Best Southern Green Beans Recipe {Keto Friendly/Low Carb}

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This is the absolute Best Southern Green Beans Recipe. It’s super easy to make and is the perfect keto side dish. With minimal ingredients and lots of amazing flavors, you are sure to love this southern keto-style green bean recipe.

Southern Green Beans Verticle Image

I am a southern girl and LOVE green beans! So, I knew I had to make a super flavorful keto green beans recipe. These southern-style green beans are made from canned beans and other herbs and spices. Making them perfect for your keto/low car diet and super delicious. Even to those who aren’t eating keto in your house!

Ingredients:

  • canned cut green beans – While you may be hesitant about using canned green beans, I promise they are amazing! The trick Is adding different spices and allowing the green beans to simmer!
  • butter – Butter adds extra flavor and fat to the southern green beans.
  • bacon grease or olive oil – Adds more fat while allowing the green beans to simmer without sticking to the pot. If you have bacon grease on hand, it adds extra flavor, and you could add some bacon bits.
  • italian dressing – Italian dressing adds so much flavor to the green beans! Since you only use a little bit, it doesn’t matter what brand you use. I like plain Italian dressing!
  • garlic salt and dried minced onion – These spices add a more savory flavor to the keto green beans. You can find the minced onion in the spice aisle at the grocery store; make sure not to buy the fresh minced onion on accident. 

How to make Southern Green Beans with Canned Beans:

Step 1: Dump all ingredients in a pan and bring to a boil. If you use bacon grease instead of olive oil, you could also add in some bacon bits for extra flavor. 

Step 2: Boil uncovered until almost all of the juice has evaporated. You can boil on medium/high so that they will be ready faster (approx 35 – 45 minutes) or boil on medium to low for an hour or longer, depending on how much time you have available. I’ve done both, and they turn out amazing either way!

Step 3: Stir occasionally. The beans will begin to fall apart as the juice cooks out. It is normal.

Step 4: Once the juice has evaporated and the southern green beans are finished cooking salt taste. Finally, enjoy!

Bowl of finished southern style green beans with bacon

ARE GREEN BEANS LOW CARB?

While green beans are in the same family as beans, they have far fewer carbs than most. One cup of cooked, canned green beans contains 10 grams of carbs and 4 grams of fiber. So, cooked, canned green beans contain only 6 total carbs per cup.

Green beans are the perfect keto/low-carb diet. I like to keep several cans of green beans in our pantry for times when I’m in a pinch and need a delicious healthy side for dinner.

CAN YOU USE FRESH OR FROZEN GREEN BEANS INSTEAD OF CANNED ONES?

You absolutely can! Remember that you will need to add some liquid since moisture is the key to cooking down these southern green beans until they about fall apart. You could use chicken stock, vegetable stock, or water.

Frozen green beans already contain some moisture, requiring less added stock or water. Watch your green beans as they cook down if you go this route. You may need to add more liquid to ensure the beans get cooked down properly as it evaporates.

In addition, fresh and frozen green beans have a different total carb count than canned, so make sure to calculate the proper amount if you are tracking macros.

How to Store Southern Green Bean Leftovers

I recommend storing any leftovers in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to four days. You can also freeze the green beans by putting them in a freezer-friendly container. These keto green beans should last about 3 months in the freezer. This is an excellent way to prep a healthy side dish if you’re ever in a pinch. 

How to Reheat The Best Southern Green Beans Recipe

If your green beans were stored in the fridge, place them in a microwave-safe container, heat on high for 30 seconds, and stir. Repeat this cycle until the green beans have reached the desired warmth.

If the green beans were frozen, place them in the fridge to come to room temperature, and follow the steps above to rewarm.

What to Serve with the Best Southern Green Beans with Canned Beans

Here are some of my favorite keto main courses to go with green beans!

Other low carb vegetable side dishes:

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4.37 from 33 votes

Southern Green Beans {Keto Friendly/Low Carb}

We still eat green beans at least once a week, and over the years I have perfected my recipe so that they taste so much like my grandmother's. I've never actually measured what I put in them until last week after I had gotten so many comments asking how I prepared mine. Now that I have it written down, I thought I'd share with you. 
Prep Time2 minutes
Cook Time35 minutes
Total Time37 minutes
Course: Side Dish
Cuisine: American
Servings: 14
Author: Kasey Trenum

Ingredients

  • 4 cans 14.5 oz of cut green beans
  • 2 Tablespoons of olive oil or bacon grease whatever you have handy
  • 1 Tablespoon Butter
  • 1 Tablespoon Italian Dressing doesn't matter what kind
  • 1/2 tsp garlic salt
  • 1/2 tsp pepper
  • 1/4 tsp dried minced onion
  • salt to taste

Instructions

  • Dump all of the ingredients in a pan and bring to a boil.
  • Boil uncovered until almost all of the juice has evaporated.
  • You can boil on medium/high so that they will be ready faster (approx 35 - 45 minutes) or boil on medium to low for an hour or longer depending on how much time you have available.
  • Stir occasionally. The beans will begin to fall apart as the juice cooks out. It is normal.
  • Salt to taste.
  • Enjoy!
Tried this recipe?Mention @kaseytrenumblogger or tag #kaseytrenumblogger!

collage of southern-style green beans with canned beans

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27 Comments

  1. I figured out that typo for 1/2 tsp [e[[er is pepper…others might not be able to figure it out…just sayin’
    we tried your quest soup an it was fabulous!
    Thanks!

    1. I don’t know what was going on with that. I corrected that about 3 times and it kept reverting. So weird. I think it is fixed now.

      Thank you! So glad you loved it!

  2. I’m really excited to try this out but have a couple of questions.

    For the Italian dressing are you talking about the powder mix to make the dressing or are you talking about the already made dressing from a bottle?

    Also, Do you drain the green beans before placing in the pot?

    Thanks for all the great recipes.

    1. I use Italian dressing in a bottle. You do not drain the green beans as you want to cook them until the liquid evaporates.

  3. The liquid that evaporates, is that from the green bean cans themselves? You dont drain the beans right?

    Thank you! Love all your recipes!!!

  4. I made these tonight and they were delicious! Green beans are one of the few vegetables I eat so I will make them often. Next time I think I will add some bacon. This summer when fresh green beans are available I plan to use chicken broth for the liquid to boil them in ?

  5. 5 stars
    I made these tonight-everyone loved them!! I don’t like any kind of canned green beans, but these were delicious!! Thank you so much!

  6. 5 stars
    I made theses a few weeks ago and they were fantastic! I just put another pot on in my cast iron Dutch oven. I did use a large bag of frozen green beans and some water but I don’t consider that as changing your recipe. I wasn’t too sure about the Italian dressing the first time but I used it and loved them. I love all of your recipes that I have tried.

  7. Oh my God Kasey Trenum. This is so good. Takes me back to my Mama, to the South, back to everything good. Fantastic! Thank you!

    1. Yay! That is what I like to hear. SO glad you enjoyed them. I appreciate you taking the time to leave feedback.

  8. 4 stars
    I really think this is a great recipe, loved the resulting flavor and texture! Sadly, my green bean dish turned out so salty, that we could not eat it as is.

    I suppose different brands of green beans have different quantities of salt?

    I’d love to know which canned brands you are using…and are you using unsalted butter by chance.

    I suppose I could replace the the liquid in my cans with water, if need be. But I’d be glad to buy a different brand, as clearly you have one that works well!

    I did a save by adding a lot of heavy cream along with some glucommanan powder to thicken and that turned it into a creamed green bean dish that was still on the verge of being too salty, but I got away with it and frankly, that was delicious too. Maybe a way for others to change this great recipe up now and then, especially if you need more keto fat in a dinner.

    Thank you! I will try it again and hope to hear some brand suggestions if you have a moment.
    The brand I used was called Harvest Valley (packed in WI). It had 380 gr of sodium per serving with 3.5 servings per 15oz can. So with all those cans, I had 5320 gr of sodium BEFORE the butter, Italian dressing, garlic salt and any salt that might have been in my bacon grease.

    1. I think everyone has different tastes when it comes to salt. This recipe isn’t salty to me at all, but if it is for you I would suggest using unsalted butter and replacing the liquid with water. I use different brands depending on where I shop and what is on sale.

    1. For this recipe I use canned. Other times when I cook the green beans differently I use fresh.

  9. 5 stars
    These are delicious and so easy. Having them tonight with your pan fried pork chops and gravy. Love all of your recipes that I have tried.

  10. 5 stars
    I can’t believe how great this taste. I never, ever eat canned green beans, but I guess I will be now. I did use “no salt added) because I wanted to get a handle on the sodium. Thank you so much for this wonderful recipe.

    1. So glad you loved them. My family loves fresh green beans but being a busy mom of 4 canned green beans are great. Especially following this recipe! Thank you for your comments and for rating this recipe!

  11. I’ve made this a couple of times in the pot on the stove and love it soooo much. I was just wondering if you know if I could make this in a crockpot for the holidays so I can put it in there and forget about it while making the rest of dishes. Just to make it even a little easier than it already is.😃

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