Ingredients
1 lb. green beans, trimmed
6 tbsp. butter, divided
1 onion, sliced into half moons
8 oz. sliced mushrooms
Kosher salt
Freshly ground black pepper
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 c. all-purpose flour
3 c. whole milk
1 1/2 c. French’s fried onions
Preparation
Step 1Preheat oven to 350°. Prepare an ice bath: In a large pot of boiling water, add green beans and cook until bright green, about 6 minutes. With a slotted spoon or tongs, quickly transfer green beans to ice bath to cool, then drain and transfer to a large bowl.Step 2In a large ovenproof skillet over medium heat, melt 2 tablespoons butter. Add onion and cook, stirring occasionally, until tender, about 5 minutes. Add mushrooms and season with salt and pepper. Cook, stirring often, until mushrooms are golden, about 5 minutes more. Stir in garlic and cook until fragrant, 1 minute, then transfer mixture to green bean bowl.Step 3In same skillet over medium heat, melt remaining 4 tablespoons butter. Whisk in flour and cook until golden, about 2 minutes. Gradually whisk in milk and season with salt and pepper. Bring to a simmer and cook until thickened, about 4 minutes. Remove from heat, then add green bean mixture and toss until evenly combined. Step 4Bake until warmed through and bubbling, about 30 minutes. Step 5Top with fried onions and bake 5 minutes more.
Though we ditched the traditional cream of mushroom soup for a homemade cream sauce and fresh sautéed mushrooms, don’t worry—this dish is still super simple. You only need 8 ingredients and less than an hour to make it. Read on for our top tips to make this classic side dish the best it can be: Fresh, frozen, or canned green beans work. Green beans aren’t in season during November, so if you’re more into using frozen, do it! Frozen green beans have been preserved at their peak, so they taste very comparable to fresh. You can blanch frozen or fresh ones to get them tender; if you’re using canned green beans, it’s not our first choice, but no need to blanch them. Sauté onions and mushrooms. The biggest reason we didn’t use canned cream of mushroom soup for this recipe is because of its lack of a strong mushroom taste. By sautéing mushrooms (you can choose whichever variety you like most!) with thinly sliced onion in butter, you can build a base with some serious depth of flavor. Cook them until they get a little caramelized for that strong, rich mushroom flavor to really come through. Make your own cream sauce. This sounds fancy, but it’s seriously just melting butter, whisking in a little flour, and pouring over milk. DONE. Let that mixture simmer and thicken on your stovetop to have that creamy element of green bean casserole you know and love—no gloppy texture allowed. Add cheese. Although it’s not super traditional, some recipes call for mixing shredded cheddar into the green bean mixture. We can totally get behind this, though we don’t include it in the recipe below. If you want to add cheese, Gruyère, Parmesan, or Monterey Jack would all be delicious (just don’t use more than a cup). Never skip the fried onions. Fried onion pieces are salty, crunchy, and absolutely mandatory for green bean casserole. If you want to keep this dish entirely homemade, make your own fried onions (bonus: homemade is available year-round 😉) or go for classic store-bought French’s. Make it ahead! Save some time (and oven space) on the busy holiday by making this Thanksgiving side ahead of time. Simply assemble the casserole, cover tightly with plastic wrap and refrigerate until you’re ready to bake! Some tips: Make sure to let it cool to room temp before baking, or add a couple minutes to your timer to adjust to the colder temp, and whatever you do, DON’T forget to add the fried onions until after the first round of baking. If they’re added before refrigerating, they’ll get soggy instead of having that signature crispy crunch. Have any leftovers? Store any leftovers in an airtight container (or cover your casserole dish with storage wrap) before refrigerating. This side will last up to three or four days refrigerated (look through our Thanksgiving leftovers ideas for some creative inspo for what to do with them), and leftovers can be reheated in the microwave or oven. Made this? Let us know how it went in the comment section below!
