Easy Recipe for Sweet and Savory Green Beans with Bacon

Last week, our office had our first ever “Staff-Giving” luncheon, and it was amazing! I was raised on Southern cooking, and I have to say, all of the Southern cooking came out, and it was delicious! One dish I can’t wait to share is Emily’s easy recipe for Sweet and Savory Green Beans with Bacon. You and your families will love it!

Our First Staff-Giving Celebration

What a blessing it is to work with people you actually enjoy being around! We enjoy each others’ company and get along well.

We also like to have a good time and fellowship together – especially when there is food involved. This was the case last week when one of the ladies came up with the idea of our own Thanksgiving gathering she called “Staff-Giving.”

You really can’t tell what the food looked liked or the enormous amount of food we had from the picture. There was another table full of dishes in addition to the one shown. Of course I forgot to take a picture, but a friend had this one.

A Time of Fellowship

​Like I mentioned, we have little food gatherings on a semi-regular basis at school.  However, when you have students in the building, you either eat in shifts or grab and go. On this particular day, we did not have students, so we actually got to sit and eat lunch together. It is amazing how you can get to know people better when food is involved! 

The extent that I knew some of the people I got to share this meal with was only seeing their name pop up on my caller id. This day, I enjoyed their humor and found them fun to be around. It made me think of my advice in the post, Church Ladies Favorite Potluck Recipes: Easy Desserts – “Try to sit with people you don’t normally get to sit with. Meet new people and hear their stories.” I truly enjoyed doing just that!

A New Recipe – Sweet and Savory Green Beans

Days before our luncheon, we all signed up to bring specific dishes. One person brought dressing, while someone else brought a turkey. There was ham, macaroni and cheese, sweet potatoes, bread, cabbage, peas, desserts galore, potatoes, deviled eggs, Armadillo eggs, green beans, and so much more – a real “staff-giving” feast.

Emily had mentioned bringing her green beans earlier in the week, but these were not your normal green beans. I was used to either regular green beans, green bean casserole, or even green bean bundles, but these were different. They were sweet, savory, and covered in bacon. And, unlike the green bean bundles, they were all together in a casserole dish, which made them much easier to make.

A Plan to Share

Since everyone loved Emily’s recipe, and it was so easy, I wanted to share it before the holidays. It was very last minute, but I went to the grocery store today at lunch to get the simple ingredients and made them tonight. I wanted to test them out for myself, but we are also having our Thanksgiving potluck meal tomorrow night at church. They were super easy, and they are ready to go for tomorrow.

If you are looking for an easy green bean recipe for Thanksgiving or Christmas, give this one a try. I think it will be one of your family favorites!

Emily’s Easy Recipe for Sweet and Savory Green Beans

The prep time on this is very quick – about 15 minutes. See quick tips in the section below to save on time and mess.

Quick and Easy Tips

I like to use the least amount of dishes possible when cooking. Here are a few tips I found that saved me a little time with less mess:

• Put parchment paper in the baking dish you are going to use for the green beans, and microwave the bacon in it to save a dish. Just remove the bacon to a paper plate to prepare the green beans in the dish.
• Using parchment paper allows you to capture the bacon grease. Depending on the quality of the parchment paper, you may not have any grease in the baking dish.
• While the bacon is cooking, be preparing all of the other ingredients.
• Melt the butter in a container large enough to add the other sauce ingredients. I used a 2 Cup measuring glass. It was convenient to mix the sauce in, and easy to pour from the spout.
• Since I am taking my dish to a large event, I cut the bacon into small pieces (1 inch strips) after it was finished baking. More people can get bacon this way.
• Store any leftovers in an airtight container and enjoy later.

The End Results – Deliciousness

It is hard to fully describe how delicious this green bean and bacon recipe is!

The crispy bacon and the savory glaze make this the perfect side dish. You could almost make it the main dish.

Whether you are making this dish for a weeknight family dinner, for holiday meals, or for your next potluck dinner, it is likely to be one of your favorite easy side dishes, even if you are not normally a big green bean fan.

I hope you enjoy this perfect combination of a sweet and savory dish. If you try it, I would love to hear your thoughts on this green bean dish. 

Related Posts

Church Ladies Favorite Potluck Recipes: Side Dishes

How to Make a Crowd Pleasing Green Chili Rice Dish

Southern Green Beans

Until next time…

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“When I am filled with cares, Your comfort brings me joy.” Psalms 94:19