Healthy Festive Green Bean Bundles, served with tri-colored tomatoes or peppers and tied with leeks are the better holiday favorite than casserole.
Greens For The Holiday Sides – All Dressed Up!
If you’re looking to elevate your holiday table beyond the familiar green bean casserole, Green Bean Bundles are the gourmet side dish that will make everyone at the table sit up a little straighter. Think of them as the elegant cousin of the classic, same comfort, but dressed for a dinner party.
What makes these so irresistible is the drama when they arrive at the table: each guest receives their own perfectly roasted bundle, no spooning, scooping, or collapsing casserole. It’s interactive, portioned, and downright stunning on the plate. They offer the same nostalgic comfort of holiday vegetables but with a stylish, modern twist that feels worthy of a special occasion.
If you’re ready to surprise your guests with a side dish that looks like it came out of a chef’s kitchen, but is secretly simple, these Green Bean Bundles might just become your new signature holiday recipe.
No Green Bean Casseroles Here!
Festive holiday or family meals, in my home, are always influenced by my Mediterranean roots. I never knew what a casserole was until I got into food blogging.
I’m weird I know, but they just never made their way to my table and still don’t, because I prefer fresh when possible, and healthy over canned anytime.
And so, I wanted to share with you my most favorite, easy to do, festively beautiful green bean bundles that are served often in my home.
Green Bean: The Pretty and Healthy Food
Nature has so many beautiful color palettes for us to use in cooking that I try to allow the colors to stand out rather than cover them up with gravies and sauces.
I think it’s why we are always attracted to the beauty of a salad. Green beans, when only slightly blanched and not boiled, retain the most vibrant green color, healthy crunch and flavor.
Actually, green beans have more flavor and nutrients when they are not over cooked. Ever sample a green bean slightly blanched vs. one right out of a can? It’s almost like two different vegetables.
Festive Food Should Look Festive
What does festive mean to you when you think of creating food to serve to loved ones?
The word festive to me, is splashes of color and sparkle in all the right places. Something that showcases differently than the way we might cook on busy weekdays, if we cook…
Once I blanched the green beans I was preparing for a special gathering, I just looked at them and thought, ‘now what’?
I knew once they were served on the plate, they would look unruly on the plate going in every direction so I decided to bundle them, make them look like festive packages.
Festive Green Bean Bundles
In my first attempt to bundle the unruly green beans, I used spring onions blanched in an open skillet of boiling water.
Quickly laid the onions in the hot water for barely one second, pulled them out, quick tossed them into a bowl of ice water to stop them from cooking and tried tying them around a small bundle of green beans.
It worked, though the green onions were a bit wimpy, broke easily and often not long enough to start with.
So next time I tried leeks. They were perfect, more sturdy to tie and I was able to cut thin strips once they were blanched.
Festive? Yes! The green bean bundles looked like little presents with a ribbon tied around each one of them on the plate. I grated a little lemon zest on top before serving and was pleased.
Festive Plating
The next time I made the green bean bundles, I had a bag of mini tri-colored peppers in the fridge. I diced them into small pieces that began to look like confetti.
The yellow, orange and red pieces of sweet peppers were the perfect splash of color against the vibrant green of the green beans and leek ribbons.
With a little lemon, EVOO, a few slivers of shallots and some fresh herbs to marinate the peppers in, the flavor was elevated as well as the vibrant colors.
Green Beans Are Not Just A Side As Casserole Often Is!
While a big ole fancy turkey or decadent Beef Wellington might be the dish chosen to serve for a festive gathering, some sides are needed to complete the plate.
Fondant potatoes, a buttery, herb crusted French technique of roasting russet potatoes, is usually the first fancy side dish I will make.
Once these green bean bundles, with their vibrant pop of multicolored peppers are on the plate, they will quick grab your eye and never be thought of as a side dish again. Sorry potatoes!
Buying Green Beans
Not all green beans taste or look alike. Standard green beans, the green beans most available in grocery stores and bulk bins, are plumper, bigger and come in a mixed selection of lengths.
I have used the standard green beans for my bundles and they work just fine, however you will need to pack less into the bundle since they are large.
French green beans, also known as haricot vert, are smaller, thinner and more delicate to eat.
French green beans are my preferred choice when available, for the festive presentation of the green bean bundles.
Cooking Tips For Green Bean Bundles
While the green bean bundles can be prepared a day in advance and popped into the oven just long enough to warm them (since they will already be cooked), they do need a bit of TLC in prepping them.
The trick is not to over cook the leeks, spring onions or the green beans. We are looking to retain the strength of the leeks and the color of the beans.
Blanch the green beans by dropping them in a skillet of salted boiling water, and as soon as the color begins to look more vibrant, use a slotted spoon to remove them quickly.
Place the blanched green beans into a large bowl of ice water. Cool those beauties down fast, and do exactly the same with the strips of leeks.
Tying The Bean Bundles
About 6 – 8 blanched green beans make for the perfect bundle, depending on how thick they are.
Lay the blanched leek or spring onion on a flat surface, gather a bundle of green beans and then carefully tie the leek into a knot around the beans making for easy bundles to serve.
If you have trouble getting the leek to tie, simply remove a few green beans until you have a bundle that fits into the length of onion tie you have prepared.
It helps to have all of the leek strips or spring onions the same length so that the amount of green beans going in each bundle will be the same.
Dressings For Onion and Bean Bundles
While there are a variety of Mediterranean dressings I love to use over veggies, my Lemon Olive Oil dressing compliments the green beans, green onion ties and multi-colored peppers of tomatoes best.
This dressing is one I make plenty of early in the week, and use in a variety of recipes throughout the week.
Any leftovers of green bean bundles are great to chop and drop into a soup, or a weekend quiche for a healthy veggie brunch or light dinner.
What To Do With Leftover Green Beans
There’s always doing to be those odd beans that weren’t pretty enough for the bundles, or perhaps you’ve chopped too many tri-colored peppers or tomatoes.
Even if there are leftover bundles already dressed and season, these all make great additions to a soup or a vegetable quiche for a weekend brunch.
Simply chop everything the same size and add them to another dish, or tuck them away in the freezer for future, last minute meals.
More Dishes To Love With Festive Green Bean Bundles
Often, we are looking for healthy vegetable recipes to serve with many of our favorite protein dishes.
However, since I’ve given you the very best vegetable recipe right here, let’s look for a few recipes to serve alongside of these festive bundles.
- Mediterranean Stuffed Peppers would be a great dish to serve, meat and rice filed with cooked lentil and barley mixture.
- Classic Shiitake Mushroom Galette – two beautiful recipes, no one will ever care that there is no meat!
- Salmon Croquettes With Chili Honey – for a healthy seafood side to go with the bean bundles.
- Tender Braised and Roasted Lamb Shanks – for the perfect fall-off-the-bone side to pair with these festive bundles.
Ingredients Needed
- Green beans or Haricot Vert with ends trimmed so they are all the same length.
- Leeks or Spring onions which will be cut into long, not to thin ties to tie around the bean bundles.
- Salt, preferably coarse salt, or even a smoky salt.
- Tri-colored mini peppers or tri-colored mini tomatoes to bring both color and an added dimension of flavor to the green beans.
- Shallot which is blended with the lemon and oil dressing.
- Lemon and zest for the dressing.
- Olive oil (my favorite brand), to add with the shallot and lemon juice for the dressing.
- Fresh herbs – oregano, thyme or marjoram.
Equipment Needed
- Cutting board and chopping knife to slice strips of leeks or spring onions and chop the peppers or tomatoes, depending on which you choose.
- Large bowl to place ice cubes and water in to quick cool the blanched green beans and onions.
- Large pan with a lid, low and wide to blanch the vegetables.
- Strainer for straining the ice water chilled veggies.
- Measuring spoons if precise measurements are your style of cooking.
- Citrus juicer to extract lemon juice after zesting the skin.
- Baking dish to place the prepared green bean bundles in to warm quickly in the oven just before serving.
- Oven, either conventional or a toaster oven will work because the bundles only need to be warmed.
Festive Green Bean Bundles
Equipment
- Baking dish
- Saute pan with lid
Ingredients
- 12 oz Green Beans/ Haricot Vert trim tips off
- 1 Long Leek or 3 spring onions
- Salt to taste
- 1/2 lb Tri Colored peppers or tomatoes confetti chopped
- 1 Shallot confetti chopped
- 1 Lemon juice and zest
- 2 tbsp Olive oil
- Fresh herbs thyme and oregano
Instructions
- Have a large bowl with cold water and a handful of ice cubes in the water, ready. Prep the leek by cutting off the root end and tip, leaving the leek as long as possible. Take a sharp knife and make a cut through the leek, from top to bottom to open it. Pull out and separate about 10 leaves that are tender. Or if using spring onions, slice down the center lengthwise into two long strips.
- In a large saute pan with a lid, boil 1-inch of water with a pinch of salt. Lay the leeks in, lid off, quickly move them around just a second or two to soften but not cook. Spring onions will blanch even faster than leeks, so drop in and remove immediately. Pull them out and drop them into the ice water bath. Once they feel cold, remove them to drain. Add more ice if needed.
- Drop the green beans into the boiling water and this time put the lid on. Watch them closely. As soon as they start to turn a vibrant green, about 3-minutes, remove them quickly and toss them into the ice water bath. Move them around until they feel cold. Remove and drain.
- On a flat surface, prepare 6 bundles of neatly stacked green beans, 8-10 green beans per bundle. Slide one leek or spring onion, under the bundle and tie it into a knot. Set each bundle into the baking dish you plan to warm them in. Sprinkle with salt and pepper and the zest of a lemon. If not ready to use them, simply cover and pop in the fridge until you are ready.
- In a medium bowl, place the confetti chopped peppers, shallots, salt and pepper to taste, the juice from one whole lemon, olive oil and fresh herbs. Toss gently to coat the ingredients well.
- When ready. Heat the oven to 350. Spoon the marinated peppers evenly over the green bean bundles, pour all the juice over the beans, cover and heat for about 5-minutes. Do not over cook. Serve.
Video
Notes
I believe the table... that place that draws people to gather, is the most powerful symbol of togetherness. All that happens before the table is set, the planning, the gathering, the preparing, are all an intricate part of the dance that create the mood of celebration to share with friends and loved ones.