Southern Green Beans with Potatoes and Bacon Recipe

This is an old-fashioned Southern recipe featuring whole fresh green beans cooked with potatoes, bacon, and seasonings. Serve these veggies as a side dish or as a meal with cornbread on the side.

I grew up eating food like this. My Mom cooked green beans with potatoes often, usually in the summer when fresh vegetables were more available. This was a side dish at our house growing up. I have actually found canned green beans with potatoes at the grocery store these days, like these available on Amazon.

My recipe can be served as a meal with cornbread on the side if you prefer. The recipe contains: whole fresh green beans, cut up fresh potatoes, garlic, onions, and bacon. There are plenty of yummy ingredients to make a meal from this dish.

Gather these ingredients:

• About 1 lb. of fresh green beans, with ends snipped off
• 4-5 slices of bacon
• 1 large onion, chopped into big pieces
• About 1 Tbsp. of garlic
• About 8 cups of peeled, chopped into big pieces potatoes
• 32 oz. of Chicken broth
• 1 Tbsp. of Herbs de Provence
• 1 tsp. salt
• 1 tsp. black pepper

How to make your own Chicken broth to freeze, use, or can in a boiling water bath.

Kitchen equipment used

• Large pot or Dutch oven, like this one
• Wooden spoon with a long handle, like this one
• Colanders, like this
• Kitchen knives for prepping vegetables, like these
• Wooden cutting board, like this
• Kitchen tongs, like these, for turning the bacon
• Garlic press, not required but nice to have, like this

Recipe Directions

Step 1: Prep the veggies

Prep your vegetables. Peel the onion and chop it into large pieces. Snip the ends off the fresh green beans, run them under cool water in a colander, and allow them to drain while you prep the potatoes. Peel the potatoes and chop them into large bite-sized pieces. Rinse the potatoes under cool water in a colander and allow them to drain.

Note: You want your potatoes in large pieces so they are done but not mushy. The onions in this recipe are better when they are in large pieces. Small pieces tend to disintegrate. I use a garlic press because it seems easier to me. You can peel and chop your garlic if you don’t have a garlic press.

Step 2: Cook the bacon

Place your Dutch oven on a large burner on the stove and turn the heat up to medium-high. Cut each of the bacon pieces in half and add to the pot. Cook the bacon medium, not crispy. Remove the bacon from the pot and drain on paper towels. Leave the bacon grease in the pot. You want about 2 tablespoons of bacon grease left in the pot. If your bacon yielded more, pour it off, leaving about two tablespoons.

Step 3: Add the potatoes, onion, and garlic

Add the cut-up onion to the bacon renderings and stir occasionally for a couple of minutes, until it begins to soften.

Then add the garlic and potatoes to the hot bacon renderings. Stir often to get the potatoes covered in the bacon renderings for flavor. Cooking the potatoes, garlic, and onions should take about 10 minutes, with frequent stirring.

Step 4: Add green beans and chicken broth

Add the green beans and chicken broth. Bring to a boil. Add the seasonings. Cut the bacon into large bite-sized pieces and add it to the pot as well. Cook, boiling gently for about twenty minutes or until the potatoes and green beans are fork tender. Serve and enjoy!

This green bean recipe is a great substitute for Green Bean Casserole on Thanksgiving. We make a meal out of this dish by serving Homemade Cornbread on the side.

More Southern Side Dish Recipes

Thank you for sharing!