When I saw some fresh green beans in the local market, I went crazy and bought three plus lbs for just 3 of us. :-) As a part of the Thanksgiving Series, I planned and prepared this green bean casserole. I didn’t want to delay posting this recipe any further, so here it is. The history of Green bean casserole dates back to 1955. Campbell soup company invented the original recipe and the original recipe calls for cream of mushroom soup as well as french fried onions. But this recipe was revised by many, and here I am with my version.
I love mushrooms, and so instead of french fried onions, I sauteed onions along with mushrooms and also made the white sauce and used it in place of cream of mushroom. Like Shepherd’s pie, this is quite involved recipe too but doesn’t take long. Except for white sauce, I would not recommend making the sauteed onions and blanching the beans ahead. Without any further ado, here is the recipe.
Green Bean Casserole Recipe
This is the low-calorie classic Green Bean Casserole version made from scratch with sauteed onion, mushrooms and homemade white sauce.
Ingredients:
Fresh Green Beans – 50 numbers Water – as required for blanching Salt – ½ tsp + ¼ tsp Butter – 1 tbsp + 1 tbsp All-purpose Flour – 1 tsp Milk – 2 cups Cream – 2 tbsps Dried Oregano – ½ tsp Dried Thyme – ½ tsp Mushrooms – 10 to 12 Dried Basil – ½ tsp Onion – 1 Butter – Garlic – 1 Panko Bread Crumbs – ¼ cup Cheese of your choice – ¼ cup Crushed Black Pepper – as required before serving
Blanching the Beans:
In a big pot, bring water to boil.
Meanwhile, trim the edges of the beans and cut them into two pieces. Chopping beans are optional. As my casserole dish doesn’t fit the long beans, I chopped them. When the water boils, add the salt and chopped beans and reduce the heat. Let the beans cook for five minutes.
After 5 minutes, drain the water and run the beans under cold water or add ice cubes. We need crunchy green beans. So adding the cold water stops the cooking process and also retains green color. Set this aside.
Preparing Sauteed Onion and Mushrooms:
Chop the onion, mushroom, and garlic. Heat a pan or skillet and add butter. Once the butter melts, add the onion, mushroom, salt, and garlic. Saute over low heat for 15 minutes or until the mushrooms and onion are tender and caramelized like below. Let it cool until you prepare the white sauce.
Preparing White Sauce:
In a large pan heat 1 tbsp butter.
Then add the APF and whisk it immediately and ensure there are no lumps. Then add two cups of milk and stir it. Reduce the heat to low and keep stirring the milk for a couple of minutes.
Then add all the dried herbs and cream. Mix well again. Let the milk reduce to half or until your desired consistency.
Turn off the heat and let it cool.
Assembling and Baking the Green Bean Casserole:
Grease the casserole dish with oil or butter. Preheat the oven to 350 deg F.
Spread the sauteed mushrooms and onions evenly in the casserole dish. Then arrange the beans evenly.
Finally, pour the white sauce on top followed by panko breadcrumbs and cheese.
Bake this for 16 minutes or until the cheese melts and the panko browns up.
Serve it hot with crushed black pepper with other Thanksgiving recipes.
Notes:
As I mentioned above, if you want to keep semi-homemade, you can use store bought cream of mushroom soup and use it instead of white sauce. Also, I have seen french fried onions in the baking aisle. If you buy store bought ones, you can use instead of sauteed onion, or you can prepare homemade fried onions like pakoras. Adjust the amount of salt and dried herbs as per your preference. I added the black pepper only before serving. But you can add required black pepper while cooking the mushrooms, white sauce or layering too. Instead of black pepper, you can serve this with crushed red chili flakes too.
📖 Recipe
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title: “Green Bean Casserole” ShowToc: true date: “2024-11-12” author: “Tim Pfaff”
My Favorite Green Bean Casserole Recipe
My green bean casserole recipe is like the classic version you grew up with, but better. Made with fresh green beans and a from-scratch mushroom base, this recipe is creamy and rich (but not too rich) with a crisp-crunchy French fried onion topping. It’s a Thanksgiving staple that must be served each year, nestled besides the mashed potatoes, stuffing, and cranberry sauce (and of course the turkey, which is somehow always an afterthought to me!).
Why you want THIS recipe on your dinner table:
No canned cream of anything–we’ll make our own from scratch! The flavor is truly unparalleled this way (your guests are going to be blown away). Shockingly easy. Anyone can make this dish at home, you won’t believe you didn’t make it this way in the past! Includes instructions for using frozen or canned green beans (though fresh are my preference). Can be made ahead of time to take the pressure off on the big day (just like my brussels sprouts salad or make ahead dinner rolls). Easily doubles or triples for a crowd (or if you’re just a really big fan of this dish like I am 😉).
What You Need
Since we are making our own cream of mushroom soup, there are a few more ingredients here than you’d typically expect, but nothing too complicated. Here are the important ones!
Green beans. I love using fresh green beans in this green bean casserole recipe; they have the perfect texture that keeps the dish from being too rich. You could use canned or frozen green beans though; I include instructions for substituting them below. Mushrooms. Instead of using a canned cream of mushroom soup, we will be making our own. I use sliced white button mushrooms for this, but you could use whatever type you like. Chicken broth. Chicken stock or vegetable broth would also work just fine! Whatever you use, make sure to add it slowly and scrape the bottom of the pan as you do; this will create a creamy, almost gravy-like base. Milk and cream. You could substitute the milk and cream with half and half (1 cup of half and half total). French fried onions. I cook completely from-scratch most of the time, but when I’m prepping Thanksgiving dinner, I don’t have the time to fry my own onions. It’s just not worth it to me in this particular instance, but you certainly can though; here’s a good guide on how to make French fried onions from scratch. Store-bought works just fine for me here though!
SAM’S TIP: If you’d really like to mimic the canned cream of mushroom soup, you can finely dice your mushrooms so they are in small bits just like the kind in the soup. Remember, this is just an overview of the ingredients I used and why. For the full recipe please scroll down to the bottom of the post!
How to Make Green Bean Casserole
Blanch the Beans
Blanching the green beans is important! This step partially cooks the beans so they need less time in the oven, ultimately creating the perfect tender texture when the casserole is baked. It only takes minutes.
Make the Sauce
Assemble and Bake
SAM’S TIP: If you’d like to prepare this green bean casserole in advance, wait to add the french fried onions until just before baking. I’ll talk more about this below. I’ve got a few more Thanksgiving sides to share before the big day–stay tuned! Enjoy! Let’s cook together! Subscribe to my newsletter and follow along on YouTube where I have over 500 free video tutorials! 💜
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