Roasted Green Beans with Cranberries and Walnuts
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Roasted green beans with tart cranberries and crunchy walnuts make the perfect simple yet elegant holiday side dish.
If you’ve never tried roasted green beans, you’re in for a real treat. Unlike boiled green beans that can be bland and squeaky, roasting brings out their natural sweetness and gives them a tender, caramelized flavor. In this version, dried cranberries add a pop of color and tart-sweetness, while walnuts bring a savory crunch. It’s a simple yet elegant side dish, perfect for the holidays.
What You’ll Need To Make Roasted Green beans with Cranberries & Walnuts
Step-by-Step Instructions
Begin by toasting the walnuts.
While the walnuts toast, rehydrate the cranberries: Place the cranberries in a small heat-proof bowl.
Cover with boiling water and let sit until the green beans are cooked.
To roast the green beans, line a rimmed baking sheet with heavy-duty aluminum foil. Toss the green beans with the garlic, olive oil, salt, pepper, and sugar directly on the prepared baking sheet.
Roast the beans for 15 minutes, then stir with a spatula to promote even cooking. Continue roasting until beans are tender, slightly browned and just starting to shrivel, about 10 minutes more.
Add lemon zest, lemon juice, drained cranberries, and walnuts.
Toss well.
Taste and adjust seasoning with salt, pepper, and more lemon juice if desired.
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Roasted Green Beans with Cranberries & Walnuts
Roasted green beans with tart cranberries and crunchy walnuts make the perfect simple yet elegant holiday side dish.
Ingredients
- 2 pounds fresh green beans, stem ends trimmed
- 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- 3 cloves garlic, peeled and sliced into quarters
- 1¼ teaspoons kosher salt
- ½ teaspoon ground black pepper
- ¼ teaspoon sugar
- 1 teaspoon lemon zest, from one lemon
- 2 teaspoons lemon juice, from one lemon
- ½ cup dried cranberries
- ½ cup walnuts
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F and set an oven rack in the middle position. Line a rimmed baking sheet with heavy-duty aluminum foil. Place the walnuts on the prepared baking sheet and bake until until fragrant, 5 to 10 minutes. Keep a close eye on the nuts so they don't burn. When cool enough to handle, transfer the nuts to a cutting board and coarsely chop. Place the foil back on the baking sheet (you'll use it for the green beans) and increase the oven temperature to 450°F.
- Place the cranberries in a small heatproof bowl. Cover the cranberries with boiling water and set aside.
- Directly on the foil-lined baking sheet, use a rubber spatula to toss the green beans with the olive oil, garlic, salt, pepper, and sugar. Roast the green beans for 15 minutes, then stir with a spatula to promote even cooking. Continue roasting until the beans are tender, slightly browned and just starting to shrivel, about 10 minutes more.
- Drain the cranberries.
- Add the lemon zest, lemon juice, drained cranberries, and toasted walnuts to the green beans. Toss well, then taste and adjust seasoning if necessary.
Nutrition Information
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- Per serving (8 servings)
- Calories: 104
- Fat: 5 g
- Saturated fat: 1 g
- Carbohydrates: 15 g
- Sugar: 9 g
- Fiber: 4 g
- Protein: 2 g
- Sodium: 301 mg
- Cholesterol: 0 mg
This website is written and produced for informational purposes only. I am not a certified nutritionist and the nutritional data on this site has not been evaluated or approved by a nutritionist or the Food and Drug Administration. Nutritional information is offered as a courtesy and should not be construed as a guarantee. The data is calculated through an online nutritional calculator, Edamam.com. Although I do my best to provide accurate nutritional information, these figures should be considered estimates only. Varying factors such as product types or brands purchased, natural fluctuations in fresh produce, and the way ingredients are processed change the effective nutritional information in any given recipe. Furthermore, different online calculators provide different results depending on their own nutrition fact sources and algorithms. To obtain the most accurate nutritional information in a given recipe, you should calculate the nutritional information with the actual ingredients used in your recipe, using your preferred nutrition calculator.
Gluten-Free Adaptable Note
To the best of my knowledge, all of the ingredients used in this recipe are gluten-free or widely available in gluten-free versions. There is hidden gluten in many foods; if you're following a gluten-free diet or cooking for someone with gluten allergies, always read the labels of your ingredients to verify that they are gluten-free.
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Comments
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Loved the dish.
Jen-
I wanted to make these tonight for dinner and I still have some fresh cranberries left over from the holiday that I would love to use in this recipe. How would you recommend that I go about doing that?
Thank you in advance and I just love your recipes. I know I can usually count on them to be a grand slam.
Hi Susan, I wouldn’t recommend using fresh cranberries here — I’m sorry!
I substituted cherry tomatoes for the cranberries and omitted the sugar. We loved it!! Made it for Christmas Eve dinner and there were no leftovers! My daughter made it again 2 days later.
Would this hold up if I made it ahead of time and reheated it at a potluck Christmas dinner?
Sure, Susan — I’d just reheat them briefly in the microwave before serving. Happy holidays!
Will trimming and washing beans alter the texture and cooking time, also can I reheat in microwave
Hi Camile, It’s perfectly fine to trim and rinse the beans. And I’d just reheat them briefly in the microwave. Hope you enjoy!
I made these and they are delicious! I had to reduce the cooking time though, 25 minutes was way too much in my oven.
Made this yesterday for Thanksgiving dinner (Canada) and it was a hit, everyone loved it! Doubled the recipe as we were serving 16. I made it ahead of time. I cooked it to the 15 min point then pulled it out, cooled and refrigerated. At dinner time, I tossed it then finished the remaining 10 mins (as called for in the recipe) as the last dish to be cooked. No issues with beans turning mushy. I squeezed half a lemon plus the rind for the doubled recipe and used half and half roasted walnuts and pecans (as I didn’t have enough walnuts to double it). Put them in a warming tray and they kept well. Definitely a do-over recipe.
Once again I followed our instructions out the window. And ended up with an overcooked mess to be thrown in the garbage. Your suggestion of roasting the beans for a total of thirty minutes cooks the life out of them and you wind up with a tasteless side dish. Wont’t be making this dish again. Really pathetic.
These green beans were outstanding. Cooking them in the toaster oven instead of steaming them made a phenomenal difference!
Wonderful recipe full of flavor! Loved that beans were not watery. I used pinion nuts.