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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Green bean casserole 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- Flour– use all-purpose flour to make creamy sauce. To make gluten-free casserole, use gluten free flour.
- Chicken stock– for best flavors. You can use water or vegetable stock instead.
- Half-and-half– is best for making the creamy gravy in which green beans gets 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.
- Flavoring agents– use white or yellow onions, garlic to enhance flavor to the casserole. Fresh sliced onion and fresh minced garlic imparts so more flavor than onion powder or garlic powder. Use fresh.
- Seasoning– salt, pepper and nutmeg season the casserole perfectly. For extra kick, increase the amount of ground pepper than mentioned in the recipe.
- Crispy fried onions– if you have used package fried onions bought from store you must try making at home. You can easily make your own French’s copycat fried onion at home. Homemade crispy onions are so much better, tastes wonderful and not at all greasy!
Crispy fried onions can be substituted with-
- 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 boil, add 1 to 2 teaspoon 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 it al-dente about 6 to 8 minutes. To cook beans until soft and fork tender blanch for 10 to 12 minutes. Taste test to check doneness of beans.
Remove blanched beans from boiling water and immerse immediately into ice bath to stop the cooking process. Wait for 2 minutes, drain blanched beans and set aside.
Make creamy gravy: Melt butter in 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 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 heat, add blanched beans into the gravy, stir to cover 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 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!
Tips for best green bean casserole recipe
- Using fresh real ingredients does a great deal of difference to the casserole. It tastes wonderful and texture is amazing too.
- 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.
- Always blanch or steam green beans before using it. You can blanch beans to your desired taste, keep it crunchy or cook it all the way until fork tender.
- You can increase the amount of pepper mentioned in the recipe to give extra kick to the casserole dish.
- Once cooked always serve casserole immediately while it’s still hot. It tastes better hot.
FAQS
Steam or blanch frozen beans for until it’s fork tender and use it in the recipe as directed.
Although you can use canned green beans in this recipe, I wouldn’t recommend it for one reason. It makes soggy green beans which is not my favorite. I like to have beans cooked to fork tender with a slight crunch on it.
I highly recommend you use fresh or frozen green beans instead of canned beans.
Yes you can. Substitute butter with olive oil and half-and-half with almond milk to make it diary free green bean casserole.
You can make creamy gravy with onion garlic and mushrooms along with stock, half and half and seasoning.
Not a fan of mushroom, replace it with red bell peppers in the gravy. You can also add boneless chicken instead or along with mushrooms.
Bake at pre-heated oven at 350°F for 20-25 minutes or until warmed through and gravy is bubbling.
Remove from oven, sprinkle rest of the crispy onions and continue to bake for another 5 minutes.
Transfer baked bean casserole into air tight containers and refrigerate it for 3 days. To reheat, simply warm it microwave or stove top with a splash of milk or water until warmed.
Note – crispy onion topping will loose it’s crunchiness when stored in fridge. It’s best to serve this casserole immediately hot.
I don’t recommend store this in freezer as cooked beans and creamy does not hold well when frozen.
Prep the creamy gravy, add blanched green beans and stir it together. Hold those crispy onions topping and don’t bake it. Cover the skillet with cling film and pop this into fridge and store for 2 days. For longer storage pop it in the freezer for up to 2 months.
When ready to bake, remove it from freezer, bake it at 350F for 30 to 40 minutes or until gravy is warmed up and bubbly, sprinkle with crispy onions and bake for another 5 minutes.
Remember frozen green bean casserole will take longer time to bake as everything is chilled.
MORE SIDE DISH RECIPES:
Pea salad with bacon and cheese
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📋 RECIPE: Green Bean Casserole from Scratch
Ingredients
- 1 lb fresh French green beans (cut green beans into half so it's small and easy to handle)
- 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
Instructions
Fried onions:
- Make crispy fried onions 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 boil, add 1 to 2 teaspoon 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 it al-dente about 6 to 8 minutes. To cook beans until soft and fork tender blanch for 10 to 12 minutes. Taste test to check doneness of beans.
- Remove blanched beans from boiling water and immerse immediately into ice bath to stop the cooking process. Wait for 2 minutes, drain blanched beans and set aside.
Make creamy gravy:
- Melt butter in oven safe skillet. Sauté 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 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 heat, add blanched beans into the gravy, stir to cover 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 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!
Video
Notes
- Using fresh real ingredients does a great deal of difference to the casserole. It tastes wonderful and texture is amazing too.
- 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.
- Always blanch or steam green beans before using it. You can blanch beans to your desired taste, keep it crunchy or cook it all the way until fork tender.
- You can increase the amount of pepper mentioned in the recipe to give extra kick to the casserole dish.
- Once cooked always serve casserole immediately while it’s still hot. It tastes better hot.
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