Can Dogs Eat Green Beans? Plain, Canned and Casserole

People ask us can dogs eat green beans every November, and the answer is yes, as long as the beans are plain. The trouble is the casserole and the canned beans in salty water, which are not the same food as a steamed bean straight from the pot.

We make single-ingredient freeze-dried treats in Malvern, Pennsylvania, and we spend a lot of holiday weekends at shows with a dog or two leaning on the table. Thanksgiving questions come up more than any others, so this page sticks to one vegetable and follows it from the garden to the gravy boat.

Can dogs eat green beans plain

A green bean is a young bean pod, picked before the seeds inside get big. Plain, it is about as simple as a vegetable gets. The American Kennel Club, in its Thanksgiving food guide, writes: "Plain green beans are great for dogs."

The word that matters there is plain. It means no butter, no oil, no salt and no seasoning. A bean steamed in a pot qualifies. So does one boiled in plain water, a raw one snapped off at the stem, or a frozen one cooked without the sauce packet. Once anything is stirred in, the answer changes.

The green bean casserole

The casserole is a different dish that happens to contain green beans. It is usually beans stirred into cream of mushroom soup, baked, and covered with crispy fried onions. That makes it a cream sauce with a lot of salt and a layer of onions on top.

Skip it for the dog. The ASPCA writes: "Onion, garlic and chives are members of the Allium species of vegetables." Its list of people foods to avoid covers the Allium family, and fried onions are onions. Keep the casserole on your plate, and the same goes for beans cooked with bacon, almonds, butter or a glaze. If something was cooked into the beans, they are no longer plain.

Canned green beans and salt

Canned beans are the usual surprise. They sit in water with salt added, and some cans add seasoning too. The ASPCA also writes: "Excessive salt intake can produce increased thirst and urination."

If a can is what you have, look for one marked no salt added, then drain it and rinse the beans well under the tap. Frozen beans cooked in unsalted water are the easier route. Read the ingredient list either way. It should name green beans and nothing else, or green beans and water.

How to serve plain green beans

Trim the stem ends. Steam or boil the beans in unsalted water until they are tender, which takes a few minutes, then drain them and let them cool all the way. Cut each bean into short pieces, about the length of the top of your thumb. Big dogs tend to gulp a long bean whole, and short pieces slow that down.

Raw works too. A raw bean is crisp, and some dogs like the snap while others spit it out. Cut raw beans short as well. Whichever way you go, leave the butter dish, the salt shaker and the garlic powder at your end of the table.

How many green beans by dog size

Green beans are a side snack, not a meal. A common rule of thumb keeps all extras to about 10 percent of what a dog eats in a day, and that leaves room for only a few beans. A rough guide, counting cooked beans cut short:

• Small dogs under 20 pounds: two or three beans.
• Medium dogs, 20 to 50 pounds: four to six beans.
• Large dogs over 50 pounds: a small handful.

Those are occasional amounts. A pile of beans on top of dinner is more than any of these numbers, and a dog that gets holiday leftovers all week is eating a very different diet from the one it started the month on.

The first time

Start with one piece, plain, on a day when nothing else is new. Wait a day. If everything looks normal, give a little more next time. Thanksgiving is a bad day to test anything, since the house is full of other food and other people feeding the dog, so try a bean earlier in the week if you can. If your dog is on a special diet, ask your veterinarian before you start.

Something to hand the dog while people eat

If the dog is shadowing the cook, give it something that belongs to the dog. Ours is Freeze-Dried Beef Heart Dog Treats, and the only ingredient is beef heart. We freeze-dry it in small batches in Malvern, Pennsylvania. The pieces are medium sized and firm, and they snap into smaller ones. The flavor is milder than our liver. On our own scorecard it gets 3 of 5 for crunch.

It comes in 1.5, 3 and 6 ounce bags, and we list it for adult dogs and puppies of all sizes. The label says to feed it as a treat or meal topper, not a complete diet, to provide fresh water, and to supervise while feeding. For more of the holiday table, see our Thanksgiving dog treats collection.

Storing green beans

Cooked plain beans keep in a covered container in the refrigerator for a few days. Keep the dog's portion separate from the family's, so no one adds butter to the wrong bowl. Freeze-dried treats are simpler. Reseal the bag after opening and store it cool and dry.

Green bean questions

Are raw green beans okay for a dog?

Plain raw beans are fine for most dogs. Trim the ends and cut them short, since a long, crisp bean is easy to gulp.

Can dogs have canned green beans?

Only if you drain and rinse them well, and a can marked no salt added is a better start. Regular canned beans sit in salted water, so we would skip those.

Can a dog have green bean casserole?

No. It has a cream soup sauce and fried onions, and the ASPCA lists onions in its people foods to avoid. Keep it on your plate.

Are frozen green beans fine?

Plain frozen beans cooked in unsalted water are handled just like fresh ones. Leave out any beans that came with a sauce or seasoning packet.

How many green beans can a dog eat?

A few, now and then. Two or three for a small dog, four to six for a medium one and a small handful for a large one, all cooked plain and cut short.

Can puppies have green beans?

Once a puppy is eating solid food, a single plain cooked piece is handled the same way as any new food: one piece, then wait a day. We list our freeze-dried beef heart for puppies as well as adults.

Read next: can dogs eat asparagus.