Vegetables

Green beans nutrition, before and after the heat.

1 cup of green beans (1/2-inch pieces) is 31 calories and 1.8 g of protein. Those numbers describe “Beans, snap, green, raw” in USDA FoodData Central. How it reaches the plate decides the rest, with 100 g measured at 21 calories one way and 35 another. The panel underneath takes any serving and any amount, and the vitamin and mineral table tracks what you pick.

By Alen Yaco · Updated 20 September 2026

Source data is USDA FoodData Central (169961, 169141, 321611). The sums run on your device and nothing leaves it.

How many calories does green beans have?

1 cup of green beans (1/2-inch pieces) supplies 31 calories, which scales to 31 per 100 g. Each serving listed underneath was weighed by USDA rather than estimated.

How much protein is in green beans?

1 cup of green beans (1/2-inch pieces) provides 1.8 g of protein. Set beside the 50 g reference intake, that is 4 percent. Protein supplies 24 percent of the energy in green beans, which helps a day’s total without carrying it.

Of every 100 calories, 20 come from protein, 5 from fat and 75 from carbohydrate.

What cooking does to green beans

Per 100 g, boiled green beans carries 67 percent more calories than canned — 35 against 21. The difference is evaporation, which packs more of the food into each gram.

Every row below is the same 100 g of green beans, so the only thing that differs is the method.

Kitchen notes on green beans

Look for bright pods that snap sharply when bent back. Avoid limp, leathery specimens or those with dry, brown ends. Fine French beans, often called haricots verts, are slender and tender. Runner beans are wider and flatter, requiring stringing along the seams. Avoid pods where the internal seeds bulge heavily, as these are tough.

Boiling in salted water softens the pods and highlights their green colour. Acidic ingredients like lemon juice turn them a dull olive grey if added too early. The most frequent error is undercooking, which leaves them squeaky and grassy, or overcooking them into mush. Plunge cooked beans into iced water to stop the heat.

Serve them warm with melted butter and toasted almonds in the French style. In Sichuan cookery, dry-fry them with minced pork and ginger until the skins blister. They also suit cold salads, tossed with a mustard vinaigrette and tarragon, or simmered in a coconut milk curry with warm spices.

Everything USDA measures in green beans

1 cup of green beans (1/2-inch pieces) delivers 36 percent of a day’s vitamin K. Everything else USDA reports for it is in the table, scaled to your serving.

It carries 2.7 g of fibre per 100 g, about 10 percent of a day.

How far green beans goes in a day

On a 2,000 calorie day, 1 cup of green beans (1/2-inch pieces) is 2 percent of the budget and 4 percent of the protein Daily Value. Whether that is a lot depends on your own numbers rather than on 2,000: the TDEE calculator gives you what you burn, and the macro calculator turns a target into grams.

Cooking with green beans: three recipes

These are the Calorie Counter Team’s recipes for green beans. Their nutrition panels are arithmetic: ingredient weights multiplied through USDA records, divided by servings.

Side · British

Steamed Lemon Green Beans

Warm steamed green beans tossed with olive oil and lemon juice.

15 min · serves 2

78kcal

1.9gprotein

5.3gfat

7.6gcarbs

Ingredients

• Green beans, trimmed 200 g
• Olive oil 10 g
• Lemon juice 10 g
• Salt 2 g
• Black pepper 1 g

Method

1. Bring 50 millilitres of water to a boil in a saucepan.
2. Add the green beans, cover with a lid, and steam for five minutes.
3. Drain the water from the saucepan.
4. Pour the olive oil, lemon juice, salt, and black pepper over the beans.
5. Toss the beans to coat them in the dressing and serve immediately.

Nutrition per serving, calculated across 5 USDA ingredient records. Expect small differences once cooked.

Dinner · Indian

Spiced Green Beans and Potatoes

A dry potato and green bean curry spiced with cumin and turmeric.

30 min · serves 2

154kcal

3.2gprotein

8gfat

19gcarbs

Ingredients

• Green beans, cut into pieces 150 g
• Potatoes, peeled and diced 150 g
• Vegetable oil 15 g
• Cumin seeds 2 g
• Turmeric ground 2 g
• Salt 3 g

Method

1. Heat the vegetable oil in a frying pan over medium heat.
2. Add the cumin seeds and fry for thirty seconds until they crackle.
3. Add the diced potatoes and cook for ten minutes, stirring regularly.
4. Stir in the green beans, turmeric ground, and salt.
5. Cover the pan and cook on low heat for ten minutes until the vegetables are tender.

Built from 6 USDA ingredient records. A cooked dish never matches its raw sum exactly, but it stays close.

Lunch · Chinese

Pork and Green Bean Stir-Fry

Minced pork and sliced green beans stir-fried with garlic and soy sauce.

20 min · serves 2

306kcal

15gprotein

24gfat

8.8gcarbs

Ingredients

• Green beans 200 g
• Pork ground 150 g
• Garlic, minced 10 g
• Soy sauce 15 g
• Vegetable oil 15 g

Method

1. Cut the green beans into four-centimetre lengths.
2. Heat the vegetable oil in a large frying pan over high heat.
3. Add the minced pork and garlic, frying for four minutes until the pork is brown.
4. Add the green beans and stir-fry for five minutes.
5. Pour in the soy sauce and stir for one minute before removing from the heat.

5 USDA records went into this total. It describes the ingredients as weighed, not the dish after cooking losses.

Calorie Counter Team, food critic

A plate built around green beans

Here is green beans as part of a plate, with each component taken from its own USDA record and the total added up.

Green beans or something else?

Here is how green beans sits among its neighbours per 100 g; the form column keeps raw and cooked apart.

Questions about green beans

How many calories does 1 cup of green beans (1/2-inch pieces) have?

The USDA figure is 31 calories, or 31 per 100 g. It is taken from the record “Beans, snap, green, raw”, FDC 169961.

How much protein is in green beans?

You get 1.8 g from 1 cup of green beans (1/2-inch pieces), equal to 4 percent of the daily reference amount; 100 g holds 1.8 g.

Is green beans higher in calories once it is prepared?

It does. The same 100 g is 21 calories canned and 35 boiled, with the other preparations listed here falling in between.

Can you eat green beans when trying to lose weight?

Weight change comes from the whole week’s intake. 1 cup of green beans (1/2-inch pieces) contributes 31 calories and 1.8 g of protein (24 percent of its energy), so pair it with something that carries more protein.

Should I snap off each end of the bean before cooking?

Only the tough stem end must be removed. The curly tail at the opposite end is tender and fine to eat. Trim the stem ends by lining up a handful on a board and cutting them off with a knife.

How do I store fresh green beans to keep them crisp?

Keep them unwashed in a breathable or perforated bag inside the refrigerator drawer. Moisture causes them to decay rapidly, so only wash them immediately before you prepare them for cooking. They should last for several days.

Sources

• Beans, snap, green, raw — USDA FoodData Central, FDC ID 169961
• Beans, snap, green, cooked, boiled, drained, without salt — USDA FoodData Central, FDC ID 169141
• Beans, snap, green, canned, regular pack, drained solids — USDA FoodData Central, FDC ID 321611
• Daily Values for nutrition labelling, 21 CFR 101.9