Crack Green Beans

This is our easy crack green beans with bacon and frozen green beans which is different from a boring green bean casserole and great served with our Instant Pot Crack Chicken Casserole as a main dish for the holidays.

Bacon green beans is the best side ever. Addicting for guests you will want to make a double batch for seconds. You can use canned, frozen or fresh but the timing will need to be adjusted.

Why is it called crack green beans?

Great question, some don’t like the term but basically it is because that word refers to something that is addicting, and you want more Easy Green Bean Casserole with Bacon. I make these for Thanksgiving or Christmas dinner but year round you can serve and enjoy these with any main dish like chicken or ham.

We talk about How to Cook Frozen Green Beans here but in this case we are just going to add them slightly defrosted. All you need is to lay the bag on the counter while you’re prepping and crisping the bacon for about 15 minutes or microwave for 1 minute. You just want the frost off of the outside, they will cook in the oven later.

Ingredient Notes

You want to start with a bag of frozen green beans, this is your best choice for the ideal texture when done. Canned will become mushy. Fresh is the next choice but requires more prep.

You want lots of bacon diced, or leftover ham works too. I prefer uncured regular or thin slices because it has the best flavor and can get crisper than thick pieces when sauteed with olive oil.

Light brown sugar gives it a bit of sweetness so you get that ideal savory and sweet flavor throughout the dish.

You want really good salted butter (or use dairy free alternative). The best of teh best is Kerrygold, garlic if you can find that variety.

As with the “traditional method” you want some whole or 2% milk to provide a bit of moisture to the dish so you create a sauce of sorts.

All purpose flour will thicken the sauce so you want a bit of that too. Arrowroot flour is a gluten free alternative for this.

Now with our Ninja Foodi Crack Chicken the sauce was made with cream cheese, we used butter on this go around. You could certainly add a cube into this mixture too, allow to melt, and enjoy that way too. Another alternative we have heard has been a real hit too.

Can you use fresh green beans instead of frozen?

We share How Long to Cook Fresh Green Beans on Stove if you prefer to make it this way. You’d just want to cook the meat first, then add the veggies and other items to saute. Creamy sauce made the same way over another burner and then combined at the end if you want to coat it all.

Can You make this without Bacon?

You could leave meat out of this dish entirely but it is one of the stars of this dish and gives it a lot of flavor. I would say this is a great alternative to our Cheesy Green Bean Casserole recipe, with less calories but still gooier than just the veggies themselves served as a side.

Variations

If you wanted to make this outside the oven in a countertop appliance too you could. I would follow our Air Fryer Frozen Green Beans with the diced meat in there which will crisp together. Make the sauce on the stovetop and season beans as suggested here. Then serve once everything in the basket is tender with a bit of crisp on the outside.

Southern Smothered Green Beans is yet another name for these babies, which makes sense right. Yes I do love our healthy Sheet Pan Green Beans but this takes those to a whole new level of YUM. In those I add sliced mushrooms which could easily be added into the mix as well if you wanted.

Another choice for toppings would be to sprinkle crispy fried onions over the top like your traditional dish would. Don’t add it inside the dish like the casserole would but on the top would add yet another texture and flavor profile that is out of this world.

Remove the crack green beans and bacon from the oven. Taste, can sprinkle a bit of garlic powder and onion powder for bolder flavors if you want. Serve with sweet and savory sauce poured over the top. You could add a bit of heat to it with red pepper flakes if desired. Jump to recipe and get started.

How to save leftovers

If you do have leftovers allow it to cool down completely. Store the sauce and dish separately for best results in airtight containers in the fridge. Reheat within 3 days in the air fryer, stovetop or microwave until warmed and then combine the two.

I prefer to warm the sauce in the microwave and air fry the veggies to get a bit of crisp on them as they’ll soften in the fridge. Texture is a big thing for me and that will fix it.