Italian Flat Green Beans Recipe (with Tomatoes and Garlic)

Italian Flat Green Beans Recipe (with Tomatoes and Garlic) is your next easy and flavorful side dish that comes together in 20 minutes! This Italian green beans with tomatoes and garlic are one of the healthiest, tastiest and easiest side dishes.

Serve as a delicious side dish to accompany Nonna’s Famous Traditional Italian Meatballs (Polpette), or BEST Salmon Piccata (Lemon Butter Caper Sauce).

Tired of the routine canned green veggies accompanying each meal? Then give this Italian flat beans recipe a try! You will love this Italian green beans recipe. You can even serve them as a healthy option and a great side dish to a Thanksgiving meal.

Flat Italian green beans are a style of beans that are meatier, wider and like the name flat instead of round and this variety of green beans while picked young are stringless. They are less common than your average string bean.

Simple Ingredients

This is another “cucina povera” (like this ribollita soup) recipe that has a few simple ingredients to make a wonderful Italian style dish.

• Italian Romano flat green beans
• Olive oil, divided
• Shallots
• Garlic cloves
• Cherry or grape tomatoes
• Balsamic vinegar
• Basil leaves for garnish
• Salt and Black Pepper to taste 

See recipe card for quantities.

How To Make Flat Green Beans

Making this super tasty green bean dish is super easy. Serve as a warm side dish to a holiday meal or serve cold as a summertime salad. Either way, you will love the simplicity and freshness of this green bean dish.

Prepare the Italian flat green beans. You may use: fresh, frozen, or canned.

In a large skillet, heat olive oil. Add the shallots and sauté over medium heat about 1 minute. Add the garlic and continue to sauté for 30 to 45 seconds, until tender and fragrant but not browned. 

Add the beans and salt and pepper to taste. Sauté over medium high heat, stirring frequently until the beans are browned in spots and tender but retain some crispness, about 10 minutes. Stir in the tomatoes and balsamic vinegar. Cook an additional 7-10 minutes, until they are blistered and soft. You can press down on the tomatoes with the back of a wooden spoon to help them “pop”. 

Remove the pan from heat and let the beans cool slightly. Stir in the balsamic vinegar and incorporate. Garnish with fresh basil. Transfer to a serving platter. Serve warm or cold!

Expert Tips

To use fresh Romano beans (Italian flat beans), snap or trim off the ends and rinse the pods to remove any dirt. If you buy them frozen- don’t worry about cleaning them. When picking them fresh avoid beans with soft spots. Look for the firm texture and bright green color.

You can lightly cook these beans to retain their great crunch texture, or cooked until they are extremely tender.

Make sure not to overcook the beans! This will cause the beans to turn into a tasteless mush, so set your timers when preparing them with long time cooking methods. Add the green beans to hot water instead of putting the beans into water and then letting it heat up.

Wait, there are more colors than just green flat Italian beans- they also come in yellow and purple, for cooks who like to play around with different colors in their cooking- try the color variety. In my experience the colored variety are harder to find in the U.S.A opposed to Italy.

In this recipe the green beans are raw and then sautéed. If you like your beans a little more soft you can lightly boil them before sautéing them.

1. Fill a large pot half full of water, add 1 to 2 tsp. sea salt, and cover the pot with a lid. Bring the large pot of salted water to a full, rolling boil over high heat.
2. Add washed Romano beans cut into 1- to 2-inch pieces to the pot of boiling water.
3. Boil bean pieces until desired tenderness. Remove the bean pieces from the pot with a slotted spoon.

You can drizzle the boiled beans with a little extra virgin olive oil, lemon juice, and lemon zest!

Another option is to add the cooked green beans to the garlic and tomatoes like this recipe and lightly saute for an additional few minutes.

Variations

You can try the original Italian Flat Green Beans Recipe (with Tomatoes and Garlic) the first time and always try a variation the next time you make it!

• Spicy – add red pepper flakes to level up the heat in the green bean dish.
• Deluxe – sauté pancetta, bacon, Italian sausage or other meat and add with the cooked green beans. If you have a little bacon grease left over from making pasta carbonara add to the beans to add extra flavor.
• Cheese – top with parmigiano cheese if desired.
• Tomato variety – try different varieties, shapes, and sizes!
• Italian seasoning – add extra dried or fresh herbs such as oregano, or rosemary.
• Substitute regular green beans for the Italian-style if desired. You could also try this recipe with cannellini beans, white beans, or frozen green beans.

Serving Suggestions

If looking to serve as a main dish, serve atop quinoa, brown rice, farro, or other whole grains. You can also toss with pasta, more veggies, and a protein source. You can serve it with Perfect Pork Tenderloin with Fennel (one of my favorite meat recipes), or Crispy Baked Cod with Panko Recipe.

Don’t forget your crust bread to go with the meal.

Regardless of how you serve these flat beans you will love this simple Italian green beans recipe!

Skillet recommendations

The skillet to use: I love cooking in a cast iron skillet. It distributes the heat evenly throughout the bottom of the pan and up into the sides. It’s naturally non stick and super durable. You can also use a dutch oven type pot.

Any large skillet will work for sausage and peppers if you don’t have or want to purchase a cast iron.

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Storage

Bonus: this recipe is even better the next day! The green beans will keep in the fridge for up to 3 days, if stored in an airtight container.

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5 from 4 votes

Flat Green Beans Recipe

By: Elena Davis

Servings: 4 -6 servings

Prep: 5 minutes mins

Cook: 20 minutes mins

Total: 25 minutes mins

SaveSaved Pin Rate Print

Italian Flat Green Beans Recipe (with Tomatoes and Garlic) is your next easy and flavorful side dish that comes together in 20 minutes! This Italian green beans with tomatoes and garlic are one of the healthiest, tastiest and easiest side dishes.

Ingredients 

1x2x3x

• ▢ 1 pound flat Italian Romano beans
• ▢ 2 tablespoons olive oil, divided
• ▢ 1 shallot, minced
• ▢ 2 cloves garlic, minced
• ▢ ½ cup cherry or grape tomatoes
• ▢ ½ teaspoon balsamic vinegar
• ▢ 1 tablespoon basil leaves for garnish
• ▢ Salt and Pepper to taste

Instructions 

• In a large skillet, heat olive oil. Add the shallots and sauté over medium heat about 1 minute. Add the garlic and continue to sauté for 30 to 45 seconds, until tender and fragrant but not browned. 
• Add the beans and salt and pepper to taste. Sauté over medium heat, stirring frequently until the beans are browned in spots and tender but retain some crispness, about 10 minutes. Stir in the tomatoes and balsamic vinegar. Cook an additional 7-10 minutes, until they are blistered and soft. You can press down on the tomatoes with the back of a wooden spoon to help them “pop”. 
• Remove the pan from heat and let the beans cool slightly.  Garnish with fresh basil. Transfer to a serving platter. Serve warm or cold!

Notes

To use fresh Romano beans (Italian flat beans), snap or trim off the ends and rinse the pods to remove any dirt. If you buy them frozen- don’t worry about cleaning them. When picking them fresh avoid beans with soft spots. Look for the firm texture and bright green color.

You can lightly cook these beans to retain their great crunch texture, or cooked until they are extremely tender.

Make sure not to overcook the beans! This will cause the beans to turn into a tasteless mush, so set your timers when preparing them with long time cooking methods. Add the green beans to hot water instead of putting the beans into water and then letting it heat up.

Nutrition

Calories: 108kcalCarbohydrates: 10gProtein: 3gFat: 7gSaturated Fat: 1gPolyunsaturated Fat: 1gMonounsaturated Fat: 5gSodium: 10mgPotassium: 309mgFiber: 3gSugar: 5gVitamin A: 900IUVitamin C: 19mgCalcium: 50mgIron: 1mg

Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.

Additional Info

Course: Side Dish

Cuisine: Italian

Tried this recipe?Mention @cucinabyelena or tag #cucinabyelena!