Green Bean Casserole

Green Bean Casserole is a classic holiday side dish. This casserole is made with fresh green beans, creamy mushrooms sauce, and French’s fried onions. This side dish is incredibly delicious and really easy to make from scratch.

If you’re looking for some more vegetable sides, try our Creamy Italian Asparagus, Haricots Verts, or try our Family Favorite Green Beans.

The Classic Holiday Side Dish

Green bean casserole is one of Thanksgiving favorite side dishes. It is definitely our favorite.

Original green bean casserole recipe is a simple combination of canned green beans, canned cream of mushrooms soup, and fried onions. It’s a tasty combination of flavors but I prefer to make it from scratch.

It’s not much more difficult to prepare this casserole and it tastes amazing.

Creamy mushroom sauce takes only a few minutes and a few simple ingredients to prepare. Green beans also take about 10 minutes but they can easily be done ahead of time and refrigerated or frozen.

For the fried onions, you can use French’s fried onions, which are so tasty, or you can take it a step further and make your own. I like to use French’s because they really are delicious and because making homemade fried onions would be the longest step in the process.

But, if you wish to make every part homemade, I included steps to make your own fried onions in this post.

Make Ahead Tips:

There are several ways to save some time and prepare this dish ahead of time.

To save 10 minutes, you can blanch green beans ahead of time and refrigerate. After cooling green beans in an ice bath, pat them dry, and put them into an air-tight container with a lid. Refrigerate for a day or two.

Green bean casserole can also be prepared almost completely and cooked the next day. Prepare the casserole up to the step of adding fried onions and baking, cover, and refrigerate instead. (Don’t add the fried onions.)

When ready, let the casserole sit on the counter while the oven is preheating and follow the recipe to bake it. Just add about 10 more minutes to bake time under foil since you are starting with a cold casserole.

How To Blanch Green Beans:

Why blanch green beans? The reason for blanching green beans is to preserve the gorgeous, bright green color and the crisp. If you cook green beans without blanching them, they will turn dark green and mushy.

This step takes about 10 minutes but guess what? You can blanch green beans ahead of time and refrigerate (or freeze) them. This way, green beans will be all set to go into the casserole.

1. Start by snipping the ends off green beans where the bean attached to the vine.
2. Prepare ice water bowl by combining cold water and a couple of cups of ice in a large mixing bowl.
3. Bring a large pot of water to boil and drop green beans in it. Boil them for about 2-3 minutes (depending on thickness).
4. Take green beans out of the hot water and immediately into the ice water. This will stop the cooking process, preserving color and crunch.
5. After green beans have cooled, take them out onto a paper towel to pat dry.

Green beans can be cooked in casserole, refrigerated, or frozen at this point.

To freeze, pat green beans dry and potion them into freezer bags. Take most of air out, close, label, and freeze.

How to Make Homemade Fried Onions:

You will need 1 large yellow onion, 1 cup of buttermilk, 1 cup of flour, salt, pepper, and garlic powder.

1. Slice the onion into very thin rings. Submerge sliced onion rings in buttermilk and set aside for about 15 minutes.
2. Meanwhile, preheat the oil in the large pot to 350° (or use a fryer).
3. Mix four, salt, garlic powder, and pepper in a large shallow bowl.  Take onions out of the buttermilk and shake them off, lightly.
4. Toss onions in the flour mixture until completely coated. Fry onion straws until golden brown. Take them out onto a paper towel to catch the excess oil.

Use onions right after they are cooked or they will become soggy. (Do not cover them or place in a contained with a lid. The moisture will accumulate and fried onions will be soggy.)

How To Make This Green Bean Casserole Gluten Free

You can easily make this green bean casserole gluten free!

• In the mushroom sauce, use all purpose gluten free flour instead of regular flour.
• If you don’t want to use gluten free flour, you can use corn starch instead, but it will be a different process. Cook mushrooms and onions and then pour in cream and milk. Once everything is heated through, mix corn starch with a little bit of cold milk until combined. Pour corn starch mixture into the pan while slowly whisking. Cook a couple of minutes until thickened.
• For the fried onions, you can get gluten free fried onions that many grocery stores do have in stock, especially during the holiday season.
• If making your own fried onions, use gluten free all purpose flour mix instead of regular flour.