When your green beans are still hard after cooking the green beans may have been overripe, undercooked, the green beans may be a tougher variety or the water might be too acidic.
Water that is too acidic can cause the green beans and even regular beans to remain hard and adding some baking soda to the water when cooking green beans or regular beans can eliminate the acidity.
If you're cooking the beans longer and they still are hard it's likely the green beans are past their prime.
When cooking green beans it's also best to cook the green beans long and slow by getting the pot of water to boiling for a few minutes or so and then bring it down to medium heat.
If green beans are undercooked the green beans will be very firm and have a strong gassy taste and be difficult to chew or bite through.
If the green beans are very crunchy with little give when you to eat them then they are not fully cooked.
Green beans that are fully cooked should be tender but not too hard and retain a slight crunch.
You can also check if green beans are cooked by inserting a knife or fork into one of the green beans.
If the fork or knife goes in and out without resistance it is cooked and ready to eat but if it's hard to put the knife or fork into the green bean then it should be cooked for another 1 to 2 minutes.
When green beans are overcooked they become mushy and lose their bright green color and will turn a grayish color and be droopy and be easily mashed.
Cooking green beans too long can also lead to rubbery green beans.
You can cook green beans too long and cooking green beans too long can cause the green beans to become rubbery and hard to chew.
To keep green beans from getting rubbery cook the green beans for a short time by blanching the green beans in boiling salted water and then immediately plunge the green beans into ice water to stop the cooking process.
Blanching the green beans will ensure they remain crispy, tender and vibrant and not rubbery.
You can also steam or roast the green beans to get a tender texture without the green beans becoming rubbery.
Also overcooking the green beans can cause the green beans to become rubbery so only cook the green beans until the green beans become tender and crisp.
Cooking raw green beans takes around 10 to 15 minutes.
If the green beans are frozen green beans or canned green beans they are already cooked simply need heated up which can take 2 to 5 minutes.
Some green beans may be ready in 6 minutes.
To boil green beans, bring a pot of water to a boil and season the water heavily with some salt.
Then add the trimmed green beans or green beans to the pot and boil until they are al dente or slightly crunchy.
Then remove the green beans from the pot and immediately strain them in a strainer.
If boiling frozen green beans you can boil the frozen green beans from frozen.
Simply place the frozen green into a bot of boiling water and boil them until they become heated up which can take a few minutes to 5 minutes.
Cooking the thawed frozen green beans can make them mushy so it's best to cook the frozen green beans while they are still frozen.
Frozen green beans are already cooked and just need heated.