Grecian Green Beans in Tomato Sauce

  4.4 – 39 reviews  • Green Beans

It’s worth the time and effort to prepare these tomato sauce and seasoning-coated green beans. Attempt the sauce with okra as well. Enjoy!

Prep Time: 15 mins
Cook Time: 45 mins
Total Time: 1 hr
Servings: 8

Ingredients

  1. 2 pounds fresh green beans, trimmed
  2. 6 tablespoons lemon juice
  3. 1 medium onion, chopped
  4. ¾ cup olive oil
  5. 1 (16 ounce) can diced tomatoes
  6. 1 (8 ounce) can tomato sauce
  7. 2 tablespoons dried parsley
  8. 1 cup water
  9. salt and pepper to taste
  10. 1 bay leaf

Instructions

  1. Place green beans in a pot, and mix in lemon juice, onion, olive oil, tomatoes, tomato sauce, parsley, water, salt, pepper, and bay leaf. Cook 45 minutes over medium heat, occasionally stirring, until sauce is thickened. Remove bay leaf before serving.

Reviews

Marcus Leonard
Made it several times. Loved it. Eventually cut down the lemon a little and added some minced garlic. Love it is now on our rotation with lamb. Tastes like the version we get at the Greek festival.
Alan Ramsey
Great flavor but green beans were not tender. I think next time I will boil them first.
Marcus Brock
I make this several times a year and love eating it with brown rice, and baked lamb meat balls with tziki sauce. I add 2 crushed garlic cloves after the onions are soft, a shake or two of cayenne or a pinch of red pepper flakes, at least a tablespoon of oregano and a pinch of cinnamon. I usually use chicken broth in place of water but will use vegetable broth next time.
Patricia Lee
This was delicious but I must admit I detoured from the recipe because I had to cook with what I had. I opened 2 cans of string beans, seasoned with garlic salt and pepper, added my favorite jar of spaghetti sauce. It was simple and tasty.
Robert Rodriguez
I will make it again! It was good!
Dennis Horn
Amazing! This dish could be a good substitute for pasta and marinara sauce if you’re looking to stay off the carbs!
Brenda Goodman
Use tomato paste instead of tomato sauce … so much better with a nice thick sauce that sticks to the green beans for a full flavor bite.
Jill Kramer
Yummy, very similar to a favorite side at a nearby Greek restaurant. I like to add carrots and top with some fresh parsley and onion.
Robert Lopez
Very good easy and different side dish. I always try the recipe as is and rate it on that. Sure you can tweak it to your taste or even almost change the recipe entirely but when people do that I discount their ratings as I feel they are actually rating their own “new” recipe.
Patricia Mitchell
I used Trader Joes Frozen French Cut Green Beana, added two cloves of garlic, used a can of crushed tomatoes. Instead
Maria Hernandez
This recipe is so delicious.. My husband and I both agreed it can be a meal in itself… Very easy to make and very tasty!!
Shannon Andrews
I made these for Thanksgiving to be healthier and because they have a lot of flavor. I added 2 cloves of chopped garlic, 28 oz chopped tomato with the juice, and a pinch of cinnamon and cayenne pepper, cooked 40 min with lid on and 5 without so the sauce would be thicker. There was just my husband and myself and I plan to make Alton Brown’s baked brown rice to go with the leftovers.
Michele Shelton
Excellent
Nicole Thompson
I added smoked sausage and this was fantastic…. it sounds odd, but this really works as a meal!
Tamara Harris
I’ve tried so many versions of this recipe trying to replicate the amazing greek style green beans in Chicago’s Greektown restaurants which have rich and decadent sauces without tons of acidity — this recipe comes close, but after so many tries and reading so many reviews, I made a few changes to this one as well. Sauteed on low to medium heat a very rounded cup of vidalia diced onion in about a generous 1/4 cup of olive oil. S&P the onion while cooking. Cook until translucent about 6-8 minutes. Carefully added 2 healthy size diced cloves of garlic for only 30 – 45 seconds [watch so it does not burn]. Drained and added one 28 ounce can of diced organic tomatoes, reserving the liquid. Added one small 8 ounce can of tomato sauce. To all of this, added about 1.5 tablespoon of dried oregano (rub in your hands to release the oils), ~ 1/8 cup of fresh parsley [just had the fresh on hand]. Little more S&P. Used 4 tablespoons of that reserved liquid here. Brought to a boil. Added 3 cans of organic [drained] green beans [trial and error with this recipe has sold me on canned green beans for the texture and they marry well with the other ingredients.] Add the lemon. AND, 2 tablespoons of sugar (pinch just doesn’t do it for us). Simmered for 25-30 minutes at the very end it was still a little too acidic — a chef once told me to add butter to reduce the acidity from tomato based sauces. Added 1 tablespoon butter. Really, really good.
Patrick Cuevas
I searched for this recipe after having the green beans in tomato sauce at the local greek restaurant. Made them for dinner last night, and definately spot on! The only addition I made was to add about 1/4-1/2 tsp of ground cinnamon, which I definately recommend adding. I served it with 1/4 cut roasted potatoes, homemade tzatziki, and pita bread. My extremely carnivorous boyfriend didn’t even notice there was no meat or that it was a healthy meal. I will definately be serving this often.
Adam Santana
nice for a change. used 1/2 c olive oil
Melissa Cobb
I totally omitted a few things from this recipe since I didn’t have everything on hand. I omitted the olive oil and lemon juice and I used canned green beans and these were still a nice twist to the same boring thing. Thanks for sharing.
Troy Frost
Tasted just like at a Greek restaurant…really easy too I used frozen beans and they were still really good. Nice fresh flavor from the citrus.
Cameron Wade
tried it and its awesome.. my wife and child loved it.. thanks a bunch
Leslie Terry
These were fantastic. Will make again and again and again. Thanks! *sad to say I haven’t made these in years, but making them now and they smell amazing!

 

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