This classic Mediterranean Braised Green Beans recipe so delicious thanks to the grove’s worth of olive oil, tomatoes, fresh garlic, onions and harissa which makes a rustic soul-satisfy sauce for the braise for green beans in this classic Mediterranean recipe.
You May Not Realize It, But Actually, You Love Green Beans.
At least, you will once you’ve had a bite of this tender, classic Mediterranean-style green bean recipe. There's a reason why it's a recipe every Mediterranean country has their own version of it. String beans braised gently with tomatoes, potatoes, fresh garlic and plenty of olive oil, are the five main ingredients used by everyone in the Mediterranean the main difference between each country is their choices of add-ins and spices.
I've used a Libyan inspire version called Lubia: In this version, we add chicken, harissa, cilantro and a Baharat spice blend. You omit the meat and make this dish a vegan version too. It's just as tasty. 😉
I promise this is recipes is a sure-fire way to make a green bean lover out of even the staunchest of critics. This ultra-delicious and fragrant dish, begs for some good, crusty bread to complete this delicious Mediterranean dinner.
How to Prepare Green Beans?
Gather the family or your friends around the table, give everyone a little pile, and make your own green bean trimming party! 🎉
They say many hands make light work and so let's make this tedious kitchen job into one that you actually really enjoy doing. There are only two ways for trimming a big mound of green beans in a hurry—So, without further ado, here are ways I know to prepare green beans:
- Trim green beans with a knife: arrange your green beans so that all of the tough, stem ends are facing the same direction. Cut off the stem ends in one cut with your knife. You don’t need to cut off the curly end—it’s perfectly fine to eat plus it looks beautiful even when it's cooked. Long live the curl!
- Trim green beans by hand: Snap off the tough stem ends with your hands! If your green beans are fresh, they should snap right off. And if you’re like me, you’ll find that snap to be really satisfying — If your beans aren't as fresh as you would like just use the knife method.
Once the beans have been trimmed arrange them into a pile — Try to pile them together with similar-sized beans. Now, they're ready for the pot!
How to cook Green Beans (and Actually Love Them)
You braise them, of course! Braising Vegetables, you say?
Oh yes, braising! A glorious, yet misunderstood cooking method. If you're unaware of what is braising is, well, let me explain: The braising method is a way of cooking that uses both dry and moist heat to cook food until it is beautifully tender.
The word “braise” alongside the word vegetable may seem strange at first. Since it's often thought of when cooking huge chunks of meat, and indeed, with its low heat and long cooking times, braising is a wonderful way of cooking certain cuts of meats.
Likewise, braising is also a pretty magical way of bringing out rich, powerful flavours, particularly an otherwise mild-tasting vegetable as it does with these humble green beans.
And the best part is this technique will work will most vegetables and even eggs!
Low heat and Long cooking
It's true this is not a quick recipe, our tomato-y, garlicky Mediterranean braised green beans recipe will take you about an hour. But don't despair only 10-15 minutes of that is active kitchen time—in fact, one of the most important steps for braising green beans in this way is NOT to stir them as they braise, just close the lid and walk away.
Tools You’ll Need:
- A cast-iron braising pot.
- A sturdy wooden spoon.
- A cutting board
- A sharp knife.
Other Mediterranean Recipes We Love:
For another braised vegetable dish you can try our braised chard with sumac! or any of our other dinner Mediterranean dinner options:
Sahetin!
We hope this Mediterranean Braised Green Bean recipe is a hit in your home! Snap a photo of your finished dish, and maybe even a video of the beautiful people you feed it to, and then tag us on Instagram using @deliciouslymediterranean and #deliciouslymediterranean so we can see! Happy Eating!
BRAISED GREEN BEANS - LUBIA
Ingredients
- 4 chicken thighs
- 2 medium onions diced
- 1 can of chopped tomatoes approximately 1 cup
- 1 tablespoon tomato paste
- 1 teaspoon ground turmeric
- 2 teaspoon Baharat* or 7-spice
- ¼ teaspoon black pepper
- 1½ teaspoon sea salt
- 1 teaspoon harissa
- 1 cup of chicken stock or water
- 2 medium-sized potatoes peel and cubed
- olive oil - A healthy amount 😉
- 1 kg fresh green beans
- 2 garlic cloves smashed into a paste
All-purpose Baharat:
- Makes ⅔ cup
- 1 tablespoon black pepper freshly cracked
- 1 tablespoon ginger ground
- 1 tbsp allspice ground
- 1 tsp cinnamon ground
- 4 tablespoon paprika ground
- 3 tablespoon ground each of coriander & ground cumin
- 1 teaspoon ground cloves
- 2 teaspoon ground cardamom & ground nutmeg
Instructions
- Prepare the spices. Mix all together and store in an airtight container. I know this recipe calls for a lot of spices but this is an all-purpose spice that you can use in any recipe calling for Baharat or 7-spice.
- Clean and season: clean your chicken with water to remove any gross bits. In a small bowl, mix the turmeric, Bharat, and black pepper. Coat the chicken with 1 teaspoon of the spice mixture. Set aside the rest of the mixture for later use.
- Warm the olive oil, on medium heat, then add the onion, cook, until transparent, then add the rest of the spices and give it a little stir. Make space for the chicken, by moving the onions to the side or making pockets for the chicken to sit. Then lay the chicken skin-side down in the pan.
- Let it get crispy, no peeking! The chicken will let you know when they're ready to flip because they won't stick. The skin should be crispy and release very easily from the pan. Flip the chicken thighs and let's move on to the next step. Some times they don't release easily, but this isn't very common, but it can happen it your heat is too high.
- Time to get saucy, add the tomato paste, harissa, and diced tomatoes. Allow the acidic flavour from the tomatoes to cook-out. You'll notice some of the liquid will start to reduce, and that a good sign that's what we're looking for. Add 1 teaspoon of sea salt and give a quick mix.
- Potato time! Add the cut potatoes and stir thoroughly to combine. Add 1 cup of water to the pot. The water should to barely cover the potatoes, and the top of the chicken thighs are showing.
- Now, no more stirring! Lay the green beans on top of the chicken potato-sauce mixture and DO NOT STIR. Cook on medium-high minutes to bring to a rolling simmer.⏤ You'll start to hear the sauce bubbling.
- Let's Braise! Your pot is bubbling faster by the minute now turn the heat down as low as it'll go (you're looking for a very light simmer) cover and cook until the beans are tender about 40 minutes. ⏤ If there's too much liquid cook uncovered at the very end to reduce the liquid, if it's too dry, add a little water about ¼ cup to a max of ½ cup.
- Mix in the Garlic. I prefer to add the garlic last. Remove the chicken, stir in the smashed garlic and stir it. You may also want to adjust the salt, add in the last ½ teaspoon of salt. Add chicken back to the pan. Let the food rest for 5 minutes; well, you're preparing the table. The garlic will cook in the residual heat and give the dish a nice hint of garlicky taste.
- You're done! Your house should be full of good smells and very hungry tummies. Don't forget your bread it the best part!
Alice | SkinnySpatula
I actually love, love green beans, and this recipe looks great. The combination of spices sounds amazing, too.
Emmeline
I do actually know I love green beans - but it's only thanks to flavor-packed dishes like this one!! Love this new recipe that will be a great part of the dinner rotation at our house - so much flavor!
Andrea Metlika
We really do like green beans but we are tired of the same old way of eating them. This dish sounds delicious!!! Definitely making this as soon as possible.
Alisa Infanti
Love this recipe and a great way to use up all the green beans in my garden!