Green Beans with Creamy Pistachio Sauce

Thanks to their snappy color and texture, a serving of green beans brightens any plate. When you cook green beans simply, they stand on their own as a versatile side. However, with a few extra minutes and bonus ingredients, you can create a leveled-up dish to serve alongside a weeknight pan-seared cast-iron steak or as a part of a Thanksgiving table. Our recipe for green beans with creamy pistachio sauce takes the verdant veggie from plain to palatable.

This recipe starts with fresh green beans for maximum snap and straight-from-the-garden flavor. Then it gets nutty—deeply nutty. Pistachios browned in butter create a robust base for a sauce that’s made thick and creamy with evaporated milk, which complements the vegetables without drowning them. Just four ingredients create a standout green bean recipe that will have people scooping seconds onto their plates.

Ingredients for Green Beans with Creamy Pistachio Sauce

• Green beans: Fresh green beans have a bright color and crisp texture. When you trim the end tips, they should break off with a snap. Old or overgrown beans will be tough and bendy.
• Salt: Cook snap beans in salted water to retain their brilliant green color. Most of the salt stays in the cooking liquid when you drain it off, so you still will need to season the beans to taste with salt and freshly ground black pepper just before serving.
• Butter: Cubed butter melts more quickly and evenly than a whole stick. The buttery flavor stays strong in the sauce, so we recommend choosing a good brand of butter.
• Pistachios: Toasting releases the rich oils from coarsely chopped nuts, and toasting them in salted butter does this even better. Start with raw pistachios, because ones that have already been roasted and salted quickly shift from aromatic to burnt in hot butter.
• Evaporated milk: Because it has already been reduced, evaporated milk comes out of the can thicker and creamier than regular milk. Evaporated milk quickly sets up in a cooked sauce without the need for a thickener like cornstarch or flour. Condensed milk also comes in a can, but it is different from evaporated milk because it has been heavily sweetened with sugar.

Directions

Step 1: Cook the beans

Place the green beans and salt in a Dutch oven, and then add water to cover. Bring to a boil, and then cook, uncovered, stirring occasionally until tender, five to eight minutes. Drain the beans and remove them from the pan.

Editor’s Tip: For even crisper green beans, pour them into a colander to drain the hot salted water, and then immediately plunge the beans in an ice bath. Once cool, drain them again. When the sauce is ready, add the cooled beans and cook until heated through.

Step 2: Toast the nuts

In the same pan, melt the butter over medium heat. Add the pistachios. Cook and stir until the pistachios begin to brown, one to two minutes.

Step 3: Finish the sauce

Stir in the evaporated milk. Bring the sauce to a boil, and then cook until the sauce is slightly thickened, two to four minutes.

Step 4: Stir in the beans

Add the green beans to the sauce. Heat the beans through, stirring to coat them with the sauce. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Green Beans with Creamy Pistachio Sauce Variations

• Use frozen beans: Fresh green beans have the best texture in this recipe—especially if it’s summer or early fall, when they’re in season. The next freshest option is to blanch and freeze green beans at their peak or buy a bag of frozen green beans. They won’t be as crisp, but they will hold up better than canned beans.
• Brown the butter: Instead of simply melting it, brown the butter for bonus nuttiness. Let the butter go slightly past the melting stage until it starts to foam and bubble while you gently stir it. Add the pistachios and keep stirring until both the butter and the nuts turn golden, three to four minutes. Immediately add the evaporated milk before the nuts become overly dark and risk burning.
• Change the nuts: Use sliced or slivered almonds, as you would for green beans amandine. Chopped walnuts or pecans add a strong but slightly different nuttiness, whereas pine nuts or cashews taste milder.
• Add aromatics: Brown a little minced or thinly sliced garlic with the nuts. Add a pinch of chili flakes for a little heat. Stir in spices like cardamom or curry powder, or add herbs like fresh or dried rosemary or thyme. Sprinkle fresh basil or parsley over the finished dish.

How to Store Green Beans with Creamy Pistachio Sauce

Refrigerate leftover green beans with creamy pistachio sauce, packing them in an airtight container once they’ve completely cooled. The sauce will thicken and continue to soften the beans and nuts, so for fewer servings, scale down this side dish and eat it immediately. Leftovers taste fresher when you store the cooked beans and nut-infused sauce separately and heat them through just before serving.

How long do green beans with pistachio sauce last?

Green beans with creamy pistachio sauce last for three to four days in the refrigerator. The cooked green beans and sauce last just as long when packaged separately and refrigerated.

How should you reheat green beans with creamy pistachio sauce?

Reheat green beans with pistachio sauce gently, over medium-low heat, in a saucepan. If you stored the beans and sauce separately, warm the sauce first and then add the beans to minimize mushiness. The sauce will have thickened in the refrigerator, so, if needed, add a couple of tablespoons of milk to loosen it. In a microwave, the sauce would likely separate and reheat unevenly, and the beans would become overly soft.

Green Beans with Creamy Pistachio Sauce Tips

Should you toast pistachios before adding them to the sauce?

You could toast the pistachios and add them directly to the finished sauce with the beans, but you’ll be missing out on a lot of flavor. Melted butter and evaporated milk both have a slightly nutty taste, but browning raw pistachios in the butter and then heating them in the milk really captures every bit of nutty essence.

How can you serve green beans with creamy pistachio sauce?

Serve green beans with pistachio sauce as an everyday side dish or part of a holiday feast. Pair the crispy, butter-rich side with roasted fingerling potatoes and your choice of main dish, from baked pork chops to cauliflower steak. Double-down on the pistachio crunch with pistachio-crusted fish fillets, or bring out the creamy texture with chicken Dijon. For a Thanksgiving spread, set this bean dish alongside fall sides that feature green vegetables, such as carrot and kale vegetable saute and roasted Brussels sprouts with pears.