Last Updated on February 25, 2026 by Deliciously Organic Editor
The Thanksgiving table usually abounds with buttery breads, rich puddings, and sweet sides, so I think it’s important to add a little color with a few fresh and simple vegetable dishes. Green beans with brown butter and pepitas is one of my go-tos!
Green beans are a good source of vitamin C, beta carotene, vitamin K, calcium, and potassium. Beta carotene is a pre-cursor to vitamin A (aka retinol) which is very important for overall health. Butterfat stimulates the secretion of bile needed to convert carotenes from vegetables into vitamin A. How neat is that?!
This is why I like to cook beta carotene-rich vegetables in butter!
Here are some additional Thanksgiving side dishes that you might enjoy:
Creamy Mashed Potatoes
Grain-Free Sage and Onion Stuffing
Cranberry Kombucha Jello
Sweet Potato Casserole
Green Beans with Brown Butter and Pepitas
- Prep Time: 3 minutes
- Cook Time: 5 minutes
- Total Time: 8 minutes
- Yield: Serves 4-6
- Category: Appetizer, Side Dish
- Method: Sautéing
- Cuisine: American
- Diet: Gluten-Free
Ingredients
- 3 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 1 pound green beans, cleaned and trimmed
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 1/2 cup toasted pumpkin seeds (I like to coat them in a little bit of butter and bake at 350 degrees F until golden brown)
- Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
Instructions
- Melt butter in a large saute pan over medium-low heat until brown and fragrant, about 2-3 minutes, swirling the pan occasionally. Add green beans and toss in the butter until there are spotty brown marks on the beans, about 3-4 minutes. Make a well in the center of the pan and add the garlic. Stir garlic in the center of the pan until fragrant, about 30 seconds and then stir into beans. Remove from heat, toss pumpkin seeds into the beans, then season with salt and pepper to taste. Serve immediately.
This looks absolutely delicious. My kind of side dish with that browned butter & the crunch of pepitas!
That is so interesting about the butter & carotenes. More reason to add this healthy fat to our meals. That vinaigrette Molly made sounds amazing! Your green beans look awesome!
oh im bummed that it was thanksgiving here already a few weeks back…im already onto planning christmas menus!
This is a great way to take green beans to another level. Yum! Looking forward to next week’s recipes.
Love this! We’re planning fresh green beans with butter-browned mushrooms and purple onion for this year’s Thanksgiving dinner – forgoing *that* green bean casserole that used to grace the table. I’m much more excited about the fresh green bean option — and yours look wonderful, too! Cannot wait to try them!
One of my favorite Thanksgiving side dishes is my mom’s green beans with toasted almonds. I love your idea of adding pepitas! Will have to try that.
There’s nothing tastier than fresh green beans. 😉 I’m looking forward to your ideas for next week too! You are such an inspiration and such a wonderful cook! Your family is SO blessed!
Great post! I’m looking to make some changes in my own eating habits and learning to cook, so I appreciate your insight a lot! Thank you. I recently stumbled upon this blog like I did yours and I thought your readers may appreciate it: http://burisonthecouch.wordpress.com/2010/11/04/food-for-thought/
I’ve started to look for blog help more regularly and I think I’m going to add your blog to my list as well. Thanks for the post!
-Amy
These green beans look delicious… I just love recipes that are so simple and still have me drooling over my computer screen. I still haven’t decided on my final Turkey Day menu, but I know now that Green Beans w/ Brown Butter will be being served!
Mmmm…. these sound delicous! I already promised my girls broccoli for the veggies. I’m wondering if I can sub the broccoli for the green beans in this recipe.
Broccoli would be a great substitute for the green beans!
Made these tonight! So good. Linked them on my blog and facebook!
We just finished our Thanksgiving dinner and the beans were a big hit. Delicious. Thanks for the recipe!
These beans sound like a great alternative to the usual green bean casserole!
Hi – are the green beans cooked prior to adding to melted butter or do they go in raw?