Mediterranean Green Beans (Zeytinyagli Taze Fasulye in Turkish) is a popular vegetarian/vegan dish that is cooked quite often in most Turkish homes during the summer. This simple yet delicious dish can be made beforehand and usually served warm or at room temperature. All you need is green beans, ripen summer tomatoes, onions, and good-quality olive oil to cook this scrumptious summer dish.
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Turkish Green Beans are usually considered a side dish or meze. You can also serve it as a main dish along with Turkish Rice (Sehriyeli Pilav), Lentil and Bulgur Pilaf (Mercimekli Bulgur Pilavi) or Bulgur Pilavi (Turkish Bulgur Rice Pilaf).
Why This Recipe Works?
- You can make these vegetarian Turkish-style braised runner beans a couple of days ahead.
- The same as Zeytinyagli Pirasa Yemegi (Turkish Braised Leeks), Zeytinyagli Taze Fasulye keeps well in the fridge for up to 7 days.
- You need a few basic fridge ingredients to make this healthy and delicious fasulye dish.
- It is very easy to make this Mediterranean Green Beans recipe with step-by-step pictures and instructions.
How to Prepare Green Beans for Zeytinyagli Faulye?
Green beans are nice, crunchy, low-calorie food and they provide many key nutrients and they are full of vitamins. There are about over 130 different varieties around the world and you can use any type you like.
It is very easy to prepare and trim the beans and only takes a few minutes if using fine beans. Simply snap off the stem ends and cut them in halves.
If you use a wider variety such as Romano beans or Pantheon beans, I would suggest you split them in half lengthways after snapping the stems off and then cut them into 2-3 pieces.
Ingredients and Substitutes
- Green beans - This dish is typically cooked with runner beans. However, there are about over 130 different varieties around the world and you can use any type you prefer.
- Tomatoes - Red & juicy summer tomatoes are always the best option but you can use any type of tomatoes you have in hand. If you want to use tinned tomatoes, make sure you add some sugar to balance the acidity.
- Olive oil - It is an important ingredient to achieve the best taste in olive oil-based dishes.
- Garlic - It gives a great flavor to this simple bean dish. Finely chop or grate using a Microplane zester before adding it to the dish.
- Tomato paste - It is the staple of Turkish cooking. It adds an umami flavor to the dishes as well as a bright red color. Skip it if you are using juicy red summer tomatoes. You can find tomato paste in Turkish or Middle Eastern shops. You can also buy it online from Amazon.
Step-by-Step Instructions
Making this delicious dish is very simple with a few easy steps that you need to follow:
Prepare the beans by snapping off the stem ends and cutting them in halves. Wash them, and let them drain while preparing the flavor base.
Place a Dutch oven or heavy-based pan on low heat, add olive oil and gently cook the onions with garlic until translucent. This should take about 10 minutes.
Add the tomato paste if using and cook for a minute before adding the tomatoes. If you have juicy red tomatoes, don't add any tomato paste.
Turn the heat up to medium then add the beans, salt, sugar, freshly ground black pepper, and vegetable stock or water (if using). You won't need to add water if you are using juicy ripen tomatoes.
Bring the pan to a boil, lower the heat and gently simmer for an hour or until the beans are soft. Leave it to cool down for 15-20 minutes before serving.
Scroll down to the recipe card for the full, printable recipe!
Top Tips From The Chef
- Use fresh, young runner beans for this delicious Taze Fasulye dish. Also using red and juicy summer tomatoes will increase the flavor.
- The cooking time might vary depending on the type and freshness of the beans you use in your Taze Fasulye recipe.
- If you can’t find runner beans, the dish also works really well with any other green beans as long as they are fresh.
How to Serve Mediterranean Green Beans?
The most common way to serve Zeytinyagli Taze Fasulye is to serve it at room or warm.
This delicious vegan dish can be served as a main meal with some Turkish Rice (Sehriyeli Pilav), and a bowl of salad such as Taboule (Lebanese Tabouli Salad), Indian Chickpea Salad (Chana Salad), or Tomato and Walnut Salad (Gavurdagi Salatasi).
You can serve it as a side dish along with Instant Pot Flank Steak, Mince Beef Pie, Baked Cod with Panko, Et Sote, Perde Pilavi, or Braised Beef Cheeks.
It is also considered a meze and can be served along with Cerkez Tavugu (Circassian Chicken), Arnavut Cigeri - Turkish Liver, Pacanga Boregi, and Icli Kofte (Turkish Kibbeh) as a part of a meze spread.
Recipe FAQs
Yes, you can make this delicious and healthy green bean dish up to 3 days in advance. To serve, simply bring it to room temperature and enjoy it!
You can store Zeytinyagli Taze Fasulye in the fridge, in a sealed container for up to 7 days. You can also freeze it for longer shelf life, and keep it for up to 3 months.
One portion of this healthy Mediterranean-style green bean dish has only 148 kcal per portion.
Related Recipes
For more delicious Turkish vegetarian recipes why not try:
Did you make this recipe? Please let me know how it turned out! Leave a comment below and tag @cookingorgeous on Instagram and hashtag it #cookingorgeous.
I hope you enjoy the process of making these Mediterranean Style Green Beans - Zeytinyagli Taze Fasulye as much as you enjoy eating them! 🙂
Bon appétit! / Afiyet olsun!
Mediterranean Green Beans (Taze Fasulye)
Equipment
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 large onion (finely chopped)
- 2 cloves garlic (finely chopped)
- 1 tablespoon tomato paste (optional, skip if you have red juicy summer tomatoes)
- 500 g tomatoes (grated or blitzed using a food processor)
- 500 g green beans (snap off the stem ends and cut in halves)
- ½ tablespoon salt
- 1 teaspoon sugar
- ½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- ¼ cup vegetable stock or water (optional, skip if you have juicy ripen tomatoes)
Instructions
- Snap off the stem ends of the beans and cut them in halves if using fine French beans.
- If you use a wider variety such as Romano beans or Pantheon beans, split them in half lengthways after snapping the stems off then cut them into 2-3 pieces.
- Place a Dutch oven or heavy-based pan on low heat, add olive oil and gently cook the onions along with the garlic until soft and translucent.
- Add the tomato paste (optional) and cook for a minute before adding the tomatoes.
- Turn the heat up to medium then add the beans, salt, sugar, freshly ground black pepper, and water (if using).
- Bring the pan to a boil, lower the heat and gently simmer for an hour or until the beans are soft.
- Leave it to cool down for at least 15-20 minutes before serving.
Notes
- Use fresh, young runner beans for this delicious Taze Fasulye dish. Also using red and juicy summer tomatoes will increase the flavor.
- The cooking time might vary depending on the type and freshness of the beans you use in your Taze Fasulye recipe.
- If you can’t find runner beans, the dish also works really well with any other green beans as long as they are fresh.
- You can store Zeytinyagli Taze Fasulye in the fridge, in a sealed container for up to 5 days. You can also freeze it for longer shelf life, and keep it for up to 3 months.
- One portion of this healthy Mediterranean-style green bean dish has only 148 kcal per portion.
- You can make this delicious and healthy green bean dish up to 3 days in advance. To serve, simply bring it to room temperature and enjoy it!
Nutrition
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Ayla
DELICIOUS! I served it over couscous and with a pita. Yum! Thanks so much!
Ali
Amazing recipe for fresh green beans! It was super easy and yummy.
Ayla Clulee
That’s amazing! So glad you made it and enjoyed it!
Justin
Delicious and easy recipe. There’s so much flavour. Beans never tasted so good!
Tom
This recipe was easy and came out beautiful. Didn't change a thing. Delicious and affordable.
Chloe
This was insanely good. We all went for seconds.
Laila
I’m making this for the second time. Damn was that good!! May repeat that today!!
Valerie
The dish was amazingly good. My husband absolutely loved it. And this is just as good if not better the next day. I can't wait to make this with fresh green beans from the garden!
Ayla Clulee
That’s wonderful Valerie! So happy to hear. Enjoy!