of carrots and green beans to serve any amount of people. This recipe serves 4, but the measurements don't really matter. You can do more or less carrots or green beans, depending on what you have. If doing a large amount where you need a big soup pot, you'll need to cook the carrots longer than 15 minutes since it will take longer to boil all that water. Taste one after 15 minutes, you want them to still have a little bite to them. You could also do just 1 carrot and a small handful of beans to serve 2 people.
Yes! If making this dish to bring to a party or holiday like Thanksgiving or Easter, make it just before you leave, cover with foil and keep warm in the host's oven. You can also make the dish a day in advance and refrigerate. Then top it with butter, cover with foil, and rewarm in the oven. Blanch the vegetables until just barely tender or slightly underdone since they will finish cooking when reheating.
Yes! The green beans can be substituted for another green vegetable like broccoli, fresh or frozen peas, or asparagus. All of these green veggies can be cooked about 3 minutes just like the green beans and go well with carrots.
Blanching cooks green beans briefly in salted boiling water, preserving their bright green color and fresh flavor. Roasting in the oven caramelizes the outside and concentrates the flavor, giving you slightly charred, more intense green beans. For fresh summer garden green beans, blanching is my favorite, the beans are tender and fresh and just need a few minutes of cooking. For frozen green beans in winter, roasting is the better method. Try my Crispy Roasted Frozen Green Beans.
More Favorite Side Dishes!
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Garden Green Beans and Carrots with Butter
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Print Pin RateIngredients
- 3 carrots
- 2 to 3 cups green beans
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 2 Tablespoons butter
Instructions
- Wash and trim the stem ends off the green beans. Peel and slice carrots into rounds.
- Add carrots to a pot of cold water. Cook over high heat for 15 minutes. Set a timer so you don't overcook the vegetables!
- Add the salt and the green beans to the boiling water. Cook 3 more minutes.
- Drain the veggies together in a strainer and add to a serving dish.
- Dot the top with butter to melt and serve!
Notes
- Green Beans - Use seasonal fresh, small tender green beans. Store-bought green beans in the winter are not very good and will need to cook a few minutes longer. Green beans could be chopped or left whole.
- Frozen green beans can be used, just cook 1 to 2 minutes instead of 3.
- Adjust amounts of veggies up or down to feed any amount of people.
- Make Ahead - This dish can be made ahead, covered with foil and taken to a party to keep warm in the oven. Or it can be made a day in advance and refrigerated. Dot with butter, cover with foil, and rewarm in the oven.
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