Haricots Verts substitute

Best substitute

Regular Green Beans (Snap or String Beans)

Use the same amount by weight as the haricots verts you are replacing

Best for holiday sides

Different texture

The same species picked later and thicker, so the flavour is nearly identical and only the texture differs.

Other haricots verts substitutes

Ranked, with the exact amount to use

2Frozen Whole Haricots Verts or French-Cut Green Beans
Different texture
Use the same amount by weight
Picked slim, blanched and frozen at source, which suits this vegetable better than most.
What changes
Best for
casseroles, sauteed sides, soups, weeknight vegetables
Do not thaw them, and do not blanch them again. Go straight from the freezer into a hot buttered pan or into the casserole. They come out softer than fresh, with no snap left, but the flavour holds up well and there is no trimming to do.
3Thin Asparagus Spears
Different taste
Use the same amount by weight
Similar slim shape and quick cooking, with the same ability to look smart on a plate.
What changes
Best for
almondine, salads, plated sides, roasting, blanching
Distinctly different flavour, grassier and faintly sulfurous rather than sweet and beany, and the tips go soft well before the stems. Cooking time is almost the same, 3-4 minutes in boiling water. Excellent in a lemon-butter-and-almond preparation, wrong in green bean casserole.
4Sugar Snap Peas or Snow Peas
Taste and texture differ
Use the same amount by weight
Slim, sweet, edible pods that cook even faster than haricots verts.
What changes
Best for
cold salads, quick sautes, crudites, stir-fries
Noticeably sweeter and juicier, with a crunch rather than a tender bite, and they need only about two minutes. Great in a vinaigrette salad, poor in anything that simmers, where they go grey and limp.
5Broccolini
Taste and texture differ
Use the same amount by weight
Long thin stems with a small floret, cooked and plated much the same way.
What changes
Best for
plated sides, roasting, blanch and saute, garlic and oil
Clearly a different vegetable, with a mustardy brassica bite and much more assertive flavour, but it fills the same role as a slim green side and takes 3-5 minutes. Best when the beans were going to be dressed in garlic, chilli or lemon anyway.
6Yardlong Beans, Cut to Length
Taste and texture differ
Use the same amount by weight, cut into 4-inch pieces
Very long thin pods from Asian groceries, similar in diameter to a haricot vert.
What changes
Best for
stir-fries, curries, blistered in a hot pan
The diameter is right but the texture is not. Yardlong beans are dry and dense and stay chewy rather than turning tender, and they need longer cooking, not less. Good in a wok, a poor swap for a butter-and-almond side dish.

What is Haricots Verts?

Haricots Verts is Haricots verts, also called haricot vert, French green beans or filet beans, are green beans from varieties bred and harvested very slim and young, so they are more tender and cook in a fraction of the time.

Cooking tips

Haricots verts need 3 to 4 minutes in heavily salted boiling water, not the 6 to 8 a standard green bean wants. They go from squeaky to limp in under a minute, so taste one at three minutes rather than trusting a timer.
Shock them in ice water the moment they come out if you are not serving immediately. This is the difference between a bright, snappy holiday side and the drab beans everyone remembers from steam trays.
You only need to trim the stem end. The wispy tail is tender and edible, and lining the beans up to cut both ends off at once, which looks tidy, wastes a surprising amount of the bean.
If your store only has thick green beans, French-cut them: slit each bean lengthwise down the middle with a paring knife. It is tedious for a crowd, but it genuinely reproduces the slim, tender character, and it is where the phrase French-cut green beans comes from.
Canned French-style green beans are ordinary green beans sliced thin, not haricots verts. They work in a casserole where everything softens anyway, and nowhere that texture matters.

Frequently asked questions

Are haricots verts the same as green beans?

They are the same species, Phaseolus vulgaris. Haricots verts are varieties bred to stay slim and picked younger, so they are more tender, sweeter and faster-cooking. Every green bean recipe works with them, and every haricots verts recipe works with green beans if you add a couple of minutes.

Can I use haricots verts in green bean casserole?

Yes, and they hold up better than you would expect, but skip any pre-blanching the recipe calls for and shorten the bake slightly. Because they are thin, they will go soft in the oven regardless, which somewhat wastes what you paid extra for.

Do I have to trim both ends of haricots verts?

No. Snap off the stem end, which is woody, and leave the pointed tail alone. It is tender and it is part of how the dish is supposed to look.

Can I just leave them out?

If they are the green vegetable on a plate, no, but any green vegetable substitutes fine, including asparagus, broccolini or plain green beans. If they are one element of a salad, you can drop them and increase the other vegetables.

Why are haricots verts more expensive than green beans?

They are picked young and mostly hand-harvested, which yields less weight per plant and costs far more labour. Whether it is worth it depends on the dish: for a simple buttered side where texture is the whole point, yes; for a casserole or a long-cooked braise, buy standard green beans.

Related substitutes

More vegetables & aromatics substitutes

Haricots Verts substitute

Other haricots verts substitutes

2Frozen Whole Haricots Verts or French-Cut Green Beans

3Thin Asparagus Spears

4Sugar Snap Peas or Snow Peas

5Broccolini

6Yardlong Beans, Cut to Length