My low and slow method for cooking Old Fashioned Southern Style Green Beans with its beautiful, smoky ham hock broth for flavoring will take you straight to the country, no matter where you live!
I shouldn’t write this post. I know I shouldn’t. Before I write even one word, I know I’m going to be blasted. The green bean patrol is going to be all over me.
I know that I’m supposed to like my fresh green beans just blanched. All bright green and crispy and crunchy. But I just don’t. I don’t. They taste like grass to me.
I like my green beans the way I grew up eating them — country style. That means tender green beans with ham, richly flavored with smoky pork hocks. So there.
Besides, old-fashioned southern cooking gets enough bad press without me adding to it. I shouldn’t write this post. Sigh.
But I’m doing it anyway! Besides, you may have never had MY southern style green beans with ham hocks. Who knows, I may convert you over to the country side. 😉
Recipe Snapshot
Cuisine: Southern, Vintage
Cooking Method: Stovetop
Total Time: 2 hours, 20 Minutes
Servings: 6
Primary Ingredient(s): Fresh green beans, smoked ham hocks
Skill Level: Easy
WHAT PEOPLE ARE SAYING …
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
“This what I’m talking about! Real green beans! Great!”
— Marsha Chambers
“I was hoping to find a recipe online where fresh green beans were cooked the same way my Mom used to cook them. This is it! Thank you!”
— Stacey
What You’ll Like About This Recipe
- There are only three ingredients!
- It requires very minimal prep time.
- It’s packed with classic smoky southern flavors.
Ingredient Notes
This post may contain affiliate links. Lana’s Cooking is reader-supported and earns a tiny commission at no extra cost to you when you shop from our links.
The ingredients list for this recipe is really short! Just three things:
- Fresh green (or string) beans — Look for ones that are firm, not wilted, and without any discoloration.
- Meaty ham hocks — If you prefer, you can substitute an equal amount of smoked turkey wings or legs for the ham hocks.
- Salt
That’s it! Could it be any easier?
The complete ingredient list with detailed measurements is included in the printable recipe card at the bottom of this post.
You’ll also find this recipe in my cookbook!
You can see this recipe on page 138 of my cookbook, My Southern Table! Get your signed copy today.
What Are Southern Style Green Beans?
Southern, or country style green beans are slow cooked, fresh string or green beans simmered in a smoky broth made from a ham hock or bacon.
It’s worth making them just for the aroma alone. The smell of that smoky pork filling your kitchen and tickling your senses as it spreads through the house will have your family clamoring to get to the dinner table.
After the sweet torture of waiting for them to finish cooking, your fresh green beans will have transformed into a melt-in-your-mouth side dish.
You now have the perfect companion to any southern recipe like my Real Simple Fried Chicken, Salisbury Steaks with Chunky Mashed Potatoes, Country Fried Steak, or Pot Roast with Rosemary and Garlic.
How to Make Old Fashioned Southern Style Green Beans
Make the Ham Hock Broth
Pro Tip
👉 PRO TIP: The most important thing about making this recipe is to have really good ham hocks. You want nice, meaty ones. Some of the ones I see in the store these days are all skin and bones. Leave those in the case and look for big, plump ones.
NOTE: What you’re making in this first step is a smoky, pork-flavored broth. That’s what you’ll use to cook your veggies in, and all that lovely flavor will go right into them. Delicious!
STEP 1. Put your lovely, smoky ham hocks in a large, deep pot with just enough water to cover. Bring the pot to a boil, then lower the heat to a simmer. Cover and cook for 30 minutes to 1 hour.
Prepare the Fresh Green Beans
STEP 2. While the ham hocks simmer, prepare the green beans. I remove the “tips and tails” and just cut them into pieces. You can leave them whole if you prefer. If you have string beans, be sure to remove the strings as well.
Want to save this?
I'll email this post to you, so you can come back to it later!
Cook the Beans in the Broth
STEP 3. Add the prepped beans to the pot. Bring the contents to a boil, then lower the heat to a simmer.
STEP 4. Cover and cook for 1 to 1 1/2 hours or until the green beans are tender but not mushy. Start checking them after about 50 minutes.
STEP 5. When they’re nice and tender and olive-colored (no, they will not stay bright green), remove the ham hock to a plate and allow it to cool for a few minutes until you can handle it easily.
STEP 6. Remove and shred the meat from the ham hocks, discarding the skin, fat, and bones. Add the shredded meat back to the pot and stir it into the beans.
This is the simplest method that I know for making old fashioned country style green beans. People do add all sorts of other things like onions, tomatoes, hot pepper, and parsley. I do that occasionally, too, but I also appreciate just the simply beautiful smoky flavor of this method. Hope you’ll give it a try!
Recipe Tips
- You can also substitute a smoked turkey wing or leg for the ham hock. It gives an equally nice, smoky flavor to the green beans and is suitable for anyone who doesn’t consume pork.
- Also, don’t be afraid of overcooking these green beans. It’s nearly impossible :-)
How to Serve
Serve your family a delicious, traditional dinner of these southern-style green beans with fried chicken, creamed field corn, hot water cornbread, sweet pepper relish, and traditional southern deviled eggs.
How to Store and Reheat
These green beans reheat really well since you don’t have to worry about keeping a crisp texture. You can store them in the refrigerator in an airtight container or resealable bag for 3 to 5 days. Reheat them on medium-low heat on the stovetop or even in a slow cooker (low heat for about an hour).
Questions About Southern Green Beans
Yes, you can use canned or frozen as a substitute. If you just can’t source fresh green beans, I’d suggest frozen over canned. The canned ones won’t pick up as much of that yummy smoky pork flavor because they’ve already been mostly cooked.
Yes! You can snap (or cut) them the day before you need them. Just make sure to keep them refrigerated until you’re ready to cook.
Yes, you can. If you just can’t find good ham hocks, you can substitute about a pound of bacon. Here’s how:
Brown all but two slices of bacon in the same pot you plan to use for cooking your green beans. When the bacon is crisp, remove it and set it aside. To the fat in the pan, add the green beans, salt, and the remaining two slices of uncooked bacon with enough water to cover. Bring the pot to a boil, then reduce the heat to a simmer. Cover and cook for 1 to 1 1/2 hours. To serve, drain the beans and serve topped with the crumbled cooked bacon.
More Old Fashioned Southern Recipes
If you enjoyed this recipe, you’ll also want to try these!
Old Fashioned Southern Caramel Layer Cake
Slow Cooked Southern Butter Beans
Southern Fried Okra
Southern Streak o’ Lean
Have a question or thought to share?
If you have a question about the recipe or if you’ve made it and want to share how it turned out, I would truly enjoy hearing from you. Just scroll down to leave a comment or add your star rating.
Thank you for stopping by. It means a lot to have you here.
Do More With ChatGPT
Recipe
Old Fashioned Southern Style Green Beans
Ingredients
- 1 pound smoked ham hocks (or equal weight of bacon, smoked turkey wings, or smoked turkey legs)
- 3 pounds fresh green beans washed, trimmed and cut in 2” pieces
- 2 teaspoons salt
Instructions
- Place the ham hocks (or other choice of seasoning meat) in a large pot with just enough water to cover. Bring to a boil, then lower the heat to a simmer. Cover and cook for 30 minutes to 1 hour.1 pound smoked ham hocks
- While the ham hock simmers, prepare the green beans by removing the “tips and tails.” Snap the beans into approximately 2" pieces or leave whole if desired.3 pounds fresh green beans
- Add the beans and salt to the pot. Bring the contents to a boil, then lower the heat to a simmer.2 teaspoons salt
- Cover and cook for 1 hour or until the beans are tender.
- Remove the ham hocks to a plate and allow to cool for a few minutes.
- Remove and shred the meat from the ham hock, discarding the skin and bones. Add the shredded meat back to the pot and stir it into the beans.
Notes
- An equal amount of bacon, smoked turkey wings, or smoked turkey legs may be substituted for the ham hocks.
- Green beans may be cleaned, trimmed, and cut up to 24 hours in advance. Store in the refrigerator until ready to cook.
- Store leftovers in an airtight container in the refrigerator. Reheat over medium-low heat on the stovetop or slow cooker.
Nutrition Information
Nutrition information is calculated by software based on the ingredients in each recipe. It is an estimate only and is provided for informational purposes. You should consult your healthcare provider or a registered dietitian if precise nutrition calculations are needed for health reasons.
I take the green beans and hocks out of the cooking liquid, better known as “pot liquor.” I reserve the pot liquor by itself. It’s so rich and delicious. I warm it up and take sips of it whenever I want something, but not a lot of something. It’s full of minerals.
It’s definitely a comfort food!
Never toss the cooking liquid, right? It’s also really good with cornbread crumbled into it.
So – a quicker way to “overcook” your green beans is to use your pressure cooker (or in my case, my “Insta-Pot”), 15 minutes in there, and allowing 15 minutes for the pressure to release, and you have a really yummy dish. This does not overheat my south-facing kitchen. And – I peel and slice some potatoes and put a quartered onion in there. The onion will jus about disintegrate in the pressure pot, but there is no reason to make it small. YUM! And plenty of juice for dipping your bread into. With the farm-fresh beans now available in our area, we are having this once a week.
Pressure cooking is definitely an option and a good choice for when you’re short on time. In this post I wanted to show how to do it the old fashioned way.
This what I’m talking about! Real green beans! Great!
This is how I loved them growing up in Missouri. Thank you, thank you.
Some people say they’re “cooked to death.” I think they’re fabulous!
Made this for a church potluck and it was a hit! I didn’t get much meat off of the ham hocks, but got enough flavor that I really don’t think the meat was that necessary.
Great! It’s hit or miss with the ham hocks. Sometimes you get nice meaty ones and sometimes not so much. The green beans are still good either way :-)
I got the ham hocks at a very popular local meat market that smokes their own meats. I told them I wanted meaty ones but I didn’t actually see them before I purchased (because of covid, you place your order, then have to wait outside till it’s already packaged and ready for pick up). I was a bit disappointed when I unwrapped them, but wow, they sure gave good flavor to the beans! I fixed 4 1/2# of beans and used 1 1/2# ham hocks and every bit was gone at the potluck!
Made them for Thanksgiving and am making them for Christmas as well. Never goes to waste – everyone loves them. Simple recipe but I do add a little garlic to the broth and onion to the beans when they are cooking. Thank you Lana!
Oops forgot – 5 stars!
Glad you like them, Chris!
The Crockpot full was totally consumed at the family Thanksgiving dinner in 2019. (2020 no family dinner). Was asked to repeat it for 2021. Really looking forward to eating them again.
I’m cooking them for our Thanksgiving dinner as well. Hope you enjoy them as much this time as you did the last!
I was hoping to find a recipe online where fresh green beans were cooked the same way my Mom used to cook them. This is it! Thank you! I just HATE steamed or barely cooked green beans. I don’t like that green taste! And that is generally all you can find online anymore.
I hope you enjoy your old-fashioned green beans, Stacey. Yes, most people want them just barely steamed nowadays. I like mine cooked well with some smoky seasoning. Tastes like an entirely different vegetable!
My sister used to make her green beans the same way. She was an excellent cook. In her day she could fix anything. She passed away in 2017 from cancer. She is my Angel watching over me. I’m going to make some for Thanksgiving this year first time since she went to Heaven.
Wishing you and your family a very blessed Thanksgiving.
Can you use frozen green beans? How much? Can’t wait to try this recipe!
You would use the same amount of frozen as fresh.
Thank you for this recipe! My beloved and deeply missed southern grandmother made beans this way and oh how I loved them with a piece of cornbread right from the oven. You made me smile, no green bean police here. I’ve never purchased a ham hock before so thanks for the tip. Looking forward to beans and cornbread for dinner. Thank you, thank you.
5 out of six recipes I Looked at today have the Phrase ” Discard skin and Bones…” What The..?
slice of bread Hock skin and Fat, and Horseradish… Thats a SAMMICH!!!!!!!!, unless Your Gall bladder will argue with You…. Then Call Me!
Thank you Lana for another winner. I need to add that I also grew up eating beans cooked this way and I am from the North as was my mother and grandmothers! Only difference is that my mother made in a pressure cooker but I can not recall how long she cooked them. But they looked just like your picture and we would eat a huge pot of them in one sitting. Yum! Oh, and my mother always made her wonderful cornbread to go with them.
These green beans bring back lots of childhood memories. I am a very old great-grandmother and love this method of fixing green beans. I don’t care for the crunchy ones either. You make me so hungry Lana. Would love a bowl of these for lunch without anything else.
My mom was a great southern cook. Her green beans were oh so yummy. When she cooked beans or any vegetable she always added a little sugar. That little bit of sugar just took the dish over the top! She was also one of those cooks who kept a jar of bacon grease to add to her pot. Now when I make green beans – fresh or canned I add sugar, bacon grease, and red pepper flakes, which the men in my family love. Thanks for sharing your recipe for beans. I find southern recipes some of the best. Keep them coming.