Name: Lemony green beans with white beans and walnuts
Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 20 min
Total time: 30 min
Yield: 4
Ingredients: 14 oz fresh green beans, trimmed and halved crosswise (400 g); 2 cups cooked white beans, drained and rinsed (358 g); ¼ cup chopped raw shelled walnuts (measure after chopping) (29 g); 2 tsp olive oil (9 g); 2 garlic cloves, peeled and minced (6 g); 2 tbsp lemon juice; ½ tsp fine salt; ¼ tsp ground black pepper; ¼ cup water for steaming (60 ml)

Green beans and white beans share a skillet with garlic and lemon, then get a scatter of toasted walnuts. The green beans keep some bite while the white beans stay soft. This batch makes four substantial sides to serve alongside the rest of dinner.

Toast the nuts before steaming the beans

Chop the walnuts into small, uneven pieces before measuring them. Toasting them in the dry skillet first lets you use the same pan for the vegetables. Stir often and transfer them to a plate as soon as they smell toasted and show a little color. A hot empty skillet continues to cook nuts after the burner is lowered.

Trim the green beans and cut long ones across the middle so they turn easily in the pan. Keep the lid fitted while they steam in the measured water. Check a thicker bean near the end; it should be almost as tender as you want to eat it, with further cooking still to come. Let the water evaporate before adding the oil and garlic. Fold in the white beans gently to keep them intact.

What walnuts add to this side

Walnuts contain alpha-linolenic acid, or ALA, a plant omega-3 fat. NIH’s Office of Dietary Supplements identifies walnuts as an ALA source and explains that ALA is essential: our bodies need to obtain it from food. USDA’s guidance on fats also lists nuts and olive oil among foods that supply unsaturated fat.

Here, the measured quarter cup of walnuts gives four portions a crunchy finish. Each side also includes half a cup of cooked white beans and roughly a quarter of the green beans. The legumes make this more substantial than a plain vegetable accompaniment. Serve it beside something such as roasted potatoes and baked tofu, choosing the rest of the meal to suit your appetite. Those additions are separate from the recipe’s estimates.

Scale the pan and keep leftovers tender

For eight portions, double the ingredients and use two similar skillets or cook two batches. Crowding everything into one pan makes it harder to turn the beans gently and changes how quickly water evaporates. Follow tenderness and temperature checks for each batch rather than doubling the cooking time.

Keep walnuts for later portions separate so they retain more crunch. Transfer the bean mixture to shallow containers and refrigerate promptly; USDA’s leftover guidance explains the two-hour limit and the shorter one-hour limit in hot conditions. Use the card’s two-day window. Reheat the beans covered, stirring midway, and check the stated temperature in several places before adding the reserved nuts.

Storage & reheating

For leftovers, reserve their walnuts separately before serving. Refrigerate the bean mixture promptly in shallow containers, within 2 hours (1 hour above 32°C / 90°F), at 4°C / 40°F or below; use within 2 days. Refrigerate reserved walnuts separately in a sealed container. Reheat only the bean portion needed, covered in the microwave, stirring midway, to 74°C / 165°F in several places. Add the reserved walnuts afterward.

Substitutions

Cannellini or navy beans both work at the same cooked, drained weight. Their softness and the nutrition and cost estimates may differ.
Bottled or freshly squeezed lemon juice works at the same measured amount; the price reference uses bottled juice.

Cooking notes

Makes four substantial sides; green beans are weighed after trimming and white beans after cooking and draining.
For a double batch, use two skillets or cook in batches. Extra batches add time.
Small-quantity weights for the original four-serving batch: lemon juice 30 g, salt 3 g and pepper 0.5 g.

Contains: tree-nuts. Check the labels of your ingredients.

Ingredient	USD	CAD
fresh green beans, trimmed and halved crosswise	$3.27	$2.27
cooked white beans, drained and rinsed	$1.16	$1.48
raw shelled walnuts, chopped	$0.64	$0.72
olive oil	$0.11	$0.11
garlic, peeled and minced	$0.11	$0.05
lemon juice	$0.07	$0.09
fine salt	$0.00	$0.00
ground black pepper	$0.02	$0.01
water for steaming	$0.00	$0.00
Recipe total	$5.38	$4.74
Per serving	$1.35	$1.19

Lemony green beans with white beans and walnuts

Toast the nuts before steaming the beans

What walnuts add to this side

Scale the pan and keep leftovers tender