Air Fryer Garlic Balsamic Green Beans
These six-ingredient Air Fryer Garlic Balsamic Green Beans are simple to make with little prep time for a great weeknight side dish! The sweetness from the balsamic vinegar goes perfectly with the fresh garlic and spicy red pepper flakes, making these super flavorful. The air fryer gives these green beans a tasty blistered exterior while allowing you to easily control how firm you like your beans. I think the flavor of these Garlic Balsamic Green Beans would pair well with a wide variety of meats and main courses!
I lightly adapted this recipe from NYT Cooking and I really loved the results. Not only are these Air Fryer Garlic Balsamic Green Beans easy and delicious, but each (2.2 ounce) serving is just 64 calories or 1 WW Point on the current Weight Watchers program! To view your current WW Points for this recipe and track it in the WW app, click here!
Air Frying
I usually cook green beans on the stovetop, and I still love that method, but this was a great hands-free alternative that I’ll definitely be using again! I do not pre-heat my air fryer for this recipe, but if you do pre-heat then your cook time will potentially be shorter. Just for reference, I have a COSORI brand air fryer and I cooked my green beans for about 12 minutes, but yours may take longer due to desired doneness or air fryer differences.
Recipe Notes
- Green Beans: I recommend using fresh green beans with the stems trimmed off, if present. Make sure they’re the thicker “American” green beans rather than the thinner French beans, or the cooking time might need adjustment. If you end up using French beans you may want to check on them earlier because they may cook faster.
- Garlic: I definitely suggest using fresh garlic cloves for this recipe rather than the jarred pre-minced variety. I do think that can come in handy sometimes, but fresh garlic adds so much flavor to these green beans, so it’s definitely worth it! I finely grated mine using a Pampered Chef Ginger grater that is no longer sold, but you can use a microplane grater or citrus zester to get similar results. Finely grating the garlic makes it pulpy and easy to rub all over the green beans!
- Heat and Timing: My air fryer (COSORI) temperatures go by tens, so I cooked these at 380, but 375 should be fine as well. One of the nice things about using an air fryer is that it’s easy to check often for doneness to make sure you get the texture you prefer. I suggest cooking from 10-14 minutes, depending on how firm or floppy you like your green beans.
- Serving Size: My finished results were technically 8.7 ounces total, so I rounded and made four servings at 2.2 ounces (ish) each. I thought this was the perfect amount for a side dish!
More tasty, lightened up Side Dish recipes
Looking for more tasty, lightened up side dish recipes like these Air Fryer Garlic Balsamic Green Beans? Check out my Broccoli Salad, Easy Slow Cooker Carrots, Garlic Parmesan Roasted Cauliflower, Apple Coleslaw, Broccoli Cheddar Twice Baked Potatoes, Stovetop Green Beans with Almonds, Stovetop Cinnamon Apples, Creamy Corn with Bacon and Jalapenos, Garlic Herb Mushrooms, Roasted Fingerling Potatoes, Easy Garlic Knots, and many more in the Side Dishes section of my recipe index!
Air Fryer Garlic Balsamic Green Beans
Ingredients
- 12 oz uncooked trimmed green beans
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 ½ tablespoons balsamic vinegar
- 2 large garlic cloves, finely grated
- ¼ teaspoon red pepper flakes
- ¼ teaspoon salt
Instructions
- Place all of the ingredients into a mixing bowl and stir to coat. Use your fingers to separate the grated garlic and massage it into the green beans. Transfer the coated green beans to the basket of your air fryer, spread into an even layer, and drizzle any remaining coating on top of the beans.
- Set the air fryer to 375/380 degrees Fahrenheit (mine only goes by tens so I did 380) and cook for 10-14 minutes until cooked to your preference. Check the taste and add more salt if desired.
Notes
64 calories, 8 g carbs, 4 g sugar, 4 g fat, 1 g saturated fat, 2 g protein, 2 g fiber, 8 mg sodium (from myfitnesspal.com) Weight Watchers Points Plus:
2 per (2.2 ounce) serving (PP calculated using a Weight Watchers PointsPlus calculator and the nutrition information below) Slightly adapted from NYT Cooking
