How to Make Old Fashioned Skillet Green Beans

Naturally flavored with cooked-down juices of green beans, browned onions and bacon, this recipe for Skillet Green Beans has been a favorite in our family since before 1940.

Difficulty: Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Canned Green Beans
• Bacon
• Chopped onion

1. Cut 2 or 3 strips of bacon into 1" pieces. Start browning in medium-hot skillet.

2. 
    
   Brown the bacon and onion, but don't scorch it.

   Coarsely chop 1 medium onion (about ½ cup chopped) and add to the bacon. Stir and continue cooking till it develops a nice color and smells delicious. You don't want it to burn, but the flavor and color developed at this stage flavors the beans.

3. Add 1 quart of home-canned green beans (or 2 regular size cans of green beans from the store), including the juice. Turn heat to high and stir beans, bacon, and onions together.

4. 
    
   At a high boil, reducing the juice.

   Keep this at a strong boil, adjusting heat so it stays active - you want the liquid to boil away, but not boil over the side.

5. 
    
   Done - not dried out, but with juice reduced to a rich sauce.

   Cook until liquid is reduced to just cover bottom of the skillet. Time for this varies according to how much liquid the beans had to start with, and how fast you boil them - but averages about 20 to 30 minutes. You don't want the beans to dry out, but you do want to be able to serve all the liquid up along with the beans. It's a sauce to enjoy!

Tips & Warnings

• To make these beans sweet-sour flavored, add ¼ cup pickle juice - either sweet pickle juice, or dill pickle juice with a rounded teaspoon of sugar.