Recipe: Roasted Green Beans and Fingerling Potatoes

Roasting veggies is an excellent way to caramelize natural flavors and cook large amounts at once. These roasted green beans and fingerling potatoes work well not just for roasting together, but also for serving up as part of a plate method meal.

Potatoes are a wonderful starch selection, despite some messaging that they are a “white” food and “too high” in carbohydrates.  Paired them with a source of protein, fiber-rich veggies, and served in a fist-sized portion, potatoes are a highly nutritious and blood-sugar-friendly option.  Keeping the peel on your potatoes adds fiber and potassium – a mineral needed for muscle contraction and maintaining healthy blood pressure. Potatoes also contain moderate amounts of vitamin C, which helps support the immune system and connective tissue.

Try rotating your potato varieties (sweet, red, yellow, etc.) for slightly different flavors, textures, and nutrients. What an easy way to add variety to a recipe with simple ingredient swaps!

Roasted Green Beans and Fingerling Potatoes

Serves 4

Ingredients

• 1 lb green beans
• 1 Tbsp olive oil, divided
• 1 1/2 lb fingerling potatoes, quartered
• 1 1/2 tsp paprika, divided
• 1 1/2 tsp garlic powder, divided
• 1/2 tsp salt, divided
• 1 tsp pepper, divided

Directions

1.  Preheat the oven to 375°F. Rinse the green beans and cut off the ends, about 1/4 inch.
2. To a large bowl, add fingerling potatoes and half each (3/4 tsp) of paprika, garlic powder and 1/4 tsp salt. Drizzle with 1/2 Tbsp olive oil, then toss to coat the potatoes evenly with the spices and oil.
3. Pour potatoes onto a large baking sheet. Place in the oven and bake for 15 minutes.
4. To the same bowl used for the potatoes, add the trimmed green beans and the remaining paprika, garlic powder, salt, and pepper. Drizzle with remaining olive oil, then toss to coat the green beans evenly with the spices and oil.
5. Remove the baking sheet from the oven, shift the potatoes to half of the baking sheet, and add green beans to the other side of the baking sheet. If the baking sheet is too small, consider dividing the mixture between two baking sheets. Place the baking sheet in the oven. Bake potatoes and green beans 10 minutes.
6. Remove the baking sheet from the oven, stir the green beans and flip the potatoes with a spatula.  Add them back to the oven for 10 more minutes.
7. Potatoes are done when they are crispy and easily sliced by a knife/pierced with a fork. Green beans are done when they have a crisp bite to them, but are not crunchy.

Swaps

• For the green beans: broccoli, Brussels sprouts, or frozen green beans
• For the fingerling potatoes: russet potatoes, sweet potatoes, or parsnips