Roasted Green Beans With Almond Breadcrumbs
on Nov 08, 2021, Updated Nov 15, 2023
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If you’re looking for an easy side dish, you have to try these roasted green beans. Tossed in a crunchy mix of toasted breadcrumbs, almonds and sunflower seeds, they have lots of fresh flavors with lemon and crumbled feta. This recipe might even have you skip the green bean casserole and do some roasting instead.
Table of Contents
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
Roasting is one of the best and most reliable ways to cook green beans. You can boil them, sauté them or steam them for a healthy side. With any of these methods, it’s very important not to overcook them. That’s because you want the green beans to keep some of their signature snap. Roasting makes that easy.
Green beans roast in about 12 minutes. They are a more delicate vegetable than you might think about roasting especially during the fall when your mind probably first goes to sweet potatoes and squash.
The recipe has a nutty and crunchy breadcrumb topping that’s so tasty. Before I get to the green beans, I toast a mixture of panko breadcrumbs, almonds and sunflower seeds in the oven first. This does add an extra step, but the topping works perfectly with the green beans. I like to think of it as a nutty, savory crumble.
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 nuts give the topping wonderful flavor. You can substitute with walnuts.
- 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.
- Olive oil: I toss everything in 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, 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 green beans with crumbled goat cheese or shaved Parmesan cheese instead.
How To Make Roasted Green Beans
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
1. Combine the panko breadcrumbs, nuts, sunflower seeds, olive oil, salt, pepper and 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. Drizzle the green beans with 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. Arrange them on a serving dish and top with crumbled feta. Also spoon on additional breadcrumbs and nuts from the sheet pan.
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 with roasted chicken or salmon to something more important like Thanksgiving or another holiday meal.
They are 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 for a few minutes. I don’t recommend a microwave for rewarming because it will soften and steam the green beans.
Recipe Tips
- 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. Us all that 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.
Recipe FAQs
It’s better not to line the pan. Since you stir the green beans with oil, this should prevent them sticking to the pan. When vegetables make contact directly with the hot metal of the baking sheet, they brown better.
You can skip it, but you will be missing out on the texture and toasted nutty and lemon flavors that it adds to the green beans.
Leave out the feta.
Use gluten-free panko breadcrumbs.
More Vegetable Side Dish Recipes
Miso-Glazed Red Kuri Squash
Honey Sriracha Roasted Brussels Sprouts
Parmesan Herb Roasted Acorn Squash
Parmesan Roasted Zucchini
Curry Tahini Roasted Cauliflower
Parmesan Garlic Roasted Asparagus
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.
Video
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
