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Barbecued Green Beans with Ham

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This easy-to-make Barbequed Green Beans recipe is a delicious side dish that is perfect for your summer meals, cookouts, potlucks, and anytime you want to use your fresh-picked beans.

barbequed green beans

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Have you ever wondered what to add to green beans for more flavor? The answer is to cook the beans in a sweet and tangy barbeque sauce, smokey ham, onions, and garlic.  Give these beans a little time in the oven to caramelize the barbeque sauce for a tasty dish that pairs with steak, chicken, pork, and fish.  
 
You can easily make substitutes to the recipe, instead of ham add bacon or smoked sausage. I have used both and they are equally delicious.  But, I am a ham lover, so ham it is for today’s recipe.

What kind of green beans to use for this recipe –

  • For this recipe, I used fresh Blue Lake Green Beans from the garden. Look for fresh beans at the farmer’s market or even your local grocery store.   
  • Canned green beans can also be used and will be just as delicious, you will not need to steam these.
  • Can you use frozen green beans?  Honestly, I have never eaten a frozen green bean so I don’t know if they would work or not.
  • The wide flat green beans which are called Italian Green Beans can also be used in this dish.

Try serving these homemade Bread and Butter Pickles next to a dish of these beans, they are crunchy and a bit sweet, and so easy to make.  Serve a big wedge of this Cheesy Homemade Cornbread along with your green beans, they just kinda go together. Honestly, this could be a meal itself. 

Ingredients

Green beans, onion, butter, garlic, barbequed sauce, butter, olive oil.

Let’s get to cooking

Step. 1.  Wash the green beans and remove the stems.  I like to cut or snap the beans in half if they are really long.
 
Step 2. Heat a large skillet, and when hot, add the olive oil, the ham, onions, and garlic then cook over medium heat for about 5 minutes stirring frequently until the ham has browned and the onions have softened.   Remove to a bowl.
 
Step 3. Add the green beans, water butter, salt, and pepper to the skillet, cover, and steam for about 7 – 10 minutes. You want the beans to stay nice and green and just tender, not overly tender to the point they turn drab olive green and are mush. (However, this is how my grandma cooked her beans and she liked them that way.) Just saying, cook them your way!
Step 4. Once the green beans are tender, drain any water left in the skillet then add the cooked ham and then stir in the barbecue sauce. Add additional salt and pepper to taste.
 
Three pictures showing cooking ham and green beans in a skillet.
Step 5. Here you have two options you can continue cooking the beans over medium heat until the sauce has thickened and coats the beans, or my preferred way is to put the beans in a 350 degree F. oven for about 15 minutes to finish cooking the beans and carmelizing the barbeque sauce.  Either way works. 
 
You can serve these beans straight out of the skillet or make individual servings. Either way, you will love these southern-style smothered green beans.
Green beans in two white casserole dishes.

I love, love cast-iron and my favorite skillet is this white enameled cast-iron skillet, it can go from stovetop to the oven and the clean-up is quick. These white Staub mini casserole dishes are perfect to make single servings.

Mirror white enameled cast-iron skilletStaub white-mini casserole dish
Try these skillet cakes for dessert

Maple Apple Skillet Cake has a moist vanilla cake topped with maple-flavored apples. 

This Vanilla Bean Skillet Cake is so easy and so delicious. Moist and tender and full of flavorful vanilla bean seeds.

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Green beans and ham in white dishes.
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4.88 from 25 votes

Barbequed Green Bean with Ham

Tender fresh green beans and ham are smothered in a sweet and tangy barbecue sauce that makes a delicious side-dish for your summer meals and cookouts.
Course Side Dish
Cuisine American
Keyword barbecue, green beans, smothered green beans, southern green beans
Prep Time 20 minutes
Cook Time 30 minutes
Total Time 50 minutes
Servings 6
Calories 79kcal
Author Jere' Cassidy

Equipment

10.25" Lodge Cast Iron Skillet
staub mini casserole dishes

Ingredients

  • 1 pound Green beans fresh or canned
  • 1/3 cup barbecue sauce
  • 1 tbsp. olive oil
  • 4 oz. ham, diced
  • 1/2 cup onion, diced
  • 1 clove garlic, diced
  • 1 tbls. butter
  • 1/4 cup water
  • salt & pepper to taste

Instructions

  • Clean and stem the green beans. Slice or snap in half if they are too long
  • Heat a large skillet over medium heat then add the oil and saute the diced ham, onion, and garlic until the is ham cooked and lightly browned and the onions are soft. Remove the mixture to a bowl.
  • In the same skillet, add the green beans and water. Stir and cover with a lid to steam until tender-crisp, about 7-10 minutes. Stir the green beans around a few times during steaming.
  • Stir in the barbecue sauce and add the ham, onions, and garlic to the green beans. Cook over medium-low heat until the barbecue sauce has thickened and coated the green beans for about 10 minutes.
    I prefer to put the beans in a 350° F. oven and bake for about 15 minutes to caramelize the barbeque sauce.
  • Serve warm.

Notes

You can substitute 2 cans of green beans and add them to the cooked ham and onion mixture. No need to steam the beans.
Bacon can be substituted for ham. If using bacon you will need to drain off the excess bacon grease after frying.
 
One Hot Oven provides approximate nutritional information as a courtesy and cannot guarantee the accuracy of any recipe on this blog.

Nutrition

Serving: 6 | Calories: 79kcal | Carbohydrates: 12g | Fat: 1.8g | Cholesterol: 11mg | Sodium: 601mg

A white bowl of barbecued green beans with diced hams and onions

First Published: Aug 9, 2012… Last Updated: Feb 20, 2021

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About Jere’

From learning to cook on a farm in Indiana to culinary school in California, my passion for food is never-ending.  Turning on my oven to bake something for friends and family is my happy place, and I am glad to be here at One Hot Oven sharing both sweet and savory recipes with all my baking friends.

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Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Linda

    5 stars
    I’m sure this recipe will be a hit at our house. Served with some good
    cornbread…OH YUM!
    I’ve been making my green beans in my Instant Pot with a little brown sugar, soy sauce, onion and a touch of Better than Bouillon chicken flavor. They are very good but I like to switch things around sometimes, makes food more interesting.
    I add a little BBQ sauce to my homemade vegetable soup and it’s delicious. Not so much BBQ sauce that you taste it, you just know that the soup has a delicious flavor.

    Reply

  4. Kim Guzman

    5 stars
    Oh, yum! I love barbecue but I’ve never thought of mixing the tastes of green beans with it. I’m drooling already. Thanks so much for this idea as I’m sure I’ll be making a lot of use of your recipe this summer.

    Reply

  7. Jessica Formicola

    5 stars
    Barbecue sauce and green beans is such a genius combination! I can’t wait to make these with dinner this week!

    Reply

  8. Elizabeth

    5 stars
    I absolutely love these! I struggle to get excited about eating veggies but these were so tasty and flavorful, I already want to make them again. 😀

    Reply

  10. Adriana

    5 stars
    This is a great way to add lots of flavor to green beans. Perfect side dish for any meal, especially now that green beans are in season.

    Reply

  11. Marthana Sharp

    5 stars
    My mother made green beans just like these for the holidays. I just picked some fresh beans from the garden so I am making this recipe tonight.

    Reply

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