This Lemony Green Bean Salad with shallots and pistachios is crisp and tangy, super easy to make and so darn good you’ll be making it on repeat! Honestly, I ate an entire pan of these last week when I got some fresh green beans from my local farmers market. Sorry, not sorry….that lemony mustard sauce makes fresh green beans irresistible.
If a perfect Green Bean Salad exists…this is it! The lemony mustard dressing is tangy and flavorful, the beans are perfectly cooked and the pistachio sprinkle is brilliant. The sum of its parts is so much greater than any addition would have you believe.
I have a love-love relationship with green beans. Here’s the thing though….I can’t eat them if they’re overcooked! I like my green beans vibrant in color and still with some bite. Blanching green beans keeps them crisp and bright, perfect for a green bean salad. If I wasn’t making this easy green bean recipe, I would for sure be doing some garlicky green beans with almonds…and likely overeating those too.
Ingredients and Substitutions
- Green beans: Star of the show….or maybe it’s the technique and the vinaigrette. I tried this recipe substituting the green beans for asparagus and then broccolini….rave reviews all around. So go for it!
- Shallot: Red onion, leeks or green onions will offer similar results…slice thinly and saute before adding other vinaigrette ingredients to get the same effect.
- Pistachios: Substitute with almonds, pecans, walnuts or pine nuts. For nut allergies use sunflower seeds, hemp seeds or pumpkin seeds. It’s the toasting of the nuts that brings our their flavor and crunch, so don’t skip that step.
- Lemon: The lemon zest really makes this dish….so use a fresh lemon if you can. Bottled lemon juice will work in a pinch though.
- Garlic: Use fresh garlic, the more the better…and definitely use a garlic press or microplane for best flavor.
How to make them
Fill a medium pot with salted water and bring to a boil. While that’s heating up, you can have all your ingredients prepped and ready to go.
Wash green beans and trim the stem side off. Fill a container with ice and water to use when beans are done cooking.
Peel shallots of papery skin and thinly slice. Use a microplane to grate garlic cloves and zest the lemon. Then squeeze the lemon juice into a small bowl.
When salted water has come to a rolling boil, drop in the beans. Set the timer for 2 minutes. You want to remove them when they are bright green.
Use tongs to transfer beans from boiling water to an ice bath. This will shock them into finishing the cooking process.
If using toasted pistachios, roughly chop. If your pistachios are raw, let them “toast” in a dry skillet over medium heat, shaking the pan often so they don’t burn, for about 2 minutes. Set aside and when cool, roughly chop.
Use the same skillet and saute shallots in olive oil until just beginning to brown. Add in grated garlic, lemon zest, salt and red pepper flakes.
Stir constantly until garlic is fragrant and then add mustard and lemon juice.
Turn off heat and whisk until mixture is emulsified.
Transfer beans from their ice water bath, into the pan and toss until well coated.
Transfer lemony green beans to a platter. Spoon any remaining vinaigrette and shallots over the tops of the beans.
You can make ahead up to this point. Refrigerate until ready to serve. Sprinkle with reserved pistachios before serving.
Serving and Storage
- Green Bean Salad can be stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator for 5 days.
- Store the pistachios separately at room temperature and sprinkle on top of beans just before serving.
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📖 Recipe
Lemony Green Bean Salad
Equipment
Ingredients
- 1 lb green beans
- ¼ cup pistachios
Green Bean Salad Dressing
- 2 tablespoon olive oil extra virgin
- 1 shallot thinly sliced
- 1 lemon zested and juiced
- 3 cloves garlic finely grated or pressed
- ½ teaspoon sea salt coarse
- ½ teaspoon crushed red pepper
- 1 teaspoon dijon mustard
Instructions
- Wash and trim green beans. Thinly slice shallots. Zest lemon and use same microplane to grate the garlic cloves. Juice lemon into a separate small dish.
- Bring a medium pot of salted water to a rolling boil. Add green beans, bring back to a boil and cook for 2 minutes. Use tongs to immediately transfer to an ice bath.
- Toast pistachios in a dry skillet. Remove to a cutting board and roughly chop.
- Make the green bean vinaigrette: Use the same pan and heat olive oil. Saute shallot until just beginning to brown. Then add lemon zest, garlic, salt and red pepper flakes. Stir constantly, until fragrant, about 1 minute. Remove from heat and whisk in lemon juice and mustard. Continue to whisk until emulsified.
- Transfer cooked green beans to pan and toss to thoroughly coat with dressing.
- Plate dressed green beans and then sprinkle with toasted pistachios.
Notes
Nutrition
Note
The nutrition calculations were done using online tools. To obtain the most accurate representation of the nutritional information in any given recipe, you should calculate the nutritional information with the actual ingredients you used. You are ultimately responsible for ensuring that any nutritional information is accurate, complete and useful.
Sydney
This is one of my favorites, anything with green beans is so good and this was so easy to make!
Debra Klein
Totally agree. Who doesn’t love green beans?