Published: · Modified: by Helene Dsouza
Helene Dsouza
Fresh green bean salad with a homemade vinaigrette dressing. This is a classic French side dish salad recipe.
Total Time: 14 minutes minutes
Prep Time: 7 minutes minutes
Cook Time: 7 minutes minutes
2 small Portions
4.9 from 8 votes
VIDEO RECIPE
My French Green Bean Salad is a staple at home and at family gatherings.
It's easy to prepare, budget-friendly, good for you and tastes great as a side dish with most main course meals.
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- 🧅 Ingredients
- 🔪 How to make it?
- 📖 Recipe
- 🍴 Serving
- 🍱 Storage
- 💬 Comments
🧅 Ingredients
This string bean salad is made with fresh ingredients and a homemade French mustard vinaigrette dressing.
For the full US and metric measurements, see the printable recipe card.
- Green Beans — fresh green beans, either store-bought or home-grown.
- Shallot — or mild young green or red onions. The onions shouldn't overpower the salad taste.
- Dijon Mustard — I like to use grainy french mustard.
- Vinegar — I think this dressing turns out better with natural vinegars, such white wine vinegar or a mild apple cider vinegar. You can also use distilled vinegar if that is what you have in your pantry. Another idea is to use home flavored vinegars such as herb infused vinegar, raspberry vinegar and tarragon vinegar.
- Salt and Black Pepper — freshly ground black peppercorn tastes better. Consider getting a fruity black peppercorn variety (Tellicherry or Malabar) for extra flavor.
- Oil — a neutral oil will do. We use either sunflower oil, vegetable oil or canola oil.
Alternatively to french green beans (aka string beans), you can also use yellow wax beans or purple beans.
🔪 How to make it?
The salad contains only a few ingredients, and it will take you about 15 mins to complete it from start to finish.
Step 1
Cut off ends and discard stringy fibrous green beans. Rinse the beans.
Slice shallots and keep aside.
Step 2
Boil the beans until crisp-tender in a pot of salt water.
Place them into a bowl of ice water after boiling to retain the texture quality of your beans.
Strain your beans and pat dry.
Step 3
Prepare the vinaigrette dressing.
Combine first, vinegar, salt, pepper, and mustard. Then whisk in the oil.
Step 4
Add chopped shallots to the beans in a bowl and pour dressing over all that.
Mix it up a bit and serve up.
📖 Recipe
French Green Bean Salad Recipe
Fresh green bean salad with a homemade vinaigrette dressing. This is a classic French side dish salad recipe.
4.88 from 8 votes
Print Pin Rate
Course: Salad
Cuisine: French
Diet: Diabetic, Gluten Free, Vegan, Vegetarian
Prep Time: 7 minutes minutes
Cook Time: 7 minutes minutes
Total Time: 14 minutes minutes
Servings: 2 small Portions
Calories: 150kcal
Recipe by: Helene Dsouza
Ingredients
For the Bean Salad:
- 8 ounces Green Beans
- 2 small Shallot
- Salt Water to boil beans
- Ice Water to stop the boiling process
For the Dressing:
- 2 Teaspoons Dijon Mustard *see Note
- 2 Teaspoons Vinegar *see Note
- ¼ Teaspoon Salt
- pinch Black Pepper Ground
- 1 ½ Tablespoon Oil *see Note
US - Metric
Instructions
For the Bean Salad:
Prepare your green beans by cutting off both ends. Rinse your beans and keep aside.
8 ounces Green Beans
Slice shallots and keep aside.
2 small Shallot
Keep a pan with salt water to boil and once the water boils place the green beans into the water.
Salt Water
Boil green beans for 5–7 minutes, or until they are cooked but still crunchy. That way they will remain green too and won't overcook and get mushy.
Quickly place cooked beans into a bowl prepared with ice water to stop the cooking process.
Ice Water
Strain cooked beans and pat dry.
For the Dressing:
Prepare your vinaigrette dressing. Place the mustard with the vinegar, salt, and pepper in a bowl. Mix the content well with a fork.
2 Teaspoons Dijon Mustard, 2 Teaspoons Vinegar, ¼ Teaspoon Salt, pinch Black Pepper Ground
Next, pour in the oil. Beat the dressing until the ingredients are well incorporated.
1 ½ Tablespoon Oil
Assemble Salad:
Add sliced shallots to the green beans in a serving bowl. Briefly mix together.
Pour the vinaigrette over the green beans and serve at room temperature or cooled.
Notes
- Use a French Dijon mustard. You can use wholegrain mustard as seen in the post or the ground classic Dijon mustard. Further options: Green Pepper Mustard and fruity red colored black currant wholegrain mustard. These are all Dijon mustard flavor variations.
- For the Vinegar use something like white wine vinegar, apple cider vinegar or regular distilled white vinegar
- For the oil, use plain sunflower oil or canola oil or vegetable oil.
- Pick raw green beans which are tight, dark green young and slim. The older, the more fibrous the green beans get.
Nutrition
Nutrition Facts
French Green Bean Salad Recipe
Amount Per Serving (188 g)
Calories 150Calories from Fat 99
% Daily Value*
Fat 11g17%
Saturated Fat 1g5%
Trans Fat 0.04g
Polyunsaturated Fat 3g
Monounsaturated Fat 7g
Sodium 356mg15%
Potassium 330mg9%
Carbohydrates 12g4%
Fiber 4g16%
Sugar 6g7%
Protein 3g6%
Vitamin A 787IU16%
Vitamin C 16mg19%
Calcium 55mg6%
Iron 2mg11%
* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.
🍴 Serving
The green bean salad is a summer classic which I grew up with!
It's super french because green beans are commonly grown and harvested in Frenchgardens from July to September. We call them haricot vert in French.
Usually,in the hotter summer months, people prefer to opt for garden-fresh lighter meals and light salads are served as a small side dish.
French Folks eat a classic quiche Lorraine, omelet, mixed vegetables soups and fish meals with this french bean salad.
Then, of course, there is always bread, cheese, and some good wine.
This bean salad can be frequently seen at social gatherings as well.
You will find it right next to the tabbouleh and peeled tomato salad, waiting to be served with roast beef, Foie gras (duck liver pate) and a crunchy baguette.
You can choose to serve it up warm (right after cooking the beans) or cooled, slightly refrigerated.
🍱 Storage
We typically don't keep french bean salad leftovers in our fridges. French people prepare it freshly and serve a small quantity with their main course meal.
What they do instead, in France, is boiling the string beans and store them in the airtight containers in the fridge for the coming days.
Then they take out some of these boiled beans and top them with a previously prepared vinaigrette dressing, before serving them cooled.
Yet, if you have leftovers of this french green bean salad, I'd simply recommend storing them in airtight containers in your refrigerator for up to 1 day.
They are still ok to eat and that way you can avoid food waste.
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