Oil-Free Green Beans with Caramelized Onions and Walnuts

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Oil-Free Green Beans with Caramelized Onions and Walnuts make the perfect Thanksgiving side dish - quick and easy to make, yet still tasty enough to please picky eaters.

A person scooping a platter of oil-free green beans.

If you're looking for a tasty Thanksgiving or Christmas side dish that's also healthy, you've come to the right place!

These green beans are, well, a vegetable. So of course that makes them healthy in some capacity. Many holiday recipes have tons of additions that make the recipes incredibly bad for you. But you CAN have side dishes that are simple, healthy, and delicious. This green bean recipe is just that. The beans have tons of flavor with the addition of only a few whole-food ingredients.

Oil-Free Green Beans with Caramelized Onions and Walnuts

Why I Love these Oil-Free Green Beans

Dietary needs -- this recipe is plant-based, oil-free, gluten-free, and sugar-free
Perfect side dish -- these green beans make the perfect Thanksgiving side dish and the recipe can be easily doubled or tripled to feed a crowd
Simple -- this recipe requires only four ingredients

Ingredient Notes

Walnut Halves: Walnuts add crunch and toasty, nutty flavor to the beans. Green beans can easily get dense and mushy, but walnuts brighten up the dish.
Onion: Red onion, when caramelized, is soft and sweet. It brings tons of flavor to otherwise bland green beans.
Fresh Green Beans: When you're shopping for green beans at the store, make sure the beans are a bright green color with as few brown spots as possible (preferably none)! This will ensure a crisp, light texture and bright flavor.
Vegetable Stock: Used to cook the onions, a good vegetable stock will work wonders in this dish. Make sure to buy one without added sugar or preservatives.

How to make Oil-Free Green Beans with Caramelized Onions and Walnuts

Step 1. Toast the walnuts in a skillet over medium heat for 3-5 minutes, until they become slightly browned. You'll know they're ready when they become fragrant. Don't let them toast for any longer or they will start to burn. Remove the walnuts from the skillet and give them a rough chop.

Step 2. Cook the onions in the skillet on medium heat, using ¼ cup of vegetable broth as the cooking liquid. Stir occasionally and allow the onions to soften. If the onions start to stick, add more vegetable broth.

Step 3. While the onions cook, steam the green beans. Fill a large saucepan with water place a steamer basket over top. Bring the water to a boil. Add the green beans and steam until just tender, around 3-5 minutes.

Step 4. Transfer the beans to the skillet with the onions and cook over medium heat for 2 minutes. If the beans start to stick, add additional vegetable broth, but it's most likely that they will not stick at all!

Step 5. To serve, toss the walnuts with the beans and season with salt and pepper. Enjoy!

FAQ

Prep Ahead

If you're feeding a crowd, you may want to chop up the beans and onions ahead of time.

Both the green beans and onions can be chopped several hours ahead of time. Place pre-chopped veggies in air-tight containers or under plastic wrap. Store in the fridge until ready to use.

Storage

This dish can be stored in the fridge in an air-tight container for up to a week

Recipe Prayer

Thank you God for simple, healthy recipes. We are especially grateful for everything you have given us. Amen.

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Looking for other holiday-friendly sides? Check out some of my favorites:

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