Without further ado let’s answer the question at hand. Nothing is worse than clicking on one of these articles to find that the question is buried somewhere deep in the text.
The short answer is YES!
Fresh green beans can be frozen without blanching and actually come out better. But there are limitations to what you can do with them after you freeze them. If you have frozen blanched green beans when they thaw back out they can be a little soggy. Freezing them without blanching helps this soggy problem out, but doesn’t completely solve it.
The process is simple enough. Snap the ends of your fresh green beans, give them a wash, dry them off, and then freeze them. We try to spread them out on a cookie sheet after they are dry and freeze them for 30 minutes before putting into freezer bags. This way they don’t stick together and you can take out just a few at a time if you needed to.
The limitations are that they don’t remain the raw crispness of a true fresh green bean. But they do retain more snap than canned beans or your average grocery store freezer aisle beans. We recommend using them in a casserole, soup, or another cooked dish.
We used ours for the classic side dish Green Bean Almondine! (pictured above) Here’s the recipe we followed.
What You’ll Need:
-About 1lb of Green beans
-1 large shallot clove
-1 large garlic clove
-1/2 cup almonds, crushed up a little
-2 T of butter
What You’ll Do:
Thaw out the beans in the fridge overnight. Toss them in a bowl with a dash of olive oil, salt and pepper and place them in a small baking dish. Chop the shallot and garlic and sprinkle over top. Place the almonds in a plastic bag and use a rolling pin to crush them up a bit. Place those on top of the beans. Chop up the 2 T of butter and put on top. In the oven covered for 35 minutes at 350 or until they sizzle and you have a perfect little dish!
If you didn’t save any green beans this year, don’t worry. We’re going to grow lots next year too. This is a great side dish for Thanksgiving dinner as well. If you need a turkey this year, we have some left.
Fisher Hill Farm 