Crack Green Beans Recipe: a Culinary Adventure You Can't Resist

The pride of Southern cuisine, crack green beans make a great main dish, or even a side dish. The main ingredient? Cut and trimmed green beans, whether they are prepackaged, frozen, or fresh.

Still, if green beans are the heart of this recipe, the famous glaze would be the soul. The crack green beans recipe is simply not complete without the glaze, consisting of soy sauce, garlic, onion, some melted butter, and bacon. If those are not your thing — we got you covered. Simply check the substitutions section.

Jump to:

• Ingredients
• Instructions
• Substitutions
• Variations
• Equipment
• Storage
• Pro Tips
• Crack Green Beans Recipe
• Comments

Ingredients

• Green beans — 5 cans, 8 ounces, drained
• Brown sugar — ⅔ cup
• Melted butter — ¼ cup
• Soy sauce — 5 tsp.
• Garlic powder — 1 ½ tsp.
• Onion powder — 1 ½ tsp.
• Bacon — 12 slices, cooked

Instructions

1. Set your oven to 350° degrees.

2. Lightly grease a 9 x 13 baking pan.

3. Transfer the drained beans to the pan.

4. Mix the rest of the ingredients except for the bacon, in a mixing bowl.

5. Stir well.

6. Pour the mixture over the beans.

7. Add the cooked bacon slices to the pan.

8. Bake for 30 minutes.

Substitutions

• Soy sauce — Crack green beans recipe is simply unthinkable without soy sauce. It provides some much-needed savory flavor that elevates the dish to another level. With that being said, we made this recipe using Worcestershire sauce instead, and we were left fairly satisfied. Fish sauce is another alternative to soy sauce with a similar savory flavor, but keep in mind that the dish will taste a tad different.

• Bacon — Any kind of smoked sausage can replace the bacon perfectly, although the flavor will differ. Smoked pork, smoked turkey, and smoked ham could all be considered. In our experience, smoked pork worked fairly well and left us with a smile on our faces.

• Melted butter — We think butter fits the crack green beans recipe the best, simply due to the flavor it provides. Still, you could easily replace it. Consider using vegetable oil. We used coconut oil instead of butter, and it was just as good.

Variations

• Spicy — We wanted to make this recipe spicy, so we added a teaspoon or two of Tabasco sauce to the mix. While you are at it, we would also recommend adding a bit of red pepper flakes to the mix as well.

• Gluten-free — Most of the ingredients you’ll be needing for our crack green beans recipe are already gluten-free, except for the soy sauce. Luckily, Tamari is a great gluten-free alternative to soy sauce, and it has a similar taste.

• Garnish it — You know what they say, the devil lies in the details. While our crack green beans recipe is as good as it gets, it can always get better, and the best way to improve it would be the additions. We are talking about garnishes. Quick melt cheese is the safest route, with parmesan and mozzarella as good choices. Still, you could also top your dish with almonds and nuts as well. We have tried both, and we weren’t disappointed.

Equipment

• Measuring cups

• Measuring spoons

• Mixing bowl

• Baking pan

• Oven

Storage

• Transfer the leftovers to an airtight container.

• Once stored in your fridge, the leftovers will last for three days at most.

Pro Tips

• Pair it — While our crack green beans recipe makes a great dinner on its own, you can always pair it with other dishes. Steamed rice would be great, as well as brown rice. Salmon and tuna fish are great as well.

• Choose the right beans — Our crack green beans recipe can be made with frozen beans, canned beans, and fresh beans. While you would be just fine with either of those, we’d recommend going with fresh ones, at least that’s what we opted for.