Bacon and green beans are a match made in heaven and make a simple 30-minute pasta dinner. Add some juicy cherry tomatoes, a touch of butter and a glug of tangy balsamic and you get a simple and lightly sauce bacon green bean pasta that’s full of flavor.

overhead photo of a skillet of pasta with bacon, green beans and tomatoes

And here we have a 30ish-minute pasta dinner made with some obvious suspects like cherry tomatoes, butter, tangy balsamic and salty Parm and one maybe not so obvious ingredient which happens to be green beans.

We can add green beans to our pasta, right?

I was inspired by a lonely bag of frozen green beans and a roasted bacon-green bean side dish I shared a few years back and I realized green beans often pull side-dish duty so why not pull them into the main dish party? With a little butter, bacon, and balsamic they fit right in and now green bean pasta is my new favorite thing.

Ingredients, Steps, and Tips

Like a lot of my favorite recipes, it starts with bacon that’s cooked until it’s released its fat into the pan.
To it, add chopped garlic, frozen cut green beans, and halved cherry or grape tomatoes. As the veggies cook the tomatoes break down they’ll release their juices that mix with the bacon fat along with some butter that you’ll add to the pan, too.
About the green beans: I’ve tried this recipe with fresh green beans, too, and it works but they take longer to cook than the frozen ones.
Once the butter is melted add some balsamic vinegar and it will mix with the bacon fat, tomato juices and butter to create a light sauce.
About this time the pasta, in this case, farfalle (although any short pasta shape will work) will be ready and you can add it to the pan.
Add some fresh parsley and grated Parmesan, too, toss it all together and dinner is ready.

A Few More Thoughts

When you get started, get your water on the path to boiling during which you can chop and halve and do the other prep. As soon as the pasta hits the water, you can start the bacon. By the time the pasta is done the rest of it should be ready, too.

The leftovers keep well in the refrigerator and you can reheat them or just dip into them straight from the fridge – they’re delicious warm or cold.

If you have some lonely frozen green beans, too, I hope you give this green bean pasta a try!

Happy (easy) cooking,

More Easy Dinner Recipes

Are there ever enough easy dinner recipes? I don’t happen to think so, so here are a few more to try ❤

I love a great pantry dinner and my sun-dried tomato pasta is a quick and easy one.
Honey mustard baked salmon is a quick dinner, too! It takes about 20 minutes start to finish – add a crisp green salad on the side to make it complete.
Want even more ideas? Browse some amazing 30-minute dinners and pick out some new recipes to try.