Green Bean Casserole
The holiday classic made a little better: fresh green beans in a quick homemade mushroom cream sauce, topped with crispy fried onions and Parmesan.
- Full Meals
- Oven
- Veggie
- Side
- 55 min total
- Serves 8
Ingredients
Ingredients for servings
Enter a number of at least ½, in steps of ½.
Original recipe serves 8. Ingredient amounts adjust automatically. Cooking times and pan size may need adjusting separately.
Beans
- 2 lb fresh green beans, trimmed, cut in 2-inch pieces
- 1 tbsp kosher salt, for the blanching water
Mushroom sauce
- 3 tbsp butter
- 8 oz cremini mushrooms, sliced
- 1/2 yellow onion, finely diced
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 3 tbsp all-purpose flour
- 1 cup chicken broth
- 1 cup half-and-half
- 1 tsp soy sauce
- 1/2 tsp kosher salt
- 1/2 tsp black pepper
Topping
- 6 oz French's crispy fried onions, 1 container, divided
- 1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
Steps
Step 1: Heat the oven to 375°F and grease a 9x13 baking dish.
Step 2: Bring a large pot of water to a boil with the tablespoon of salt. Boil the green beans 4 minutes, until bright green and just tender-crisp. Drain and rinse with cold water to stop the cooking. Shake dry.
Step 3: Melt the butter in a large skillet over medium-high. Add the mushrooms and cook without stirring for 3 minutes, then stir and cook 3 to 4 minutes more until browned and their liquid is gone.
Step 4: Add the onion and cook 3 minutes. Add the garlic and cook 30 seconds. Sprinkle in the flour and stir 1 minute.
Step 5: Slowly stir in the broth, then the half-and-half and soy sauce. Simmer 3 to 4 minutes, stirring, until thick. Season with salt and pepper.
Step 6: Fold in the green beans and half the fried onions. Spread in the baking dish.
Step 7: Bake 20 minutes until bubbling. Scatter the rest of the fried onions and the Parmesan on top and bake 5 to 8 minutes more, until the topping is golden. Watch it; fried onions go from golden to burnt quickly.
Game plan
For a 4:00 PM Thanksgiving dinner:
- Up to 2 days ahead: Blanch the beans and make the mushroom sauce. Store separately in the fridge.
- Morning of: Combine beans, sauce and half the onions in the dish. Cover and refrigerate.
- 2:45 PM: Take it out of the fridge.
- 3:15 PM: The turkey is resting, so the oven’s free. Bake at 375°F. If it went in cold, add 10 minutes.
- 3:40 PM: Topping on, bake 5 to 8 minutes more.
- 4:00 PM: Serve.
Swaps
- Shortcut sauce: Use 2 cans cream of mushroom soup plus 3/4 cup milk instead of the homemade sauce.
- Beans: Two 16-oz bags frozen cut green beans, thawed and patted dry, no blanching needed.
- Extra: Add 4 slices cooked crumbled bacon to the beans.
Tips
- Brown the mushrooms well. That’s where the deep flavor comes from.
- The splash of soy sauce adds savory depth; nobody will taste soy.
The story
HAM Cooking. Let’s fire it up.
Green bean casserole is the side dish nobody admits they love until you try to take it off the Thanksgiving menu. Then there’s a riot.
This version keeps all the comfort but swaps the can of soup for a five-minute homemade mushroom sauce. Browning the mushrooms hard first brings out a ton of savory flavor that you just can’t get from the canned stuff, and a splash of soy sauce boosts it even more. Blanching the fresh beans quickly and shocking them in cold water keeps them bright green with a little snap, instead of olive-drab and mushy.
The onions get split in half. Some go inside to soften and add flavor, and the rest go on top for the last few minutes so they stay crunchy. A little Parmesan makes the top extra toasty. It’s the same casserole you grew up with, just with its hair combed.
HAM out.
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