Turkish Green Beans (Zeytinyağlı Fasulye)

Cook Eat WorldEuropeanTurkish Green Beans (Zeytinyağlı Fasulye)
By Published On: June 17th, 2021

My Recipe for Turkish-style green beans features soft beans in a tangy, lightly spicy sauce. A perfect marriage of flavour and colour – it’s one of the tastiest and healthiest mezze options I cook regularly – learn how…

Green Beans (French Beans) cooked in a tangy red tomato sauce with Turkish Aleppo Pepper

In Turkey, there are a dizzying amount of vegetable dishes on offer. In cities like Istanbul, there are countless cafeteria style restaurants with endless options of vegetables, meats and sweets, ready for you to pick and mix your favourite flavours. One such dish is a simple vegetable casserole of beans and tomatoes, zeytinyağlı fasulye. Often baked, this dish is quite a thin tomato sauce that covers very soft green beans - this is a delicious way to eat beans incidentally! My recipe is a fresher, tangy take with a little Turkish spice thrown in for good measure. It's the perfect dish to serve alongside other Turkish dishes or as a small plate mezze. Learn how easy this tasty, healthy vegan treat is to put together

Stuff you'll need

It's a very simple dish to put together, you only need a few ingredients. Here's where the key flavours come from.

Green Beans (French Beans) cooked in a tangy red tomato sauce with Turkish Aleppo Pepper

A step by step guide

There's not much to this dish - but here's a simple breakdown of how it's put together.

  1. Cook the beans - I like to pre-cook the beans in my version to keep them from overcooking in the sauce.
  2. Fry some onion and garlic to make the base for the tomato sauce
  3. Add some spices including cumin, paprika and Aleppo pepper
  4. Add the tomato to create the sauce, then thin it down a little with water (or stock)
  5. Simmer the sauce for a while then remove from the heat and return the beans to the pan.
  6. Leave to cool. Typically this dish is served at room temperature, which means you can prepare it in advance too.
Green Beans (French Beans) cooked in a tangy red tomato sauce with Turkish Aleppo Pepper

More delicious Turkish recipes!

How to make Turkish Green Beans (Zeytinyağlı Fasulye)

Green Beans (French Beans) cooked in a tangy red tomato sauce with Turkish Aleppo Pepper

Turkish Green Beans

Rate this recipe

5 from 3 votes
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Recipe by Lee
Course Appetizer, Salad, Side Dish
Cuisine Turkish
Cook Time20 minutes
Total Time20 minutes
Servings (adjustable) 4 as a side dish
Calories (per serving) | 124

Ingredients

Instructions

  • In a large deep sauté pan, heat about 1 litre of water until boiling. Add the beans and cook for 4-5 minutes until tender. Drain and plunge into cold water for 30 seconds. Drain again and set aside.
  • Return the sauté pan to a moderate heat and add the oil. When just hot, add the onion and fry for 3-4 minutes until soft and golden. Add the garlic and fry for 1 minute before adding the cumin, paprika, Aleppo pepper, salt and pepper. Let this fry for 10-20 seconds before pouring in the tomato and about 1 cup of water.
  • Simmer the sauce gently for 10 minutes, adding a little water if it dries up too much (it should be thick in consistency, so don't add too much water). After cooking, remove from the heat and return the beans to the pan. Add the vinegar and stir well to coat all the beans. Cover the pan and leave to cool completely (to room temperature).
  • Serve at room temperature alongside other Turkish or Mediterranean delights as a side or mezze dish.

Nutrition

Calories: 124kcal (6%) | Carbohydrates: 14g (5%) | Protein: 3g (6%) | Fat: 8g (12%) | Saturated Fat: 1g (6%) | Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 5g | Sodium: 390mg (17%) | Potassium: 431mg (12%) | Fiber: 5g (21%) | Sugar: 6g (7%) | Vitamin A: 1258IU (25%) | Vitamin C: 23mg (28%) | Calcium: 79mg (8%) | Iron: 2mg (11%)
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Green Beans (French Beans) cooked in a tangy red tomato sauce with Turkish Aleppo Pepper

How did your Turkish Green Beans turn out?

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