Green Beans for Five or Fifty

This method is the easiest way to prepare green beans.

Oven Roasted Green Beans for Five

 Begin with a bag of frozen petite whole green beans, or purchase fresh ones.  The prices vary according to season.  I cannot tell the difference after roasting, so choose whichever is the lowest in price.  The advantage of frozen is that you can have them on hand.

Place the string beans in an oven-proof dish.  Allow about 2/3 cup of beans per person.

Drizzle about a tablespoon of olive oil over the beans.

Salt and give a quick stir.

Cover with a tight lid.  Foil is fine.

Bake in a 350 degree oven for 1 hour.

Stir and serve the beans.

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Oven Roasted Green Beans for Fifty

If preparing food for fifty, you will want to have this recipe.  With very little fuss, a veggie side dish can be roasted while you are preparing the rest of the dinner.  For Easter, I invited fifty close family members to dinner, and the roasted green beans were a hit.  With sliced ham and potato casserole most of dinner was baked in ovens.  Roaster ovens could be used if oven space is limited.  By assigning out a fresh fruit salad, homemade rolls and sheet cake for dessert, the food was simpler than the logistics of seating 50 people indoors!

A five pound bag of frozen green beans will serve 25.  Buy two bags for 50.  A 5 pound bag will fit into a standard commercial steam pan.  So you will need two steam pans.  You could use foil steam pans, but it will take 4 disposable steam pans to handle the two bags of string beans.
 

A standard 11 by 14 inch pyrex pan holds up to 15 servings of beans, depending on how full the pan is.  Again, calculate about 2/3 cup per serving.

Drizzle olive oil over the beans.  With that many beans, there is no need to measure, just a light drizzle will be fine.
 

Lightly salt the beans, and then slightly stir.

Cover with a lid if you have one, but foil works just fine.

Bake at 350 degrees for at least an hour and a half.  Turn the oven down to 275 degrees at that point, to keep the green beans warm until serving time. 

Stir the beans just before serving.