Southern Green Beans

During the cooking process, these green beans soak up an amazing amount of flavor from bacon grease, chicken broth, seasoned salt, and garlic powder. I start by cooking some diced bacon in a large pot. I then set the bacon aside, but leave all the grease in the pan. You can leave the bacon in the pot to cook with the beans, but it will get a soggy texture. But the up side is the beans will have even more bacony flavor. In this case, I’ve added the cooked bacon back once I’ve drained the beans, but sometimes I just leave it in the pot for the cooking process.

Many times a ham hock is used instead of bacon, or in addition to bacon. Traditionally, fat back (solid fat from a pig’s back) was a very popular choice for cooking green beans in the South and if you can get your hands on some good fatback, it is amazing. But good fatback is very hard to find these days. Mass market pigs are pumped full of hormones, etc. 

You want to cook Southern-Style Green Beans for at least an hour, preferably closer to 2 hours. You want them to get really soft, but not mushy, so that they are melt in your mouth tender. Just before serving, you can mix in a tablespoon or so of butter or bacon grease (my personal preference because, let's face it, everything tastes better with bacon) to give the green beans some a flavorful coating.

Ingredients

• 4 slices bacon,, diced (or more!)
• 2 pounds green beans ends snapped off and longer beans snapped in half
• 2 cups chicken broth
• 2 cups water
• 1 teaspoon seasoned salt
• 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
• 1 tablespoon butter, optional

Instructions

1. Brown and crisp bacon in a large pot. Remove bacon from pot and reserve.
2. Add green beans to pot along with all remaining ingredients, except butter.
3. Bring to a boil and then turn heat to medium-low. Cover and simmer for 1-2 hours, stirring occasionally.
4. Drain beans and add butter if using. Check beans for seasoning and add extra salt and pepper to taste. I like lots of black pepper. Sprinkle with bacon and toss to distribute the bacon and butter.