Green Beans with Mustard Butter Sauce

Name: Green Beans with Mustard Butter Sauce
Prep time: 5 min
Cook time: 5 min
Total time: 10 min
Ingredients: 1 pound fresh green beans (trimmed); 1 tablespoon coarse grain mustard; 1/2 tablespoon Dijon mustard; 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt; 1/8 teaspoon black pepper; juice 1/2 lemon; 2 tablespoons unsalted butter (melted)

By: Kathryn Doherty | Last Updated: Mar 6, 2025 | Published: Nov 23, 2016
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Green beans with mustard butter sauce is a quick and easy side dish with rich, tangy flavor and only 5 ingredients!

Green beans with mustard butter sauce served on a white platter.

T-1 day until Thanksgiving - are you ready?!

My mom and I are doing our big grocery run together this morning, then we'll prep some things ahead today and get our game plan ready for tomorrow. Feeling good.

But on to today's recipe!

Green beans with mustard butter sauce is one of those easy go-to side dishes when you need something tasty but don’t want to fuss over another part of your dinner.

Know what I mean? You’ve looked up a recipe for your chicken, you’ve shopped for the ingredients, gotten everything prepped and now you need some sides.

You look in the fridge and think, what am I gonna do with this vegetable?

Happens to me ALL. THE. TIME.

A spoon drizzling some mustard butter sauce over a small serving plate of steamed green beans.

Which is why we eat a lot of microwave baked potatoes. Nothing to do but scrub, poke with a fork and cook in the microwave.

We also eat a lot of simple spinach salads and steamed broccoli. Fuss-free.

And so are these green beans with mustard butter sauce.

You just cook the green beans quickly in boiling water, whisk together your sauce, combine and serve. You just need 10 minutes and an easy, healthy, yummy side dish is ready for dinner any night of the week.

Plus, it’s only 5 ingredients (not counting salt and pepper) so I can always whip this up without a second thought.

Trimmed and steamed green beans in a white bowl.

Ingredients:

Fresh green beans - The star of the show
Coarse grain mustard - The texture here is great, but you can substitute extra Dijon mustard if needed
Dijon mustard - Bring on that tangy goodness
Lemon - This brightens the whole dish
Butter - This lends some richness to the sauce

Now, I've got a few quick notes and tips coming up on how to make green beans with mustard butter sauce. Just trying to be helpful.

If you want to jump on down to the recipe, simply scroll right on through the rest of the text. The recipe card is near the bottom of the page, above the comments section.

Steamed green beans with mustard butter sauce drizzled over top in a white bowl.

Recipe Notes:

Green beans texture: I like cooking the green beans for this dish until they are bright green and tender, but not mushy. If you want yours completely soft, just add a few more minutes of cooking time. (And check out my sautéed green beans and tomatoes, which are slow cooked until totally soft).
Tangy vs sweet: I like that these green beans are a bit tangy, but you can certainly add a teaspoon or two of honey if you want to sweeten this up a little.
Butter vs olive oil: You can substitute olive oil for the butter if you’re vegan or if you want the sauce to be more of a vinaigrette.
Mustard: I like the texture and flavor of the whole grain mustard, in addition to the creamy Dijon, but if you don’t have any, you can use all Dijon mustard here.

These green beans are so simple but that also have that flair of feeling sophisticated.

They'd certainly be a welcome side dish at a holiday table or for hosting friends or family for dinner.

A white dinner plate with green beans, sweet potato and pork chop and a glass of red wine in the background.

(Seen here with my cranberry balsamic pork chops.)

My family and my parents always have some form of green beans as one of our veggies at Thanksgiving. This year my mom requested my green beans gremolata. Though my dad always wants our classic green bean casserole. Hmmm.

I’ll have to make them this dish soon cause I bet it'll be a new favorite. It's certainly in the regular rotation in my house.

Enjoy! And to my American friends, I hope you have a very happy Thanksgiving!

XO,

Kathryn

A white fluted edged platter piled with green beans topped with a mustard butter sauce.

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