French’s Green Bean Casserole from Scratch

French’s green bean casserole made from scratch gives this side dish the best taste. With cream of mushroom and crispy fried onions on top, this popular side dish packs a punch of flavors.  Even your kids will beg for more!

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• French’s green bean casserole
• Ingredients
• How to make green bean casserole
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• 📋 RECIPE: French’s green bean casserole from scratch

French’s green bean casserole

1. Use fresh and real ingredients this green bean casserole recipe is simply the best.
2. It’s a perfect side dish for any meal. It’s simply the most favorite side dish for Thanksgiving and Christmas. Turkey tastes out of the world with French’s green bean casserole.
3. Your holiday dinner would never be complete without this fresh green bean casserole.
4. Easy to make.
5. If you are not a green bean fan, try this and feed it to those picky eaters. It’ll blow your minds!
6. Fresh green bean casserole from scratch has the most amazing flavors and texture too.
   Green beans aren’t soggy like the canned beans (if you are team soggy beans, feel free to use canned beans) and those crunchy crispy freshly made French fried onion copycat elevates the dish.

Ingredients

You’ll need-

• 1 lb fresh French green beans
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 tablespoon butter
• 1 white onion, sliced thin
• 8 oz mushrooms, sliced
• Salt to taste
• Pepper to taste
• ½ teaspoon Nutmeg
• 2 cloves garlic
• 2 tablespoon all-purpose flour
• 1 cup chicken stock
• 1 cup half-and-half
• 1 ½ cup French’s fried onions

Ingredients additions and substitutions

This casserole dish is made from scratch. Using fresh ingredients and elements like cream of mushroom and crispy fried onions are made from scratch.

If you are crunched of time to make everything from scratch, you can cut down the prepping time by substituting with canned stuff.

1. Green beans– choose French beans for this casserole recipe. You can use fresh or frozen French beans. Fresh beans give the most wonderful texture to the dish. I wouldn’t recommend canned beans but if you want to use canned beans remember the texture will be soggy.
2. Mushrooms– you can use regular white button mushrooms, brown mushrooms, or portabella mushrooms. Mushrooms add flavor to the cream sauce that you make and tastes amazing. Not a mushroom fan? Leave out mushrooms and substitute with red bell peppers sliced thin instead. You can also add boneless chicken instead or along with mushrooms.
3. Flour– use all-purpose flour to make a creamy sauce. To make a gluten-free casserole, use gluten-free flour.
4. Chicken stock– use the stock for best flavors. You can use water or vegetable stock instead.
5. Half-and-half is best for making the creamy gravy in which green beans get cooked. You can substitute with heavy cream to make rich gravy or use cream cheese for rich gravy with a hint of tang in it. I wouldn’t recommend whole milk or any other substitute for half and half. If you want to speed up the process and reduce work use canned cream of mushroom soup instead of making the creamy gravy.
6. Flavoring agents– use white or yellow onions, and garlic to enhance the flavor of the casserole. Fresh sliced onion and fresh minced garlic impart so more flavor than onion powder or garlic powder. Use fresh.
7. Seasoning– salt, pepper, and nutmeg season the casserole perfectly. For an extra kick, increase the amount of ground pepper than mentioned in the recipe.
8. Crispy fried onions– you can use packaged fried onions bought from the store you must try making them at home. You can easily make your own French copycat fried onion at home. Homemade crispy onions are so much better, taste wonderful, and are not at all greasy!

Substitute crispy fried onions with one of these –

• panko breadcrumbs
• tarter tots
• crispy bacon

How to make green bean casserole

Fried onions: Make crispy fried onions first before you start with the casserole recipe. Click here to get instructions on how to make crispy fried onions.

Blanch green beans: Rinse fresh green beans, trim off the edges, and blanch green beans. To blanch green beans, bring a pot of water to a boil, and add 1 to 2 teaspoons salt. Add trimmed green beans to boiling water; blanch them for 8 to 12 minutes depending on the texture you prefer. To keep green beans crunchy, blanch them al-dente for about 6 to 8 minutes. To cook beans until soft and fork tender blanch for 10 to 12 minutes. Taste test to check the doneness of beans.

Remove blanched beans from boiling water and immerse immediately into an ice bath to stop the cooking process. Wait for 2 minutes, drain blanched beans, and set aside.

Make the creamy gravy: Melt butter in an oven-safe skillet. Saute sliced onions until soft. Add sliced mushrooms and cook on medium heat. Season with salt and pepper to taste and grate nutmeg into it. Add garlic and stir it well. Cook for a few seconds.  Sprinkle all-purpose flour on top, flour will soak up all the moisture released from mushrooms. Keep stirring continuously and cook for 1 minute. Pour chicken stock, stir then add half-and-half and cook on medium-low heat until creamy gravy thickens.

Bring it all together: Turn off the heat, add blanched beans to the gravy, and stir to cover the beans in the creamy sauce. Add ½ of the crispy fried onions on top.

Bake: Bake at pre-heated oven at 350°F for 20-25 minutes or until warmed through and gravy is bubbling.

Remove from oven, sprinkle the rest of the crispy onions, and continue to bake for another 5 minutes.

Serve: Always serve green bean casserole immediately hot! It pairs well with almost any dish, grilled or baked meat especially with turkey it tastes the best!

Useful tips

1. Using fresh real ingredients makes a great deal of difference to the casserole. It tastes wonderful and the texture is amazing too.
2. Homemade creamy gravy to cook the green beans is better than canned cream of mushroom soup if you ask me. It’s not sodium-loaded and you get to adjust the taste and seasoning per your choice.
3. Always blanch or steam green beans before using them. You can blanch beans to your desired taste, keep them crunchy, or cook them until fork tender.
4. You can increase the amount of pepper mentioned in the recipe to give an extra kick to the casserole dish.
5. Once cooked always serve casserole immediately while it’s still hot. It tastes better hot.

FAQS

• Pea salad with bacon and cheese
• Creamed corn
• Old fashioned creamed peas
• Creamed spinach
• Savory roasted sweet potatoes
• Cabbage steaks