Easy To Follow Green Beans And Ground Beef

This Tasty Green Beans recipe features only five ingredients including canned green beans and ground beef. You can easily make green beans into a main dish by adding a hearty protein like ground beef.

Easy to Follow Green Beans

I grew up eating canned green beans. Mom always bought the French-style green beans, and she’d heat them up with a little butter, and we gobbled them up every time. I still have a special place in my heart for those little string beans.

At my house, my kids prefer the cut green beans from a can. I do the exact same thing as Mom; I add butter, salt and pepper and I heat them up to serve as a quick side.

Sometimes, though, it’s nice to jazz up green beans. And, I have an easy recipe perfect for home cooks.

Green Beans and Ground Beef

And that, my friends, is exactly what this Tasty Green Bean recipe does, in a very simple way.

The original Tasty Green Beans recipe is an Amish recipe, and I imagine they used canned green beans they put up themselves from the garden. You can do the same if you have home-canned green beans.

Green Beans with Hamburger Meat

I love the addition of hamburger to these green beans. It takes the humble can of green beans, and turns it into a meaty side dish or even the star main course.

The sauce for these green beans is very simple with just tomato juice, sugar and seasoned salt. Green beans in tomato sauce is actually a pretty awesome combination. It’s one that I’ve fallen in love with when making my Healthy Green Bean Chili.

Cooking tomato juice down in this green bean, tomato sauce and ground beef recipe means you get a punch of flavor. Simmering the tomato juice both reduces the sauce to a thicker consistency and also intensifies and sweetens the flavor.

Why should I simmer tomato sauce?

Cooking tomato sauce at a low and steady temperature causes two different results:

1. The tomato sauce will thicken as it simmers (the water evaporates).
2. The flavor of the tomato sauce becomes sweeter for a more intense taste.

Tasty Green Beans Ingredient List

• Ground Beef, browned and drained
• Canned Green Beans, drained
• Tomato Juice
• Sugar
• Seasoned Salt

How to Dress Up Green Beans

Step By Step Instructions

1. Drain liquid from canned green beans; set aside.
2. Brown ground beef (hamburger) in a large skillet over medium-high heat; drain excess grease.
3. Add browned ground beef, drained green beans, tomato juice, sugar and seasoned salt back to the skillet.
4. Simmer for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally.

For the full ingredient amounts and recipe steps for green beans and hamburger, scroll to the recipe card at the bottom of this post. 

How to Jazz Up Canned Green Beans

I love using canned green beans in soups and casseroles. Canned green beans are super inexpensive and also fall on the healthy side as far as ingredients go. For an easy upgrade, toss in some dried herbs or spices such as onion powder, garlic powder, fresh parsley or basil, or prepare a green bean salad.

Check out our top four recipes using canned green beans.

Pennsylvania Dutch Green Beans

 Green Bean Chili

Crock Pot Green Beans

Sweet and Sour Green Beans with Bacon

Recipe FAQs

• Use Cut Green Beans instead of French Style Green Beans.
• Be sure to drain the juices from the canned green beans.
• Canned green beans from the garden work for this ground beef and green bean recipe too.
• For extra flavor, add diced onions and/or garlic to the ground beef while browning.
• If you want to stretch the recipe a bit farther, use three 14.5 ounce cans of green beans instead of two cans.
• Substitute tomato sauce for tomato juice, if needed.
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