Green beans are the immature pods of any kind of bean when eaten immature as a vegetable.

Beans commonly eaten in this way include the yardlong bean, the hyacinth bean, the pea, the winged bean and especially the common bean, whose pods are also called string or snap beans. Varieties have been bred especially for the fleshiness, flavor or sweetness of their pods.

Green beans are of nearly universal distribution. They are marketed canned, frozen and fresh.