I remember first choosing green beans instead of a loaded baked potato at Outback Steakhouse. “Are you sure?” my husband asked with raised eyebrows. But when those perfectly steamed beans arrived—glistening with that sweet-savory butter sauce—his fork kept mysteriously finding its way to my plate!
These aren’t your grandmother’s mushy, bland green beans. Outback has perfected the art of cooking green beans that remain bright, crisp-tender, and bursting with flavor, thanks to a simple but magnificent butter sauce that transforms this humble vegetable into something genuinely crave-able. With this easy dinner recipe idea, you can turn green beans into tasty treats.
Table of Contents
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
- Perfect Texture: Learn the secret to achieving that ideal crisp-tender bite every time
- Simple Ingredients: Uses pantry staples you likely already have on hand
- Quick Preparation: Ready in just 15 minutes from start to finish
- Versatile Side: Pairs beautifully with almost any main dish
- Crowd-Pleaser: Even vegetable skeptics will come back for seconds!
Ingredients for Fresh Steamed Green Beans
- Fresh cracked pepper – Provides a subtle heat and complexity that pre-ground pepper lacks
- Fresh green beans – The star of the dish, preferably thin haricot vert for the most tender result and quickest cooking
- Butter – Creates the silky base for the sauce and adds rich flavor
- Brown sugar – Provides a subtle sweetness that balances the savory elements
- Maggi seasoning – Delivers a concentrated umami flavor that elevates the entire dish
- Garlic powder – Adds aromatic depth without the harshness of fresh garlic
- Salt – Enhances all the flavors and helps bring out the natural sweetness of the beans
How to Make Seasoned Steamed Green Beans
Want to know how to make steamed green beans taste good? Use the right seasoning and butter sauce for the best restaurant-style green beans!
- Steam the green beans in either a steamer or your microwave until they are just done and still firm.
- Combine the butter, brown sugar, Maggi seasoning, garlic powder, salt, and pepper in a small saucepan over medium-low heat.
- Stir until the brown sugar is completely dissolved.
- When the green beans are done, please place them in a bowl.
- Add half of the butter mixture and stir the green beans until they are coated with the sauce.
What can you serve with green beans?
Let’s break this down into two areas. I will share some main dishes, and some complimentary side dishes.
Mains dishes perfect for green beans
- Grilled Steak
- Pork chops
- Roasted chicken
Side dishes that are perfect for Green Beans include:
How do you store leftover green beans?
Be sure to place these in an airtight container and store them in the refrigerator for up to three days.
What is the best way to reheat green beans?
Want to enjoy your green beans the second time around? Here are our best tips for reheating your green beans for maximum enjoyment.
- Microwave:
- Place the green beans in a microwave-safe dish.
- Sprinkle a little water over them to create steam during reheating. This helps to prevent them from drying out.
- Cover the dish with a microwave-safe lid or plastic wrap, but leave a small vent for steam to escape.
- Microwave on high for 1-2 minutes. Stir the green beans halfway through the reheating time to ensure even heating.
- Check the temperature and continue heating in 30-second increments if necessary.
- Stovetop:
- Place the green beans in a skillet or saucepan.
- Add a small amount of water, broth, or even a pat of butter to help rehydrate the beans and add some flavor.
- Cover and heat over medium heat, stirring occasionally until the green beans are heated. This typically takes around 5-7 minutes.
Love Outback Steakhouse? Try these copycat recipes!
- Blooming Onion
- Steakhouse Potatoes
- Alice Spring Chicken
- Aussie Cheese Fries
- Restaurant Style Baked Sweet Potato
More Side Dish Recipes
- Roasted Red Potatoes
- Cooked Carrots
- Cheesy Asparagus Casserole
- Air Fryer Brussel Sprouts
- Baked Cream Corn
- Cooked Cabbage
- Keto Broccoli and Cheese
- Cheesy Cauliflower
Be sure to check out more of my easy side dish recipes and popular casual dining restaurant copycat recipes.
Outback Steakhouse Steamed Green Beans
Ingredients
- 2 pounds fresh green beans (preferably very thin), trimmed
- 4 ounces salted butter
- 2 tablespoons brown sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon Maggi seasoning (see Note)
- 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon freshly cracked pepper
Instructions
- Steam the green beans in either a steamer or your microwave until they are just done; you want them still firm. In my microwave, it takes about 2 minutes to steam the green beans.
- While the green beans are steaming, begin making your seasoned butter sauce.
- In a small saucepan over medium-low heat, combine the butter, brown sugar, Maggi seasoning, garlic powder, salt, and pepper. Stir until the brown sugar is completely dissolved.
- When the green beans are done, place them in a bowl. Add about half of the butter sauce, in the bowl, and stir the green beans until they are coated.
I use far less butter and two tablespoons of Rice wine Vinegar with no sugars.
What do you do with the other half of the butter sauce? Toss it out? Are these made just before eating them or perhaps 1/2 hrs before and left in the bowl and served room temp instead of hot ? Thank you for your answers!
OMG that looks delicious!
What a simple way to make green beans! Delicious!
What do you do with the other half of the butter sauce? Toss it out? Are these made just before eating them or perhaps 1/2 hrs before and left in the bowl and served room temp instead of hot ? Thank you for your answers!
Please answer the questions so I know they will come out perfect! Thank you ,
Bob, Instead of throwing the other half out, I would just steam 2 lbs. Of green beans and use all of the butter sauce.
Maggi is not pronounced as Majai, it’s pronounced like the name Maggie.
Thank you for correcting me.
These look great!
I grew up eating green beans from a can but fell in love with the steamed variety and will never look at canned green beans the same again! I would just replace the butter with some olive oil to make this a vegan smorgasbord of green beans!
Each to his own, everyone has different taste, no need for bashing anyone else’s work. Butter can be place back in the refrigerator and use for another time, but I dont think that’s truly your dilemma. Like I tell my two year old, try it, if you dont like it, that’s ok too, atleast you tried. Life learning lesson
Some people have bad days. I am sorry this person had a bad experience.
Made this for my family the other night and they loved it! I substituted fresh minced garlic for the powder, soy sauce for the maggi, and used frozen beans. A light sprinkling of sea salt made these epic! We were still snacking on them the next morning instead of cooking breakfast.
Well that sounds like those green beans were pretty epic to eat them over breakfast.
In the video you say garlic salt but the recipe says garlic powder. Could you say which one is correct?
I would always use garlic over garlic salt. I was renting the kitchen to create that video, I had to shoot, and I forgot the garlic. I had garlic powder, and didn’t note that in the recipe.
Tasting the butter mixture by itself kind of reminds me of caramel sauce. Is it supposed to taste like that?
Amazing! Kudos these are the best green beans Ive ever made.. Far better than outback cause they’re fresh!
How much soy sauce do you recommend if you don’t have Maggi seasoning?
Maybe an additional teaspoon or so. You don’t want it to be too salty.
I would do this to taste, if you don’t have the Maggi seasoning, I wouldn’t say add an equivalent of the Maggi seasoning, or you are going to end up with a bunch of mini salt licks.
I made, these tonight, and they were excellent! The only thing I did differently was to use frozen Haricot Vert– only because I didn’t have fresh green beans. I drained them well, and they melted the butter and combined the brown sugar in my wok. That way, the green beans turned out nice and hot. My son, who HATES green beans (or so he says) ate the majority of them. He loved them. Great recipe, and thanks for sharing. PS: I grew with Maggi in Germany, where my mother is from. We actually pronounce it MoGHEE (almost like Peggy with an “M”). It’s like ketchup in a German kitchen. Great seasoning!
Thanks for letting me know how these turn out. I definitely need to check out the frozen section of my grocery store. I need to see if they have these available in my store, they don’t always have Haricot Vert. Maggi is wonderful isn’t it? I think it is a little bit of magic in a bottle.
this was the easiest and one of the best recipes i have ever made. so delicious and works very well with carrots too. thank you so much for sharing this!
Awesome! I hope you enjoyed the green beans. I love that Maggi Seasoning, it adds a little something extra.
What do you do with the other 1/2 of the sauce?!
Use it another time.
I steamed beans until they could bend without breaking because I don’t like them too hard. I used Kitchen bouquet because I thought that was like Maggi (oops). My son and I really liked them (even though they got cold fast). Definitely YUMMY. Thanks for posting
I made these and they were the best green beans EVER! I added roasted garlic to the mix and used soy sauce. Not a single bean was left!
looks like you could use a whisk also 😉
we have a garden and always snap off both ends. that’s how my mom taught me bc i hate those stems on the end
I tried these tonight & they are VERY good. The only thing is I used frozen green beans (that’s what I had on hand), next time will definitely use fresh green beans. Yummy!