Easy Sweet Green Beans

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This easy sweet green beans recipe is quick, simple, and delicious making it perfect for busy weeknights. Brown sugar and soy sauce give green beans a sweet and tangy combo everyone will love.

Overhead photo of Sweet green beans served up in a white baking dish.

My friend Lisa was visiting and I complained that I needed something different to do with green beans. I was not happy with anything I was trying and she asked me if I wanted to try her brown sugar green beans no bacon recipe.

I never imagined that combining butter, soy sauce, and brown sugar could taste so good with green beans.

Now, especially when I am in a hurry, I make this sweet green bean side dish all the time.

If you love green beans you've got to try Smoked Green Beans and Air Fryer Parmesan Green Beans. If you prefer a recipe green beans recipe with bacon, you're going to love Green Beans with Bacon and Brown Sugar.

Why You Will Love This Recipe

Such great flavor! Tender green beans with brown sugar cook up with a sweet, tangy sauce.
So much versatility! They're perfect with rice, mashed potatoes, or your favorite noodles.
No boring green beans. Candied green beans are a great twist on a classic side dish.
Only four ingredients. Easy to make with fresh, canned, or frozen green beans.

Ingredients

It only takes a handful of simple ingredients to make this recipe, and you'll find them all easily at your local grocery store.

Green beans: I vote for fresh! But you can adapt the recipe easily using canned or frozen instead.
Butter: Adds rich, buttery flavor to the green beans.
Soy sauce: The salty and savory part of the sauce.
Brown sugar: Adds more depth of flavor than using granulated sugar.

See the recipe card at the end of the post for exact quantities.

Substitutions and Variations

No green beans? Wax beans or snap beans, baby lima beans, snap peas, or green peas all make a tasty swap.
No fresh green beans? Use frozen or canned instead. To use the canned green beans, mix the sauce and add it to your heated canned beans.
No butter? You can swap it with another vegetable oil such as olive oil, coconut oil, or another neutral option. However, these are not as rich in flavor as the butter so the flavor is a bit different.
No soy sauce? Tamari or coconut aminos work. These also work to make the green beans gluten-free.
No brown sugar? You can use white sugar or honey as a replacement
Want them spicy. Add some crushed red pepper .flakes, sambal oelek chili paste, chili garlic paste, or a little jalapeno powder, smoked jalapeno powder or chipotle powder, to the sauce.

How to Make Sweet Green Beans

Making this recipe is super easy. I'm covering the highlights below, but you'll find the complete instructions in the recipe card at the end of the post. It's not much different!

Wash, trim, and cut the green beans into bite-sized pieces.
Boil the beans until bright green.

Fresh green beans boiling in water inside a large pot.

Combine the remaining ingredients while the beans boil.

Soy sauce, melted butter and brown sugar mixed inside a small glass bowl.

Drain the beans, return them to the pot, and toss them with the sugar mixture.

Soy sauce mixed poured onto the drained beans inside the pot.

Toss the green beans and serve.

Easy sweet green beans in a baking dish on the table.

Storage

Refrigerator: Store these in an air-tight container for up to 7 days.
Freezer: Freeze these beans for up to 3 months in an air-tight, freezer-safe container.
Reheat: Heat leftovers on low in a skillet or saucepan on low until heated through.

What to Serve with Green Beans

Green bean recipes make a great side dish for a wide variety of main dishes and other side dishes. Here are some of our favorites!

Main Dishes: Oven Baked Beef Ribs, Oven Roasted Turkey, and Skillet Pork Chops all go great!
Other Sides: Mashed potato casserole, air fryer baby potatoes, cooked brown rice, white rice, or noodles all make tasty side dishes.

Tips and FAQ

If serving a crowd, this recipe can easily be doubled.
Don't overcook your green beans. They taste better with a little crunch!

Can you use frozen or canned green beans?

Yes. Skip the steps for prepping the green beans. Go straight to sauteing the green beans and finish the recipe from there.

What's the difference between string beans and green beans?

Not much. Both of them are green beans. String beans are any green bean variety with a fibrous string running down the length of the pod, although these days, most green beans don't have that.

What do green beans go with?

They're great with chicken, beef, and pork. For sides, you can't go wrong with any kind of potato, rice, quinoa, and other mixed vegetables.

A closeup of sweet green beans in a baking dish.

If you enjoyed this recipe, you may also enjoy our Chicken and Mixed Vegetables recipe!

More Green Bean Recipes

It seems I am always looking for more ways to use up all of my green beans. Don't get me wrong, I love this Easy Sweet Green Beans recipe and hope you try it but if this one isn't for you I have some other oldies but goodies you might want to have a peek at.

Here are some of my favorites!

Below, you will find a short video of these green beans being made. I can't wait for you to see just how quick and easy they are to make.