Green Beans and Tomatoes
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When you need a simple, quick, easy, and healthy Southern side dish to accompany your favorite main meal, try this recipe for last-minute green beans and tomatoes. It’s lightly seasoned, only needs 5 ingredients, and is ready in just 15 minutes.
In the continual search for something green to add to our meals, this green beans and tomatoes recipe is a great quick and easy Southern side dish that makes canned green beans delicious. I say this with surprise because, until I made them this way, there was nothing more un-delicious to me than a can of green beans. Usually, I only served green beans when I had time to fry up bacon and make them sweet and sour style.
I was skeptical when my friend, Heather, told me this recipe for last-minute green beans was her son’s absolute favorite side dish, but I tried it. I have to say, it has become one of our favorite side dishes, too. This is handy because you can keep the ingredients on hand easily enough and whip the recipe up at the last minute with very little thought (hence the nickname). Let me just say, it tastes great with my sticky chicken and maple-glazed pork chops. We do thorough taste-testing around here, of course!
So, what ingredients do you need on hand? Well, it’s super simple: cans of French green beans, an onion, a can of diced tomatoes, and salt and pepper. That’s it! Your green beans and tomatoes will be ready to eat in 15 minutes. Sound good?
P.S. I really don’t fret over whether or not I have something green on every supper table. One of my favorite meal combinations includes sides of creamed corn, mashed potatoes, macaroni and cheese, and rolls! But we try to toss some green in there (like these green beans and tomatoes) for good measure to keep all of our home economics teachers from rolling over in their graves. I have a home economics degree, so it’s my duty!
Now, time to make some last-minute green beans.
Recipe Ingredients
- Diced tomatoes
- French-style green beans (regular green beans work just fine)
- Salt
- Pepper
- Onion
Helpful Kitchen Tools
How to Make Last-Minute Green Beans and Tomatoes
First, chop your onion.
Drain your green beans and dump them into a pot.
Say hello to your green beans because they’re being all sweet and posing for you. They look like they are seeking approval. HELLO, GREEN BEANS! You look mighty pretty today!
Add chopped onion and canned tomatoes (with juice).
And salt and pepper to taste.
Stirry stirry.
Cook over medium-high heat until it just comes to a light boil.
Then reduce heat to low, cover, and simmer for 10 to 15 minutes.
The end result? A big bowl of green beans and tomatoes.
There are several serving suggestions below, but may I suggest some delicious chicken legs to accompany your green beans and tomatoes?
Storage
Store leftovers in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 4 days. Reheat in the microwave or on the stovetop.
Recipe Notes
- You can also use fresh tomatoes or cherry tomatoes if you like. Just dice it up and go for it. Another option is to swap the diced tomatoes for canned fire-roasted tomatoes.
- To make them extra tasty, add a teaspoon of garlic powder or minced garlic cloves. You can also add a tablespoon of sugar or brown sugar if you want a touch of sweetness.
- For heat, you’ll want to add a pinch of cayenne pepper, paprika, or crushed red pepper flakes to this (whatever spice you have on hand).
- As mentioned, you can use either canned, fresh, or frozen green beans.
- If your saucepot isn’t non-stick, add a dash of olive oil or some butter to add flavor and ensure nothing sticks to the bottom.
- Just before serving, stir through 2 tablespoons of chopped fresh parsley or chopped fresh basil if you like for Italian green beans and tomatoes (a very similar side dish).
- Some Southern versions of this dish add crumbled bacon bits too.
Recipe FAQs
What do you serve with green beans and tomatoes?
Now, I know I included quite a few serving ideas in the intro, but hey, here are some more:
- Serve them as a side with all sorts of main dishes, like Southern fried catfish, Southern fried chicken, pan-seared pork chops with velvet cream sauce, or pulled pork.
- They also work great as a side dish with pasta, like my slow cooker angel chicken pasta.
You may also like these other Southern side dish recipes:
Southern Deviled Eggs Recipe (Keto-Friendly)
Hush Puppies Recipe, Southern-Style
Ingredients
- 1 14.5-ounce can diced tomatoes, undrained
- 2 14.5-ounce cans green beans, drained
- 1 chopped onion
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
Instructions
- Place drained green beans in a medium saucepot. Add in chopped onion, tomatoes with juice, salt, and pepper. Stir.1 14.5-ounce can diced tomatoes, undrained, 2 14.5-ounce cans green beans, drained, 1 chopped onion, 1/2 teaspoon salt, 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
- Place over medium-high heat and bring just to a light boil.
- Reduce heat to low and cover. Simmer for 10 to 15 minutes.
- Serve.
Nutrition
If you pray for God to move a mountain, be prepared to wake up next to a shovel.
~Unknown. Submitted by Rick (thanks, Rick!)
I can relate as well. My oldest went to college 12 hours away, then grad school on the other side of the country. After 8 years away, he got his first job back in home town – what a blessing! Never thought he’d be back so close. This happened right when the youngest was leaving the nest for college. God’s timing is perfect! Don’t know how parents did it years ago without the technology we have today – what faith they must have had. I’m so thankful to be able to hear from my boys even when far away. Empty nests are filled with wonderful memories and hope for the future.
My baby is 21…I had to let him go a year ago. He moved far, far away….40 miles away! I still cry! But my only girl is 23 and still home…and I cannot imagine what life will be like when she leaves. Hugs for you Christy (hugs and tears)
Christy, will give you the speech I gave to parents of seniors in high school as they were trying to let go. I called it the Apron method of raising kids. In the old farm days when women would chop cotton and work in the fields, they would have their babies, tie them up in their aprons and go to work. As the baby starting walking, they would tie the apron string around their wrists but keep them close. As they got older, they would let out the string until finally, they would take it off but keep a close eye on that child until they felt they could be trusted to take their own hoe and work beside mom. Finally the child would go with the older children and tend to the fields without mother, taking their place in the order of things. You just untied the string but don’t worry… he is still in your sight! God is watching him with your prayers.
Love this story!
Cheryl, what a beautiful story! It made me think of that movie where Sally Fields had to take over their farm after her husband’s death.. Remember her picking cotton?
Christy, your story was beautiful and heartfelt too and I could relate to that, as I’m sure most of us could. The fact that your son called you after he got to school told me that he loved and respected you and your feelings. The peer pressure on kids today is unreal..he was right, he would have been embarrassed and teased mercifully if his school friends had seen you hugging and kissing him like your family does naturally at home. There used to be a neighborhood boy that always kissed his Mother and hugged her and hugged his Father as he left them, even when a teenagers and he continues to this day do the same to his Dad who is up in his late 80’s. Mother is now deceased.. I’ll guarantee you he probably has taught his own kids to do the same to him and his wife. That’s just B!
There’s nothing wrong with the way you are raising your children; continue that way and hopefully they’ll never go astray. It’s like being involved in their sports activities. Kids keep these precious moments in their hearts forever and probably try to copy you when they have their own children. You’ll know when to back off as the kids get older.
Now is that the chidken/turkey that Katy Rose is holding that she was supposed to decorate for school? Did she do the decorating or did Mommy? That chicken/turkey looks like it’s going to a fancy party or Marti Grai! LOL! Cute!
Christy, I must say that you are one good mama. If your son called you from school (or wherever) and said what he said to you…you should be beaming from here to the moon. Not all good parents are blessed with kids that are that thoughtful–loving maybe, but not so thoughtful. It touched my heart.
I will have to try your bean recipe as I, like you, tend to favor my ‘normal’ way…which is: can of beans, garlic minced, onion minced, cooked and topped with almond slivers. Bacon is a plus when I have it !
Oh wow! I baked the Peachy Oatmeal Pudding and husband went WILD over it.
Not being an oatmeal lover myself, even I had it for breakfast it is so good. Ladies if you haven’t tried it, you are mising a great food plate. It is well worth it. :))) Three smiles~three more :)))
I am so glad to hear that you and your husband liked it Leanette!!
Oh, wow! Unexpected tears! I too have a 13-year old baby boy that I have had to pretend to let go this year also! Along with my 18-year old baby girl going off to college!
Hi Christy,
My baby girl is 30 yrs old and my son is 33 yrs old. He is the father of my now 4 yr old grandson. How fast they grow.
When they were younger, I would count how many years I had left with them at home. I can’t believe it went so fast. Having an empty nest sucks. People joke about their kids leaving home and then coming back-well our two children left and did not need to move back home.
We have each other (married 34 yrs) and our 5 doggies (all rescues) but it is empty of children. I miss them so much even though I see them every week and talk and text with them daily, it’s not the same as them being here. I was a stay at home mom and home for my children after school. We were a Marine Corps family, 9 years stationed in Japan and we only had each other-with no extended family near.
Hug your children and realize they will be grown and gone. I finished my bachelor’s degree in social work after they graduated and went to college. I got my master’s of science in gerontology and am now an MBA candidate. Have a plan for when they are gone. It is very lonely in the beginning.