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Lebanese green beans, aka Loubieh Bi Zeit, is a simple and flavorful dish made with green beans braised in a delicious tomato sauce. Perfect for enjoying on a summer day!
This Lebanese green bean stew, along with bazella pea stew, is one I grew up enjoying. It’s made by braising green beans with tomatoes, onion, and garlic until they’re tender and packed with flavor. It’s gluten-free, vegan, and cooked in just one pan, making it easy to prepare ahead of time—it can last in the fridge for up to a week.
You can serve this stew as a main dish with pita bread, often alongside veggies like white onions, green onions, and radishes. It’s also great as an appetizer or part of a mezze spread, paired with favorites like homemade hummus, Lebanese spicy potatoes, Lebanese spinach pies, authentic kibbeh, and more.
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Ingredients
- Green Beans: Green beans are the star of the dish. They soak up the flavors and become almost “melt-in-the-mouth” and velvety in texture. Use your choice of green beans: string beans, flat beans, French green beans, runner beans, etc.
- Tomatoes: I love to use fresh, ripe tomatoes. You can substitute with canned diced tomatoes.
- Aromatics: Onion, garlic, and chili pepper (for extra heat, but you can omit it).
- Olive Oil.
- Spices: I use salt, pepper, and homemade 7-spice mix. You can find it in Lebanese or Middle Eastern stores, online, or make your own with cinnamon, cumin, nutmeg, coriander, allspice, cloves, and black peppercorn.
See the printable recipe card below for full information on ingredients and quantities.
How to make Lebanese green beans
Prepare and Sauté green beans: Begin by trimming the hard ends of the beans. To do so quickly, you can hold a handful in place, line up the ends, and cut them all off in one go. Then, cut the beans in three and rinse them under cold running water.
Next, dice the onion, garlic, tomatoes, and chili pepper.
Add the onion and olive oil to a large pot and sauté lightly for a few minutes until they become translucent. Stir in the garlic and chili and cook for one more minute until they become aromatic.
Then, add the green beans and the spices and stir to combine and coat the beans with the oil.
Add tomatoes and simmer: Next, add the diced tomatoes and bring the mixture to a boil. Then, reduce heat and cover the pot. Simmer for about 25-30 minutes or until the beans are tender and cooked through.
The Lebanese green bean stew in tomato sauce is now ready. Finally, taste and adjust the seasoning if necessary. Then, serve warm or at room temperature with pita bread to soak up the sauce.
More Lebanese stew recipes
If you try this Lebanese green beans recipe, let me know how it goes in the comments below. I’d appreciate a recipe card rating and would love to see your recipe recreations—tag me on Instagram @Alphafoodie!
Lebanese Green Beans (Loubieh Bi Zeit)
Ingredients
- 2 lb green beans
- 1.6 lb tomatoes
- 11 oz onion 1 medium
- 5 cloves garlic medium
- 1/2 cup olive oil
- 1/2 Tbsp Lebanese 7-spice
- 1 tsp sea salt
- 1/2 tsp black pepper
- 1 chilli pepper medium, optional
Instructions
- Trim the hard ends of the beans. Hold a handful in place, line up the ends, and cut them all off in one go. Cut the beans in three. Rinse them under cold running water.
- Dice the onion, garlic, tomatoes, and chili pepper.
- In a large pot, heat the oil over medium-high heat. Add the onion and sauté for 3-5 minutes until translucent.
- Stir in the garlic and chili and cook for 1 minute. Add the green beans, 7-spice mix, salt and pepper. Mix, then stir in the diced tomatoes.
- Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat. Cover the pot and simmer for 25-30 minutes until the beans are tender. Taste and adjust the seasoning if necessary.Lebanese green beans are now ready to serve with pita bread.
Video
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Hi love your recipes! Can I also use plain canned tomatoes not stewed?
Hi Caren,
Yes, canned tomatoes will do for the tomato sauce. Just choose a high-quality variety if possible. I hope this helps.
I’m making this for the second time. Only I used 2 cans of stewed tomatoes. For lunch I toasted an English muffin, plated them, then put the braised beans and stewed tomatoes over the muffins and topped with 2 Sunnyside up eggs…Damn was that good!! May repeat that today!!
Thank you so much for your comment, Nancy. Glad you are enjoying the recipe.