Our Favorite Healthy Green Bean Recipes for Thanksgiving

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Green bean casserole has a place in our hearts, but we also love using fresh veggies in our Thanksgiving lineup. Here are some of our favorite healthy green bean recipes for Thanksgiving. Be warned: These are all so tasty you may just forget about grandma's green bean casserole.

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Soft Green Beans

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Modern cooking may champion barely cooked, tender-crisp veggies, but the soft and luscious ones you find in many Southern kitchens, like these super-soft green beans, make a mouthwatering healthy side dish for Thanksgiving dinner.

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Steamed Green Beans with Rosemary-Garlic Vinaigrette & Fried Shallots

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Here's a new way to delight your green-bean-loving guests. The genius of this easy green bean recipe is in the dressing, which is made with avocado and olive oil that has also been used to fry shallots and garlic.

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Green Beans with Parmesan-Garlic Breadcrumbs

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In this easy green bean recipe, browning the butter before tossing it with the breadcrumbs produces a nice nutty flavor. Serve this green bean dish as a healthy alternative to green bean casserole on Thanksgiving.

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Blue Cheese-Walnut Green Beans

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Tender-crisp green beans tossed with creamy blue cheese and topped with toasted walnuts make for the perfect Thanksgiving side dish.

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Garlicky Green Beans

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We cook then cool the beans in advance so they can be heated up and seasoned moments before the meal. If you don't like tarragon, substitute dill or leave it out completely.

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Roasted New Potatoes & Green Beans

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Whoever said potato salad needs to be cold? For this warm version, new potatoes are roasted right alongside green beans, then tossed in a tangy champagne vinegar and Gorgonzola dressing. If you like, you can toss in some baby arugula.

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Balsamic-Roasted Green Beans with Parmesan

Balsamic-Roasted Green Beans with Parmesan

Sweet balsamic vinegar and nutty Parmesan cheese complement roasted green beans and shallots in this easy and healthy side dish. Roasting the green beans gives them a sweet, caramelized flavor while they still retain some bite. Serve with chicken, fish, pork—you name it. These green beans are also a wonderful addition to your Thanksgiving meal.

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Fossolia (Ethiopian-Style Green Beans)

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Like many Ethiopian dishes, this green bean side dish recipe has endless variations depending on who's cooking it. Green beans are always the star, most often along with carrots and rosemary, though it can also be served with potatoes or cabbage.

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Lemon-Dill Green Beans

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This lemon and dill vinaigrette is a natural complement to green beans. To make this recipe serve 10, multiply all the ingredients by 2½: Use 2½ pounds green beans, 3 tablespoons dill, 2½ tablespoons each shallot, oil and lemon juice, 2½ teaspoons mustard and ¾ teaspoon each salt and pepper.

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Charred Green Beans with Mustard Vinaigrette & Hazelnuts

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Our go-to trick for this crunchy, mustardy vegan side dish: Use a grill basket—it lets you cook all the things that would ordinarily fall through the grill grates, no skewering required.

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Sautéed Green Beans with Tomatoes, Mushrooms & Garlic

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This versatile and easy side dish is a tasty way to showcase green beans. We boil the beans briefly before sautéing for perfectly crisp-tender vegetables that don't get mushy.

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Green Beans with Creamy Mushroom Sauce

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A much healthier take on the old-fashioned green bean casserole, this version thankfully skips the canned soup and fried onions! Fresh green beans are cooked until crisp-tender and topped with a garlicky-thyme mushroom sauce, shallots and crumbled chèvre.

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