Name: Bacon & Brown Sugar Green Bean Bundles
Prep time: 20 min
Cook time: 25 min
Total time: 45 min
Ingredients: 1/2 pound fresh green beans; 1/2 pound sliced bacon – 5-6 slices; 2-3 T brown sugar; pepper to taste

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These bacon and brown sugar green bean bundles are an easy and delicious vegetable side dish for any holiday meal or special occasion. So simple to prepare! These require such little monitoring that you can go about cooking the rest of your meal. Green bean bundles on the baking sheet after cooking

Bacon & Brown Sugar Green Bean Bundle Ingredients

For this recipe, you will only need 4 simple ingredients. This recipe is for 6 people, so if you are planning to make it for a special occasion or holiday and you are hosting more people, be sure to double this ! Shop for 1/2 pound of fresh green beans. You will also need 1/2 pound bacon (about 6 slices), a bit of brown sugar and fresh ground pepper.

If you can find French green beans (Haricot Verts), they are longer and thinner and can often have better flavor. They also don’t have the stringy effect when chewing or cutting them. I find them easier and tastier to eat. Since they are thinner, you will want to monitor the beans to be sure not to overcook them.

How to Make these Green Bean Bundles

First, preheat your oven to 375°. Next, rinse the green beans in a colander with water. Then, trim the green beans. You will want to leave them long for this recipe (versus cutting beans in half).

Green bean trimming tips: You can do this most efficiently by piling up 10 – 15 beans, lining them up on one side and cutting the ends all at once. I usually just snap off or cut the end of the bean where it connected to the green bean plant before. It’s not necessary to cut both ends unless you prefer it this way.

Next, cut uncooked bacon in half. Then, to allow for easy clean up, place foil down on the bottom of a baking sheet. The bacon and beans will cook simultaneously as bundles in the oven. Protecting your pan with foil is a time saver for clean up later!

Next, gather about 5 – 6 long green beans and wrap with 1 slice of the halved bacon, wrapping around the green beans from one end to the other, candy canestyle. Then, place the bundle on the baking sheet. (Depending how many slices of bacon you have, you may need to adjust as you go, estimating how many beans per slice of bacon to ensure they all get wrapped up. If I have some left, I save and throw in a stir-fry, salad or another dish that week.) Continue this process, to make bundles and place on the baking sheet about 1 inch apart. Try to use all of your beans and bacon, yielding approximately 10-12 bundles, depending on the number of slices of bacon in your package.

Green beans wrapped in bacon on a foil covered baking sheet.

Next, sprinkle brown sugar (total of about 2-3 T) over all of the tops of the bundles, trying to keep the sugar on the top of the bacon bundles and not falling off onto the pan, as best you can. Then, using a pepper grinder, season the bundles lightly. Be mindful to pepper them lightly, as to not overpower the flavor of the bacon and sweetness of the brown sugar. Due to the saltiness of the bacon, salt is unnecessary for these beans. The beans will collect all of the flavor from the bacon and the sugar will caramelize on top to add an irresistible dimension to these beans.

Green bean bundles sprinkled with brown sugar

Bake for 20 – 25 minutes until the bacon is desired color.

Serving Suggestions for these Bacon & Brown Sugar Green Bean Bundles

These green bean bundles are a perfect side dish for holiday meals. Serve with ham on Easter or turkey or roast on Christmas. Be sure to double or triple the recipe if you are hosting more than 6 people.
We also recommend serving these bean bundles with a nice steak or this Balsamic Flank steak on a special occasion.
These Honey Mustard Chicken Thighs are also complemented well by this side dish.
Other side dishes that would go nicely are these Roasted Mini Potatoes or traditional mashed potatoes.
Reheating these little bundles: These green beans reheat and taste great as leftovers. While you can definitely, reheat them in the microwave, if you are reheating many of them, use the oven at a low slow temperature (about 250-275°) or air fryer.

Kid Tip: In our experience, kids love these beans because of the bacon and sweetness. But…they do look different. So if that deters your child at first, just cut them up into small pieces and take out the bacon pieces to be separate. The flavor stays in the beans, so they will still get that yummy savory flavor. This is a fun one to get kids involved in making as well. Work on counting and motor skills with your younger ones, allowing them to bundle and roll the beans. We find when our kids are invested in the production of recipes, they are more willing to try new things!