All the secrets to Crispy Bacon Wrapped Green Beans that stay crisp, bright green and don’t fall apart! Fresh green beans wrapped in smoky bacon and roasted with a buttery brown sugar glaze until the bacon is crisp and caramelized is an easy side dish is the vegetable dish that’s simple enough for a weeknight but special enough for the holidays.

These are the brown sugar bacon wrapped green beans for people who don’t want another green bean casserole and who are asking, How do I make my kids actually eat green beans? Grayson HATED them, until this recipe. 😉

Seriously, this is The green bean recipe for people who don’t think they like green beans. They might just be the first side dish to disappear from your table!

That’s right, our testing led to a few secrets that transformed this VIRAL side dish recipe! So, Yes, this is spectacular on Thanksgiving—but don’t save it for the holidays! Make them all year round.

I don’t even care about anything anymore because these are probably the only green beans I’ll ever make again…melt-in-your-mouth brown sugar bacon wrapped green beans. Hello green beans, you’re going to be delicious.

The easiest way to turn green beans into the side dish everyone fights over.

Here’s exactly how to get tender green beans and crispy bacon at the same time.

Before we decided on the final ingredient list I tested:

Version A

Raw bacon + blanched green beans

Version B

Par-cooked bacon + blanched green beans

Version C

Raw bacon + raw green beans

We had to determine:

• Which gives the crispiest bacon?
• Which bacon is best?
• Which green bean is best?
• Which gives the best green bean texture?
• Which requires the least work?
• How to hold together best?
• Which tastes best after sitting for 10–15 minutes?

The Worst Results?

Don’t even get me started on Version C. It’s a total waste of your time.

These Reese’s Krispies are crunchy, gooey peanut butter cereal clusters loaded with chocolate chips and chopped Reese’s peanut butter cups! Made with no marshmallows and no baking, these irresistible little treats come together in just 10 minutes, plus cooling time!

This was one of the very first recipes to go viral on Pinterest for Oh Sweet Basil, bringing in millions of views! And all these years later, I still can’t get over how ridiculously good they are. That sweet, sticky peanut butter coating mixed with crispy cereal and chunks of Reese’s?! OH MY GOODNESS.

We originally made these to use up leftover Halloween candy, but trust me, you’re going to want them all year long!

This crockpot stuffing recipe takes a simple boxed stuffing mix and turns it into something that tastes completely homemade. Savory sausage, buttery sautéed onion and celery, rich broth, milk and egg make it moist, flavorful and worthy of the Thanksgiving table—all without taking up precious oven space.

This is basically the ultimate doctored-up boxed stuffing: all the ease of a shortcut with the rich, savory flavor of homemade. Browning the sausage and sautéing the vegetables in butter before they hit the slow cooker makes all the difference. Then everything cooks low and slow while you focus on the turkey, rolls and everything else fighting for oven space.

Ingredients You’ll Need

This stuffing comes together with simple, familiar ingredients that work together to create something special.

• Ground sausage: Adds savory flavor, richness and plenty of seasoning. We love it for making boxed stuffing taste homemade.
• Celery: Adds a little texture and that classic savory stuffing flavor.
• Onion: Sautéed in butter until tender to create a sweet, flavorful base.
• Butter: Adds richness and gives the vegetables and stuffing that essential buttery flavor.
• Better Than Bouillon + hot water: Creates a deeply flavored chicken broth without opening a carton. Regular chicken broth works too.
• Milk: Adds moisture and richness for a softer, more luxurious stuffing.
• Egg: Binds everything together and gives the stuffing structure as it cooks.
• Stuffing mix: The shortcut that makes this recipe so easy. We love Kinder’s stuffing mix for its seasoning and texture, but another similar dry stuffing mix will work.

Simple ingredients, big results. Measurements can be found in the recipe card below.

How to Make Crockp

This high protein creamy ground beef noodle casserole is rich, cozy, and packed with flavor, but gets a boost from cottage cheese that makes it extra satisfying without feeling heavy.

A nostalgic, family-friendly ground beef noodle casserole that uses cottage cheese to make a genuinely high-protein dinner—without tasting like “health food.” Each serving has 18g of protein!

It’s like a homemade version of Hamburger Helper—cheap, familiar, kid-friendly and comforting, but this one is secretly high protein which makes it more healthy!

Love easy ground beef dinners? Try our Korean Ground Beef Noodles or Korean Beef Cottage Cheese Protein Bowl next.

My mom was in the depths of motherhood—five kids, a husband traveling a lot for work, and dinner was starting to feel like a burden. Then my grandma called and said, “I have this casserole recipe for you. It’s super easy and cheap to make!”

My mom needed both, and this casserole has been in our family ever since.

Over the years, we’ve figured out how to make it even better: cottage cheese makes the filling extra creamy while adding protein, without making this taste remotely like “health food.”

Tender cabbage, savory ground beef, and a spicy, garlicky sauce make this Cabbage Stir Fry an instant favorite. Made with fresh vegetables and loaded with flavor, this 30-minute meal is an easy alternative to Chinese takeout.

Stir fries are a frequent fixture of my weekly dinner menus and stir fry noodles with chicken and vegetables is another one I make often. This week, since I had ground beef in the freezer, I switched things up and made a beefy cabbage version.

Cabbage Stir Fry

Similar to my egg roll skillet and sausage egg roll in a bowl, this has the ground meat, shredded cabbage, onion, and garlic you’d find inside a typical egg roll, and I’ve kicked up the flavor here with the punch of chili paste.

I expected the beef to be my favorite part of this stir fry. And as much as I enjoyed the savory meat, it’s the cabbage that kept me coming back for more. Cabbage is inexpensive and versatile, and when it’s sliced into noodle-like ribbons here, it’s perfect for lapping up all that incredible sauce.

I’m always amazed by how easy it is to turn an ordinary vegetable into a crave-worthy dish with just a few simple steps. I can’t wait for you to try this one.

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