Side dishes don’t get any easier or tastier than this keto side dish and low-carb favorite, keto Beans with Bacon. Follow me, Chef Jenn, and I’ll show you all my best tips and tricks for making this amazing keto vegetable recipe perfectly every time!
I used lovely yellow wax beans, but green beans are fine, too. Coming together in just a few minutes, you can make a big batch of these and eat them all week!
Green and yellow beans should be in every low carb and keto dieters meal rotation. Half the total carbs come from fiber, making this a great choice as a side dish to grilled meats, pan-fried fish, or this year-round favorite: Bacon-Wrapped Pork Tenderloin.
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How To Make Keto Beans with Bacon
The key to this dish is to not overcook the beans.
Overcooked beans turn to mush, and they get a nasty flavor.
Cook them in rapidly boiling salted water (use a good quality pink salt for strict keto) for a few minutes until they are tender but still crisp.
There’s no exact boiling time, as it depends on the freshness of your beans (the fresher they are the less time they take to cook), the thickness of the beans, the size of your pot, and other variables.
Test your beans after about 3 minutes of boiling, until you get them just right.
As they’re boiling, fry up the bacon, so that the bacon is crisp when the beans are ready. The bacon can be cooked ahead of time, and the whole dish can be prepared and refrigerated, to be reheated later.
You can also use frozen beans with this recipe. Just prepare the beans as per the instructions on the bag, and voila, dinner is ready in a snap!
Enjoy the bounty of your garden or local farmers market with Beans with Bacon – summer just doesn’t get any tastier than this!
Chef’s Tips
- Use fresh, blemish free beans. To see if your beans are fresh before buying, snap one in half. It should make a juicy snapping sound.
- To prepare the beans, simply snap off the woody stem end. The fine pointy end is edible and they make a lovely presentation when left on.
- Change up the flavor by adding a bit of sauteed garlic and bacon.
- Add a bit of heat to this keto vegetable side dish recipe with some red pepper flakes or even cut a bit of jalapeno into the bacon when it is cooking.
- Don’t overcook the beans! They should be tender crisp.
- Serve this tasty side with low-carb Mexican Shredded Beef!
Are Keto Beans with Bacon Freezable?
Yes – sort of. You can freeze this dish, but expect to lose a bit of the quality during the freezing and thawing process.
To freeze this dish, fully prepare it, then chill it in the fridge until it is cold. Then, simply place it in a freezer-safe plastic bag or container. Get out as much of the air as you can.
Thaw it overnight in the fridge before heating in the microwave and enjoy!
Beans with Bacon
Ingredients
- 1.5 pounds string beans
- 6 slices bacon chopped
- 1 tbsp butter
Instructions
- Trim the beans of the woody stem end. Boil the beans in rapidly boiling salted water for 5-8 minutes, checking the beans for doneness after 3 or 4 minutes. Do NOT overcook.
- Meanwhile, cook the chopped bacon in a skillet until crisp and brown. Drain off all but 1 tbsp of the bacon fat. Add the butter to the hot pan and let it melt.
- Drain the beans and toss with the bacon and butter mixture. Serve and enjoy!
- *If serving the beans later, after draining, run them under cold water to cool them quickly. Then toss with butter or bacon and refrigerate until needed.
Nutrition
A Note on Nutritional Information
Nutritional information for this recipe is provided as a courtesy and is calculated based on available online ingredient information. It is only an approximate value. The accuracy of the nutritional information for any recipe on this site cannot be guaranteed. Erythritol carbs (sugar substitutes) are not included in the carbohydrate counts as they have been shown not to impact blood sugar, and they have zero calories and zero carbs. Net carbs are the total carbs minus fiber.
This recipe was beyond delicious! So easy and flavorful, I’ll definitely be making again!
Such a delicious and easy side dish! This will go perfectly with so much!
Anything with bacon is going to get my family’s attention at the dinner table. This was a total win!
I do love fresh green beans in the summer. And bacon makes everything better 🙂