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These Roasted Garlic Green Beans are an addicting side dish that is super easy to throw together. Basic enough to serve with your store-bought rotisserie chicken, yet with a certain elegance that lets you serve it as a side at a dinner party or holiday meal, it will be something you want to eat every week, especially when it only uses 5 ingredients.
Roasted green beans are a delicious way to introduce your family to this vegetable in its fresh state. We grew up on, and still eat, canned green beans. The canned version is always on hand because we have a long hurricane season from June through November. They’re not so unfamiliar or fancy that our parents and grandparents won’t balk at what you made. Tasty enough that my son will eat them because they are no longer green beans, they are “yummy greens.”
Health Benefits: Green Beans
Green beans are a great source of Vitamin C, Vitamin A and fiber. This is great for those of you who don’t care for colorful bell peppers or citrus fruits. The Vitamin C helps with collagen production and helps to defend against environmental damage to your skin. The Vitamin A helps to take care of your eye sight. (Here’s looking at you all of you carrot and pumpkin haters; don’t need to force yourself to eat these if you like green beans!) Of course, the fiber helps with digestion and keeping you full after mealtime.
Green beans are also available throughout much of the year. Maybe consider planting some in the spring because they are easy to grow!
Health Benefits: Olive Oil
You have probably heard about the healthy fats in olive oil and how olive oil is anti-inflammatory so it can reduce the risk of heart disease. But the benefits to brain health are not often talked about. Olive oil might help lower the risk of a stroke, a blood clot or bleeding causing loss of blood flow to the brain. There are studies that show olive oil might help to clean certain plaque that builds up on the brain that cause Alzheimer’s, but more research needs to be done.
Extra virgin olive oil is supposed to be healthier because regular olive oil is more processed and takes out more of the antioxidants and healthy compounds. Still, it might be better to use olive oil compared to butter or other types of oils. Talk to your doctor or nutritionist if you want to learn more about what’s best for your diet. There are also so many brands selling olive oil. Find an affordable tasty one on Amazon at the link below.
Health Benefits: Garlic
Can a clove of raw garlic a day really keep the doctor away? Many cultures use garlic for medicinal purposes. Antioxidants, sulfur compounds, and all kinds of vitamins and minerals make this a great way to season your food and make it healthier. Scientists now know that many of the beneficial compounds inside of garlic are lowered when you cook garlic. I don’t know about you, but if I’m not using raw garlic in salad dressing, I would much rather eat it cooked.
Garlic might help protect against brain decline and brain diseases. It’s also possible that garlic may help detoxify your body from heavy metals, like lead, that aren’t supposed to be there. That’s great, because so many processed foods can be exposed to heavy
metals during the harvesting through packaging process. You can feel a little better about eating chocolate products (because all of them have some lead and cadmium in them) if you are a garlic lover!
If you have a bleeding disorder or are taking blood thinners, talk to your doctor before increasing your garlic intake.
Need more side dishes for your next dinner party or potluck? Check these out:
Roasted Garlic Green Beans
Equipment
- 1 large cutting board
- 1 chef's knife
- 1 Large baking sheet
- aluminum foil
- 1 Large bowl optional
Ingredients
- 1 pound green beans stems trimmed off
- 8 cloves garlic cut into chunks (about ½ bulb)
- ⅛ cup olive oil
- 1 tsp seasoned salt
- ¼ tsp ground black pepper
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit. Line baking sheet with aluminum foil.
- Mix green beans, garlic, olive oil, seasoned salt, and black pepper in a bowl. (In a pinch, you can mix this on the lined baking sheet.)
- Pour everything onto the lined baking sheet. Put baking sheet in the oven on the middle rack for 20 minutes (for more crisp green beans) to 25 minutes (softer green beans).
- When the green beans are done, take them out of the oven and mix everything well, scraping the baking sheet to get off the stuck browned garlic bits. Serve warm or at room temperature.
