Slow cooker green beans are cooked long and slow in an aromatic bone broth until they are tender and infused with smokey bits of ham. With just 5 minutes of prep time, they can be started in the morning and held in your warm crock pot all day. Kids love these!
Do you look for ways to prepare food in your slow cooker while freeing up valuable oven space and helping with some of the last-minute stress from entertaining?
This family-favorite recipe is a great way to cook fresh green beans from your summer garden or the farmer's market.
Rather than green beans with a squeaky and al dente texture when you bite into them, these crockpot green beans are soft and savory.
Ham shank is a key ingredient for the crockpot green beans. The shank is a cut from the shin. It is economical, meaty, and provides savory collagen from the bone. This skin-on, bone-in cut from the pig will offer plenty of oozy collagen for added richness.
Perfect served with turkey or pair with Sheet Pan Bone-in Chicken Breast.
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Why You'll Love This Recipe
- This slow cooker green bean recipe can be prepped in 5 minutes with minimal cleanup before and after dinner is served.
- This a great weeknight side dish if you start it before you head to work.
- You can double this for a large crowd.
- This recipe can be made ahead of time and then held on warm or reheated without needing the valuable real estate on top of your stove.
- Crockpot green beans are a great side dish for your barbecue, lake weekends, and holidays including Thanksgiving and Christmas.
Common Issues:
I'm here to help you troubleshoot these common problems I've seen others experience when cooking fresh green beans in the crockpot.
- You didn't set aside enough time. Make sure you give yourself 5-6 hours to cook the green beans in a crockpot so that the ham shank becomes meltingly tender.
- The green beans were overcooked. To prevent the green beans from breaking down into tiny pieces, be careful not to cook them for too long.
- The finished dish is underseasoned. Taste test the green beans while they cook to see if they need a touch of acid, spice, and possibly salt.
- The green beans aren't fresh. To get the best results, only buy fresh green beans rather than frozen or canned.
Ingredients
Here are all the ingredients needed to make slow-cooker green beans.
- French-Style Green Beans: Fresh, french green beans or haricots verts. French-style green beans are smaller than traditional pole beans at the grocery store and take less time to prep. Most grocery store pole beans need to have each string from their seam removed because the strings are hard, chewy and inedible after cooking.
- Ham Shank: This is a skin-on, bone-in cut from the shin of the pig. Look for pork shanks that are dry-cured or dry-cured and then smoked and weigh between 1-2 pounds. They are in the refrigerated meat area of the store or ask your local butcher. Common brands sold in our stores are from the Ozark region: Fricks and Burgers Smokehouse.
- Better Than Bouillon Chicken Base: This is my favorite brand of bouillon which provides a good, clean chicken flavor versus the dry, cubed option wrapped in foil.
- Hot Sauce: To enhance the seasoning of the green beans and ham by introducing some acid and a tiny bit of spice.
- Fresh Ground Black Pepper: Grinding your peppercorns the day of cooking is best.
- Diamond Crystal Kosher Salt: I prefer the brand, Diamond Crystal, because their shape is lighter and flakey and dissolves faster which helps prevent over-seasoning. If using Morton or table salt, reduce the salt measurements by half.
See the recipe card below for ingredient measurements.
Substitutions
- Ham Shank - Substitute 2 smoked ham hocks for the smoked ham shank. It is less meaty, but it provides a smokey flavor.
- Pork - Substitute 1-2 smoked turkey wings or 1 smoked turkey drum stick for ham shank or hocks. It’s a good substitution, but they are much more expensive.
- Better Than Bouillon Chicken Base - 2 quarts of low-sodium chicken broth can replace the bouillon and water.
Variations
Here are some suggestions to add to this crockpot green bean recipe.
- Onions - Chop 1 yellow or white onion and add it to the pot before turning it on.
- Potatoes - Add a 24-ounce bag of whole baby Dutch red or yellow potatoes to cook along with the green beans.
This recipe has not been tested with other substitutions or variations. If you replace or add any ingredients, please let us know how it turned out in the comments below!
Equipment
- Slow cooker - 3 - 8 Quart Size (I use a 5.5-quart Crock-Pot with removable stoneware, digital timer, and warm setting feature.)
- Regular-size slow cooker liner (optional for easier cleanup)
How To Cook Fresh Green Beans in the Crockpot
Before you start: If you double this recipe, 4 pounds of French-style green beans with 1 ham shank is the most that my 5.5-quart slow cooker will hold.
Step 1: Trim off the woody tip of the french green beans. You can snap it off with your hands or group them together to cut the tips with your knife to save time.
Step 2: Place the trimmed green beans and ham shank into the slow cooker.
Step 3: Add the water, chicken-flavored Better Than Bouillon, hot sauce, black pepper, and kosher salt to the slow cooker.
Step 4: Cover the slow cooker and cook on low for 5 hours.
Step 5: After 5 hours, poke the shank with a fork. If it is easy to remove the fork, the pork shank is ready to shred. If it’s still tough, cook longer while rechecking the tenderness at 30-minute intervals.
Step 6: Remove the ham shank to a plate or cutting board
Step 7: Carefully, use 2 forks to lightly shred the ham meat into small pieces and remove the bones, skin, and cartilage.
Step 8: Return the shredded ham meat to the crock pot and stir. Taste a green bean to see if it needs more salt or hot sauce to your liking.
Storage Instructions
Countertop
You can cook and hold them on the warm setting of your crockpot until ready to serve on the same day.
Refrigerator
You can make this slow cooker green bean recipe up to 4 days ahead of time. Allow them to cool down uncovered to room temperature before transferring the lidded stoneware container to the refrigerator.
Freezing
Allow the finished dish to cool to room temperature. Transfer 2-4 serving-sized portions to a freezer bag along with some broth. Label and date the freezer bags. Lay the freezer bags flat on a cookie sheet in the freezer until frozen so they are easier to store and stack in your freezer for up to 4 months.
Reheating Instructions
Refrigerator:
90 minutes before serving, place your stoneware and lid from the refrigerator to your slow cooker. Reheat on the warm setting.
You can reheat the green beans on your stovetop in a stock pot although it does create an extra pot to clean.
If you need to microwave them before serving, transfer them to a microwavable container before reheating.
Freezer:
To thaw, either pull it out to the fridge the day before serving or defrost it in your microwave. Once defrosted, reheat it in a microwavable container with your microwave to a minimum internal temperature of 165°F while pausing to stir.
FAQ
Yes! You can slow-cook green beans up to 4 days in advance. Check out the storage information above.
I do not recommend frozen green beans. I have found that frozen green beans dissolve and break down quicker than fresh green beans. If frozen green beans are your only option, use your best judgment on the cook time to prevent mushy beans.
Canned green beans are not recommended because they are already cooked and stored in water. They will turn to mush in the slow cooker.
Yes, you can use the larger green beans, but it will take more prep time. Make sure you hand snap the tips and remove the string on each bean or you will notice your guests spitting the chewy string out to the side of their plate.
Yes, but I stopped using bacon because I didn’t care for the chewy and fatty texture bits in the broth. Bone-in ham provides the best flavor with more pieces of braised pork and fewer fatty bites.
Yes, I have cooked this recipe on the high setting of the crock pot for 3 hours to get the smoked pork shank fork tender. I prefer the low temperature and longer cooking time to protect the green beans from overcooking and breaking apart.
No. You can use a smoked turkey wing or omit the protein entirely.
You can make this recipe with a 4-quart size crockpot and up to an 8-quart size. If working with a 3-quart crockpot, the volume of water would likely need to be reduced to 1.5 quarts.
Did you try any of these tips? Leave a comment below to let us know how it turned out! Thanks for visiting!
These are more of my favorite vegetables to serve:
📖 Recipe
Slow Cooker Green Beans
Equipment
- 1 slow cooker (4-8 quart capacity)
- 1 slow cooker liner (3-8 quart size and optional)
Ingredients
- 2 pounds Fresh, French-Style Green Beans
- 1 pound Ham Shank
- 2 quarts Water
- 3 tablespoons Better Than Bouillon Chicken Base
- 1 teaspoon Hot Sauce
- ⅛ teaspoon Freshly Ground Black Pepper
- ½ teaspoon Kosher Salt, Diamond Crystal Brand
Instructions
- Trim off the woody tip of the french green beans. You can snap it off with your hands or group them together to cut the tips with your knife to save time.
- Place the trimmed green beans into the slow cooker.
- Place the ham shank on top of the green beans.
- Add the water, chicken-flavored Better Than Bouillon, hot sauce, black pepper, and kosher salt to the slow cooker.
- Cover the slow cooker and cook on low for 5 hours.
- After 5 hours, poke the shank with a fork. If it is easy to remove the fork, the pork shank is ready to shred. If it’s still tough, cook longer while rechecking the tenderness at 30 minute intervals.
- Remove the ham shank from the slow cooker and place on a plate or cutting board.
- Use 2 forks to lightly shred the ham meat into small pieces and remove the bones, skin, and cartilage. Be careful because it is hot.
- Return the shredded ham to the crock pot and stir to combine.
- Taste a green bean to see if it needs more salt or hot sauce to your liking. Keep the crockpot on warm with the green beans resting in the broth until ready to serve.
- Serve with a slotted spoon or tongs to strain the broth.
Notes
Nutrition
The provided nutritional information is an estimate per serving. Accuracy is not guaranteed.
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