Green Beans with Bacon and Boursin
These green beans with bacon are the best ever! They're cooked until crisp-tender then tossed with crispy bacon and Boursin cheese, which melt onto the beans to make them extra delicious. It's a quick and easy side dish everyone loves!
Complete the meal with our juicy baked chicken thighs and some smoky roast potatoes. And if you love easy green bean recipes, also try our sauteed green beans with garlic!
This recipe was originally published in 2014. We've updated the post with some new photos and more information, but the delicious recipe remains exactly the same.
Green Beans with Bacon and Boursin
Green beans with bacon is a classic side dish that gets kicked up a (big) notch by adding herb and garlic Boursin cheese. Whether you're making this for a quick weeknight dinner or holiday feast, the smoky bacon, creamy Boursin, and mountain of tender sweet green beans will be a guaranteed hit at the table.
The “trick” to making great green beans is not overcooking them. It's better to err on the side of undercooked so that you don't end up with soggy, limp green beans; They should still have a little crunch, some structure to make them interesting.
Some people will blanch their beans in a pot of boiling water before finishing them, but we don't recommend doing that, even if a recipe calls for it. There's just too much of a chance you'll overcook the green beans. And besides, why waste your time with an extra step? We lightly steam these beans in the same pan we use to use finish them.
These beans taste like they're smothered in a creamy sauce, but it's actually the melted Boursin cheese. And since bacon makes everything better, these green beans were destined to be called, “The best green beans ever” by one of our taste testers. With them being smothered in Boursin cheese and crispy bacon, they didn't stand much of a chance of not being the best green beans ever. It almost wasn't fair to all the other green bean recipes.
How to cook fresh green beans with bacon and boursin
This recipe is so easy to make that you can whip it up for a weeknight side but it's tasty enough to serve at a special dinner.
- Start by cooking the bacon. Once it's nice and crispy, take it out of the pan and crumble it.
- Drain some of the bacon oil out of the pan and add the green beans. Put a little bit of water into the pan and cover it with a lid. After about 5 minutes, the water will have (mostly) evaporated and your beans will be perfectly cooked.
- Now stir the Boursin cheese and the crispy bacon into the beans. That's it! You've just made green beans with bacon and Boursin!
Full recipe in the recipe card below.
Ingredient notes
Green beans – Fresh vegetables always taste the best. If you need to substitute canned or frozen green beans, only saute them long enough for them to get hot so they don't get super mushy.
Boursin cheese – Boursin is a creamy, yet slightly crumbly cheese called Gournay that is flavored with herbs and garlic. It's similar in texture to very soft goat cheese. While the flavor is different, goat cheese also works well in this recipe.
Bacon – we prefer thick-cut bacon, but any kind will work.
FAQs
While fresh is always best, canned or frozen (thawed) green beans will work in a pinch. Make sure that they are thawed/drained well. Also, since both canned and frozen beans are already cooked, they will only need to be warmed. Add them to the pan (no water!) and saute them just until they're warm. Then add the Boursin and crispy bacon and you'll be ready to serve them!
Boursin cheese is a soft cheese that has a mild herb and garlic flavor. You can try using goat cheese and a little pinch of Italian seasoning if you don't have Boursin cheese on hand.
Green beans with bacon will keep for 3-4 days in your fridge. Reheat them gently in a pan on your stove or in the microwave.
What to serve with green beans and bacon
This is one side dish that will go well with almost all of your favorite recipes. Here are a few that we like best:
- Lemon Herb Butter Roast Chicken
- Perfect Baked Chicken Breast
- Juicy Baked Pork Chops
- Mashed Potatoes with Cream Cheese
- Smoky Roast Potatoes
Recipes using boursin cheese
If you love Boursin as much as we do then you'll love these recipes using Boursin cheese:
Popular green bean recipes
- Sauteed Green Beans with Garlic
- Green Beans with Garlic Scapes Aioli
- Long Green Beans with Anchovies and Sriracha
- Green Beans and Mint with Crispy Browned Butter Panko and Tahini
Bacon Boursin Green Beans
Ingredients
- 3 strips bacon
- 1 lb green beans
- 4 tablespoons Boursin cheese
- Sea salt, to taste
Instructions
- Cook the bacon in a large frying pan over medium heat until crispy, about 10 minutes. Remove the bacon from the pan and crumble it when it's cool enough to handle. Drain all but 1 tablespoon of the bacon oil out of the pan.3 strips bacon
- Increase the heat to medium-high and add the green beans and ¼ cup of water to the pan. Cover the pan and let the beans steam for 5 minutes. Remove the lid and if there is any water remaining, give it a minute to evaporate.1 lb green beans
- Add the Boursin to the pan and stir it into the green beans so it melts. Stir in the crispy bacon and season to taste with salt.Sea salt, 4 tablespoons Boursin cheese
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Sounds great. Do you remove the bacon from the pan before adding the beans and water?
Hi Mike,
I leave the bacon in the pan. 🙂
The dish looks incredibly inviting, but being a vegetarian, I would look for an alternative for bacon..
I’ve used sautéed shiitake mushrooms that I’ve tossed in a little soy sauce right at the end as a replacement for bacon before. Not in this recipe though. It might give that rich smoky taste you’d be looking for. 🙂