Green Beans with Sesame Sauce Recipe

Green Beans with Sesame Sauce (いんげんの胡麻和え) make a delightful side dish when you need a little something extra for a meal. It’s extremely quick and easy to make, yet bursting with the rich flavor of sesame seeds and packed with nutrition.

What’s Green Beans with Sesame Sauce?

Green Beans with Sesame Sauce is one of the most popular homemade side dishes in Japanese cuisine. Green beans are available year-round, and the savory and sweet sesame sauce is both flavorful and incredibly easy to make. The steps to prepare this dish are simple, using common ingredients that can be found at most local markets. It’s a versatile side dish that pairs well with any meal, and it’s perfect for filling empty spaces in a bento lunch box.

To make the sesame sauce, lightly roast sesame seeds in a frying pan before grinding them. In Japan, many households use a Suribachi (mortar) and Surikogi (pestle), but if you don’t have these, an electric spice grinder works just as well. For convenience, you can also buy pre-ground sesame seeds from stores. However, we recommend grinding the sesame seeds right before making this dish, as the aroma of freshly ground sesame seeds is unbeatable. While roasting the sesame seeds isn’t strictly necessary, small steps like this can significantly enhance the flavor.

More recipes like Green Beans with Sesame Sauce

• Spinach with Sesame Sauce
• Spinach and Chicken Salad with Sesame Sauce
• Broccoli with Sesame Sauce

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Green Beans with Sesame Sauce Recipe

5 from 1 vote

Prep Time 5 minutes minutes

Cook Time 5 minutes minutes

Total Time 10 minutes minutes

Servings 4 small servings

Cooked green beans in a tasty sesame sauce

Ingredients

• 1/2 lb green beans
• 1 Tbsp soy sauce
• 2 tsp sugar
• 1 Tbsp roasted sesame seeds (ground)
• roasted sesame seeds for garnish

US Customary – Metric

Instructions 

• Cook green beans in boiling water for 2-3 minutes.
• Cut cooked green beans into 2″ long pieces.
• Grind sesame seeds, and mix with soy sauce and sugar in a bowl.
• Mix sauce and green beans.
• Sprinkle sesame seeds.

Video

Course: Appetizer, Side Dish

Cuisine: Japanese

Keyword: gomaae

This recipe was originally published in July 2012. The post was updated on March 12, 2025 with more useful content, new photos and a short video.