• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
  • Home
  • Start Here
  • Contact
  • Shop
  • Nav Social Menu

    • Facebook
    • Instagram
    • Pinterest
    • Twitter
Serving Up Southern

Serving Up Southern

  • Simple Home
    • Crafts & DIY’s
    • Decor
    • Homemaking
    • Laundry
    • Gardening
  • Recipe Box
  • Simple Life
    • At Home – Simple Southern Sundays
    • Everyday Life
    • Faith
    • Holidays/Seasonal
      • Valentine’s Day
      • Easter
      • 4th of July
      • Fall Recipes
      • Thanksgiving
      • Christmas
Home | Beans | Southern Style Green Beans + New Potatoes

Southern Style Green Beans + New Potatoes

By Kim | 3 Comments | this post may contain affiliate links. Please read my Disclosure here.

18shares
  • Share
  • Email

Southern style green beans are best when cooked slowly over low heat. Let me show you how it’s done!

A white bowl with a helping of southern green beans and potatoes sitting on a marble surface with a wood background.

What are southern style green beans?

Southern style green beans are made using a bean that has three names. Regardless of what you prefer to call them green beans, snap beans, or string beans, they are all one-in-the-same. Growing up, we always called them string beans or snap beans.

The beans are categorized into two different groups, bush or pole beans. Bush beans can grow on their own without support, and pole beans need additional support.

The beans should be picked when they are 4 -5 inches long and before they begin to bulge from developing seeds. Also, when broken, they should snap, indicating the freshness of the beans.

  • A piece of salt pork on a marble top
  • New potatoes on a marble surface

How to make southern style green beans and potatoes?

  • Fresh green beans
  • Fatback (salt pork), or streak o’lean – NOT bacon
  • New (red) potatoes

You will need:

In my southern neck of the woods, green beans were always seasoned with fatback also known as salt pork, or streak-o-lean, and we always had some new potatoes thrown in the pot and most of the time with cornmeal dumplings. I’ll be talking more about those dumplings later.

I see “southern style green beans” prepared with bacon, and ham all the time. I’ve even had them served that, and while they’re okay, it’s not my preferred way of eating them. We never had bacon in our green beans when prepared the traditional old-fashioned way.

A mess of snapped green beans on a marble surface with a wood background.

How to make southern style green beans and potatoes?

You’ll start by snapping the ends of the beans. Here’s a little secret- you only need to snap the end of the bean that is attached to the plant. The other end is very tender and doesn’t need to be snapped off.

I’ve seen people trim the ends off with a knife. While that might be a smidgeon faster and the more modern-day way, I still prefer the old-fashioned way of ridding the ends. There’s nothing like sitting under a big shade tree or out on a shaded porch while snapping a big ole mess of beans.

Many will snap the beans in half; I don’t. I love leaving the beans long just the way I grew up eating them. If you’d rather have yours short, by all means, snap those suckers right across the middle.

Freshly snapped green beans and a slab of fatback in a stainless steel pot with water.

After you snap the beans, take the fatback and score across it, cutting through the fat but not through the skin. Add your beans to a big pot and cover with enough water to cover beans by two inches.

Add the fatback and bring the beans to a boil. When the beans start boiling, turn them down to a slow simmer and let them cook for about an hour.

A piece of fatback on a marble top

The image above shows a rather thin slab of fatback. It is often thicker, but this is what our local meat market carries. Even though it’s thinner, it’s sufficient for the job. You can get sliced “salt pork” from Walmart, but I prefer the slab because it’s easier to remove from the beans once they are fully cooked. You can see in the image above how I scored the fat.

What is fatback?

Much like it sounds fatback is the fat from the back of a pig that is usually dry-cured in salt. It is a “hard fat” that can be chopped or ground. It is commonly added to sausage for additional flavor.

It is said that since the colonial times – fatback has been a staple ingredient in Virginia and North Carolina cooking. Over the years, I’ve heard it referred to as salt pork, fat pork, and salt meat.

Fatback is often served as the main entrée for simple southern meals and is well known as a seasoning for green beans, new potatoes, black-eyed peas, collards, and many other southern dishes.

A little history on how fatback was stored back in the day

My great-grandma lived on her farm in North Carolina. On the farm, fatback was stored in a pickle barrel that was kept in the smokehouse. This pickle barrel – not to be confused with cucumber pickles – was a barrel filled with salt, meat and meat fats. The salt-cured and preserved the meat until it was ready to be used.

New potatoes on a marble surface

While the beans are cooking, wash the potatoes and peel a strip of skin from around the center of each one.

Close up picture of southern style green beans and new potatoes in a white bowl.

It is often said that we southerners cook our beans to a slow death. And, we kind of do. Especially, compared to today’s more fashionable beans that are cooked to a minimal to maintain a nice crunch and the bright green color.

Close of picture of southern style green beans and new potatoes in a white bowl.

It’s true – the color of southern style green beans is not as appealing as those barely cooked, but the taste is out of this world.

And while many would consider those other green beans to be undercooked, others prefer them. I get that because I like them prepared that way too. But if you are looking for a traditional southern green bean recipe without all the extras, this is it!

No bacon. No ham. No onion. I’m talking about a traditional southern recipe that goes back many, many years and has stood the test of time. It just doesn’t get much better!

Picture of southern style green beans with potatoes in a white bowl with a white bar towel on a marble surface.

The only thing that can make this better would be those cornmeal dumplings I mentioned above.

Are you looking for other side dish recipes to try? Check out this one and this one. And this is one of my favorites to eat with these delicious southern style green beans.

What about you? How do you like your green beans? I would love for you to tell me in the comments!

Picture of a white bowl filled with southern style green beans and new potatoes on a marble surface.

Southern Style Green Beans + New Potatoes

These southern style green beans are cooked slowly over low heat and seasoned with a traditional ingredient resulting in deliciously flavored beans.
Print Pin Rate
Servings: 6 people

Ingredients

  • 2 pounds fresh green beans
  • 1 8-10 ounce slad of fatback (salt pork) or streak-o-lean seasoning meat
  • 1 tsp salt
  • Black pepper to taste
  • 1 dozen tiny new potatoes

Instructions

  • Snap of the ends of beans. Snap into 1 to 2 inch pieces (if desired)
  • Wash beans in a colander and transfer to a large pot.
  • Rinse fatback or streak-o-lean and add to pot with salt, pepper, and enough water to cover by 2 inches.
  • Bring to a boil, reduce heat, cover and simmer beans for about an hour.
  • Wash the potatos and peel a strip of skin from around the center of each potato.
  • After the beans have cooked for an hour, add the potatoes and stir. Check the water – you may need to add more at this point.
  • Cover and cook for about 30 more minutes or until potatoes are tender.
  • After 30 minutes test potatoes and adjust seaonings.
  • To serve pour beans, potatoes, and juice into a large serving bowl.

Notes

 
© SERVING UP SOUTHERN – All images are copyright protected.
A Pinterest graphic of southern style green beans and new potatoes in a white bowl on a marble service.
18shares
  • Share
  • Email

Filed Under: Beans, Classic Southern, Sides + Vegetables

subscribe to get the latest

By subscribing to our newsletter, you consent to receive new post updates and occasional promotional emails related to our company.

Previous Post: « Homestyle Gathering 36 | Your Homekeeping Destination
Next Post: Homestyle Gathering 37 | Your Homekeeping Destination »

Reader Interactions

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Recipe Rating




Comments

  1. Paula@SweetPea says

    September 25, 2019 at 12:47 pm

    I love southern style green beans! Wonder where I can get some fatback in Lynchburg? I really need to make this!

    Reply
    • Kim at Serving Up Southern says

      September 25, 2019 at 4:19 pm

      Hi Paula!
      Most private meat markets carry it. I’m not sure if there are any in Lynchburg, but would be curious to know. I actually made cornmeal dumplings with these as well but decided to do a separate post on those. I love them made in green beans though!
      >>> Kim

      Reply
  2. Boniface Muriuki says

    September 10, 2020 at 5:49 am

    Wow, this is new and something I must try. Is there an alternative ingredient for fatback?

    Reply

Primary Sidebar

Hey! It is nice to meet you!

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • Twitter

Never miss a post

Search by Category

Footer

let’s stay connected!

  • Facebook
  • Google+
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • Twitter

join our community

copyright & sharing of content

I love it when you share! Please keep in mind that all images and written content on this site are property of Serving Up Southern. Feel free to use ONE of my photos (with watermark) provided that credit is given to this blog with a link back to my original post. Absolutely no alterations of photos are permitted, which includes editing, text overlays, cropping, or removing any watermarks. All printables (free or otherwise) are for personal use only and may not be sold, altered, or uploaded to another site. Do not use recipe or project instructions, please link back to original post. Please feel free to pin away: Pinning is always welcomed and very much appreciated (if a source is given outside of this website, please pin from the original source out of courtesy to the owner of the image).

amazon affiliate disclosure

Serving Up Southern is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites.

This error message is only visible to WordPress admins

Error: No connected account.

Please go to the Instagram Feed settings page to connect an account.

Copyright © 2021 by Serving Up Southern · Privacy Policy

This website uses cookies to improve your experience. We'll assume you're ok with this, but you can opt-out if you wish. Cookie settingsACCEPT
Privacy & Cookies Policy

Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these cookies, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may have an effect on your browsing experience.
Necessary
Always Enabled

Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.

Non-necessary

Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website.

SAVE & ACCEPT