Green beans, sometimes known as string beans, may be introduced as soon as baby is ready to start solids, which is generally around 6 months of age.

Green beans are snap beans—a sprawling family of legumes whose tender pods are eaten before their tiny seeds mature and swell from soaking up sun and water. Snap beans go by different common names depending on the variety. Aside from green beans, there are bush beans, pole beans, string beans, and wax beans, to name a few. While green beans might be the most widely recognized, snap beans actually range in color, from red to purple to yellow, even speckled and striated. All trace back to the common bean that was cultivated by Indigenous people of Central and South America for thousands of years before colonizers took the seeds to Europe. There, exotl (the Nahuatl name for the string-like beans) became ejote in Spanish, and domestication and global trade led to the many varieties eaten around the world today.

Yes. Green beans are an excellent source of vitamin K—an essential nutrient that plays a key role in blood clotting. They also contain vitamin A (for healthy eyesight and immune systems) and vitamin C, a critical nutrient that helps our bodies absorb iron from plant-based foods, which is important for babies at this stage in their lives. Lastly, green beans help fuel your baby’s body with protein and move things along in the digestive tract thanks to plenty of fiber within the tender pods.

You may have heard that green beans and other edible plants (arugula, beets, carrots, lettuce, spinach, and squash to name a few) contain nitrates—naturally occurring chemicals which, if consumed in large amounts, can negatively affect oxygen levels in our blood.  Babies—and particularly babies younger than 3 months of age—may be more susceptible to nitrates.

So are green beans safe for babies starting solids? Yes. Both the American Academy of Pediatrics and the European Food Safety Authority has found that the level of nitrates in vegetables is not a concern for most children, and nitrates from vegetables appear to be less of a concern for babies older than 6 months of age.  Therefore, we believe that the benefits of eating vegetables as part of a varied diet of fresh foods outweigh the risks of excess nitrate exposure from vegetables. If you’re worried, nitrate exposure can be reduced by avoiding deli meats (and other processed meats) and well water, which can be high in nitrates.

Yes. Green beans are tough for babies to chew, plus pre-cut green beans and other cylindrical varieties of snap beans are very similar in diameter to the trachea at this early stage in life. To minimize the risk, cut lengthwise or offer your child a whole string bean to munch on. Bigger is often safer!

For more information, visit our section on gagging and choking and familiarize yourself with common choking hazards.

No. Green bean allergies are rare, though not unheard of and, in theory, an individual can be allergic to any food. As you would when introducing any new food, start by offering a small quantity on its own for the first couple of servings. If there is no adverse reaction, gradually increase the quantity over future meals.