Roasted Green Beans with Bacon

Green beans roasted with smoky bacon and tossed with a dill vinaigrette. These roasted green beans are a great side dish for holiday meals, but easy enough for weeknight dinners.

Roasted Green Beans

While I’ve certainly made my fair share of what is best described as high-maintenance side dishes (and I still go back to that well from time to time), these days I tend to favor dishes that are simpler to make for a couple of reasons: 1) Simpler sides don’t tend to overpower whatever main dish they’re paired with and 2) Simple in my book usually means roasting and I never get tired of roasted anything.

And it was a few weeks ago, while I was playing around with a green bean recipe idea, that my mom mentioned a recent recipe, clipped from our hometown newspaper, where brussels sprouts are roasted with pieces of bacon that are scattered of the top.

At the time, I was a bit obsessed with roasting green beans and looking for a way to take them from just a pan of roasted veggies to something a bit more exciting and the bacon on the top idea was just the thing. While the brussels sprouts recipe she used went down a whole other path resulting in a completely different dish than what I’m sharing today, it was that simple idea to cook the bacon on the sheet pan with the green beans that took these roasted green beans to a whole new level.

For the Roasted Green Beans

• Fresh green beans
• Bacon (!)
• Olive oil
• A large baking sheet

For the Dill Vinaigrette

• Fresh chopped dill
• Olive oil
• Dijon mustard
• Fresh lemon juice
• Salt and pepper
• I like to combine the ingredients in a small canning jar. I just top it with the lid and shake the jar until the dressing is combined.

As the green beans roast the bacon released it’s fat coating the green beans with a ton of flavor. Be sure to give the green beans a good toss to ensure they are evenly coated in the fat before tossing them with the dressing. The combination of flavors – mustard, fresh dill, bacon, and lemon – is delicious and I like to serve them while the green beans are still hot.

More Side Dishes

• Roasted Sweet Potato Wedges
• Roasted Cauliflower Gratin
• Lemon-Honey Glazed Carrots
• Skillet Mushrooms and Broccoli with Pancetta

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