This recipe for Slow Cooker Greek Green Beans or Fasolakia produces tender green beans and tomatoes that have cooked slowly in olive oil and an herbed tomato sauce. The whole dish can be prepared in a slow cooker for a ready to eat meal when you get home!
Fasolakia are a classic Greek dish that is frequently made in Greek homes. While the term “fasolakia” refers to green beans in general, it is most often used to describe this specific dish.
This Greek Green Beans recipe, otherwise referred to as fasolakia yahni or fasolakia lathera (though, as mentioned above, most Greeks just call it “Fasolakia”), is a healthy and hearty vegetarian or vegan dish.
Traditionally, this dish is cooked in the oven, like in my regular Fasolakia (Greek Green Beans) recipe or on the stove top. This version, however, is done in a slow cooker. That means you can go about your day while dinner is cooking itself!
I love the ease of slow cooker meals. A few minutes of prep work and then you get to walk away and go about your day. That is my kind of cooking, especially on a busy weeknight!
This slow cooker meal is something you can feel good about serving to your family. No canned or processed ingredients are used here. Just fresh, healthy ingredients that come together to make a mouthwatering meal.
Why you should make Slow Cooker Greek Green Beans (Fasolakia)
- This dish is incredibly easy to make!
- Only 10 minutes of hands on time is needed.
- The slow cooker does all the work!
- This meal is made with fresh, healthy ingredients.
- Greek green beans is a great vegan meal.
- It can be served as a main meal or a side dish.
- If you aren’t vegan, you can easily add meatballs, chicken or other proteins to this dish too.
- It’s delicious!
Ingredients in Slow Cooker Greek Green Beans
- Olive oil: Good quality extra virgin olive oil is used to cook the dish and infuse delicious flavour.
- Onion: onion or shallot add fresh flavour. Finely chop the onion so it distributes nicely in the homemade tomato sauce.
- Garlic: I don’t use garlic in my fasolakia (as I have a food sensitivity to it) but many traditionally do include it in this dish. Add 1 or more cloves to suit your preferences.
- Tomatoes: Traditionally, fasolakia is made with fresh tomatoes that have been chopped. Opt for flavourful tomatoes but if they are not in season when you make this dish, you can substitute canned chopped tomatoes instead. 3 large tomatoes are equivalent to 21oz or 595g.
- Tomato paste
- Herbs: fresh parsley and mint (fresh or dried)
- Green beans: trimmed
- Potatoes: sliced into wedges or bite sized pieces.
Note: Recipe quantities and full instructions are in the recipe card at the end of this post.
How to make Greek Green Beans
1. Saute onions: In a pot, heat the olive oil over medium heat and then add the onion. Saute the onion for a few minutes, until translucent.
2. Add tomatoes: Add the tomatoes and garlic (if using). Let the tomatoes cook on low heat for about 10 minutes.
3: Add the herbs and other sauce ingredients: Stir in the tomato paste, parsley, and mint. Remove the sauce from the heat.
4. Prepare the green beans and potatoes: Place the green beans and potatoes in the bowl of your slow cooker and season with salt and pepper. Pour the prepared tomato sauce over the green beans and potatoes.
5: Let the slow cooker do its thing: Add water to the green beans. Cook on high for 4 hours or on low for 8 hours or until the potatoes and green beans are fork tender.
Tips and Substitutions
- Potatoes: You can use virtually any type of potato you like in this dish. Russet, Yukon Gold and even Sweet Potatoes are my personal favourites.
- Fresh or frozen green beans. Don’t have fresh beans? That’s okay! Frozen green beans can definitely be substituted in. No need to thaw them. Just toss them in and they will have plenty of time to cook in the slow cooker.
- Use good quality, fresh ingredients: As with all cooking, when you start with great ingredients you will end up with a delicious dish. Ingredients like using flavourful tomatoes and good quality olive oil is a must.
- Substitute canned tomatoes when it’s off season: I use fresh tomatoes in my recipe but if tomatoes are out of season and so the ones at the supermarket are not particularly tasty, canned chopped tomatoes are the next best thing!
- Trim ends and remove strings: Remember to trim the ends first if you are using fresh green beans. Frozen ones typically have the ends trimmed already. Depending on the type of green bean you are using, they may have strings. If they do, its best to remove them before adding them to this dish.
- Add protein: This dish is typically served as a vegetarian meal or side dish but you can certainly add protein to it if you like! My mother in law makes Greek green beans with meatballs and its one of the reasons I fell in love with this dish! For this slow cooker version, you can add frozen (cooked) meatballs to the dish. Alternatively, you can cook the meatballs separately and serve them on the side or toss them in the sauce before serving.
How to store leftovers
Leftover Greek green beans can be stored in an airtight container after they have cooled. Then pop them in the fridge and store them for up to 3 days.
To reheat them, I add them into a skillet with a bit of water and heat them through while stirring.
You can also heat leftovers in a microwave.
What to serve with Greek Green Beans
This dish is a complete vegetarian meal in itself. Served with a slice of crusty bread and a bit of feta, it is absolute perfection.
I also like to serve this dish with side dishes like Tiropita or Spanakopitakia (Spinach and Feta Filo Triangles).
As mentioned earlier, though, you can certainly serve this as a side dish with your favourite protein. I personally like having it with meatballs, like my mother-in-law does. I like making this with my Greek Spanakopita Chicken Meatballs or Keftedakia – Greek Meatballs tossed in. Other favourites include serving it with chicken or pork chops.
I hope you enjoy this as much as I do! Have fun (slow) cooking!
-Cathy
Slow Cooker Greek Green Beans (Fasolakia)
Ingredients
- 1/3 cup olive oil
- 1 small onion or shallot, finely chopped
- 1 clove garlic optional
- 3 large tomatoes chopped (can substitute canned chopped tomatoes)
- 1 tablespoon tomato paste
- 1/4 cup parsley chopped
- 1 teaspoon dried mint or 1 tablespoon chopped fresh mint
- 2 lbs green beans trimmed
- 3 medium potatoes sliced into wedges or bite sized pieces
Instructions
- In a pot, heat the olive oil over medium heat and then add the onion. Saute the onion for a few minutes, until translucent.
- Add the garlic (if using) and chopped tomatoes and simmer on low heat for 10 minutes.
- Stir in the tomato paste, parsley, and mint. Remove from heat and set aside.
- Place the green beans and potatoes in the bowl of the slow cooker and season with salt and pepper. Pour the prepared tomato sauce over the green beans and potatoes and toss to coat them.
- Add 3/4 cup water to the bowl of the slow cooker. Cook on high for 4 hours or on low for 8 hours or until the potatoes and green beans are fork tender.
Note: Metric ingredient measurements are provided as a courtesy using a third-party calculator and are rounded to the nearest unit. The recipes provided on this site have not been tested with metric measurements and their accuracy cannot be verified.
Nutrition
The nutritional information provided is based on third-party calculations and is an estimate only. Accurate nutritional facts will vary based on the particular brands used, portion sizes, measurement accuracy and more.
