Sautéed Green Beans and Beets with bacon, pecans, goat cheese, and balsamic reduction is a wildly flavorful and nutrient-dense side dish perfect for sharing over the holidays!
To say I’ve been eating a metric ton of vegetable side dishes lately is an understatement.
And these sautéed Green Beans and Beets with Balsamic Reduction are the current object of my affection!
This easy recipe is so simple to put together! It is big on flavor yet has a lovely freshness, which is great for offsetting an otherwise rich meal.
The crispy bacon, tangy balsamic reduction, and crunchy pecans elevate the dish to turn beets and green beans into a mind-blowing experience.
Enjoy it during the holiday season for an impressive side dish, or the next time you’re craving the marvelous combination of green beans and beets.
Let’s discuss the simple ingredients!
Ingredients for Sautéed Green Beans and Beets:
All you need to make this recipe happen is fresh green beans, beets (I use pre-cooked beets), pecans, bacon, goat cheese (or feta cheese) and balsamic vinegar. BOOM magic.
Recipe Customizations:
- Swap walnuts for pecans.
- Use feta cheese, gorgonzola cheese crumbles, or blue cheese instead of goat cheese.
- Omit the bacon if you have vegetarians in the house. Otherwise, I highly suggest leaving it in!
Tip for Preparing This Recipe:
Use pre-cooked beets! Have you ever seen pre-cooked beets at the grocery store? Not canned beets, but the ones in the produce section in the package?
Love Beets is one of the companies that makes them in case you’re looking for a trusted brand.
They make your beet experience super easy by packaging up quality organic beets that are already roasted for your munching convenience.
The reason I suggest this is beets on their own require a substantial amount of time to cook. You can steam, roast, sauté, or boil them, but regardless of the way you cook them, they will take more time than the green beans to cook.
For this reason, I suggest either pre-cooking the beets yourself according to your favorite method, or buying the pre-cooked ones. Here is a tutorial from The Kitchn on How to Roast Beets.
Now that we’ve covered the basics, let’s make this easy side dish.
How to Make Green Beans and Beets with Balsamic Reduction:
This green bean side dish?
Easy. You can totally make them last minute, you procrastinator, you.
- Step One: Simply chuck some bacon in a skillet, and cook over medium-high heat to crispy perfection.
- Step Two: Cook the green beans in bacon drippings, then add your pre-roasted beets.
- Step Three: Serve the veggies with the crispy bacon, goat cheese, and pecans.
Bonus Step: While the beans are sautéing, reduce balsamic vinegar. To do so, transfer the vinegar to a small skillet and bring it to a full boil on the stove top over medium-high heat. Cook, stirring constantly, until the balsamic vinegar is reduced in volume by half or two thirds.
This makes a balsamic reduction, which gets drizzled over your veggie dish.
Trust me, it’s worth the three minutes to reduce balsamic vinegar! Real game changer, folks!
Store any leftovers in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 5 days.
Looking for more healthy vegetable side dish recipes? Here are some great options.
More Healthy Side Dishes:
- Maple Bourbon Mashed Sweet Potatoes
- Cinnamon Maple Roasted Butternut Squash
- Roasted Kabocha Squash
- Ginger Orange Cranberry Sauce
- Healthy Green Bean Casserole
Have a fabulous Thanksgiving!
Green Beans and Beets with Balsamic Reduction
Ingredients
- 3 strips thick-cut bacon
- 16 ounces green beans trimmed and chopped into 2-inch pieces
- 3 cloves garlic minced
- 2 medium-sized beets *
- 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt or to taste
- 1/3 cup raw pecans chopped
- 1/3 cup goat cheese
- 1/3 cup balsamic vinegar
Instructions
- In a large skillet, cook bacon over medium heat until crispy (about 3-4 minutes).
- Place the strips of bacon on a cutting board, leaving the bacon drippings in the pan.
- Add the green beans and minced garlic to the pan with the bacon drippings and sauté stirring frequently until green beans have softened but are still al dente (about 8 minutes).
- Add the chopped beets and salt and continue to sauté until beets are hot (about 2 minutes).
- While the vegetables are sautéing, pour the balsamic vinegar into a small skillet and bring to a full boil. Allow vinegar to boil until reduced by half (about 3 minutes). Remove from heat and set aside until ready to serve.
- Once the vegetables have finished cooking, transfer them to a large serving platter or serving bowl.
- Chop the strips of bacon and sprinkle on top of the green beans and beets.
- Add the pecans and goat cheese. Drizzle the balsamic reduction over everything and serve.
Notes
Nutrition
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This was amazing and a huge hit with my family. I served it with Steak, perfectly cooked on the grill, and baked sweet potatoes. I will definitely make this again. Thank you!
My pleasure, Angela! I’m so happy you and your family enjoy it! xo
of course bacon. This looks awesomesauce.
Yummo Julia, love green beans with beets, so much more than with mushroom soup! And I gotta get my hands on these roasted beets so I can eat them on a whim, and believe it or not I get the whim for beets all the time!
I hear ya, girl! I’m obsessed with roasted beets! So glad you like the recipe and hope you had a fabulous Thanksgiving!
Mixing sides on your plate spells disaster to me! Why go to all that trouble to season a dish perfectly if it will be ruined by its neighbour? And salad does NOT belong on the plate with all those yummy warm things. Give your guests a separate plate or bowl, puh-leeze. Happy Thanksgiving, America from a Canadian who celebrated that in October!
Mmmmmhmmmm, that’s what I’m saying, girl! Seeing a nice sweet fluffy stack of sweet potato mash rubbing up against turkey/gravy/anything briny just makes my heart pound. High fives to sectioners, and happy belated Thanksgiving! xo
Oh I am 100% a sectioner. No mashing together of all the foods for me. In other news, I tried green bean casserole for the first time last week, and let’s just say I’d MUCH rather have this green bean dish! It looks fresh, vibrant, and much more flavorful! Have a happy Turkey Day my dear!
Haha! I say we get together and eat tons of side dishes on separate plates. And then cross our fingers that the cleaning fairies show up to do the dishes 😉 Hope you had a lovely Thanksgiving!
I am a sectioner but I do like to combine certain items. I don’t smoosh them together per say, but I like bites of things together for sure!
Turkey + cranberry for the win! I getcha! 😉
I am going to scoop this into my face ASAP! I’m a sectioner fo sho. I used to be like a SUPER sectioner, like nothing could touch, but since becoming an adult (or whatever!), I’ve accepted the touchage factor. I will probably never transition to a smoosher, buuuut I’ll smoosh my face with allll the sides tomorrow, you best believe. Oh ALSO, mad props for the Fred Astaire reference, I was a tap dancer in high school and just wanted to be him! Happy Thanksgiving dear! xo
Touchage = bad news bears. Let’s tap dance and eat food items that are perfectly sequestered from one another 😉 Hope you had a great time smooshing the foods in your face on Thanksgiving!
#5 bacon…. say no more. Can I tell you something? I’ve never had beets….I’m like afraid of them or something. So dumb/makes no sense/I need to get it together.
You’re not the only one, sister! They seem pretty intimidating with the dirty thick peel and all the ruffage attached to them. I can guarentee you they’re magnificent when prepared well! Let me know when you try your first beet – I promise it will be a glorious day 😀
Mmm.. this healthy and gluten free side dish is everything we want for Thanksgiving. Love you added beets in here, my dear Julia!
So glad you like the side! It will be a go-to for all the holiday feasts to come, fo sho!
Yum!! These look awesome. Also, I’m a sectioner (and spell check did not like that word). I taught the girl to put your knife, or spoon (whatever you are using the least) under the plate so that the juices won’t run into other food. Yes. This is the only way to eat food. If it’s super juicy, then I will get a small bowl and put said food into a bowl to keep it away from my other food. I did once buy these gigantic divided plates from Tupperware that you can take to potlucks. You know, because you need the dividers. Have a fabulous Thanksgiving!! xoxo
OMG, they should make those dividy plates for adults – you know, similar to the ones they make for kids that are made out of plastic…but real style…for sectioning ahhhdults! The way I see it, you work so hard getting a dish to taste a certain way that you just can’t pooooossibly go and ruin it with other food juices, no siree, no ma’am! I hope you had a fab Thanksgiving with all of your properly sectioned foods! xoxoxox
Not sure about the quantity of beets….. 2 oz doesn’t seem like a lot……
Hi Shian,
My apologies for the confusion! It should be 2 medium-sized beets, or 1 (8.8-ounce) package of store-bought cooked beets. Hope you enjoy!