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Green Bean Casserole Redux Recipe

Green Bean Casserole Redux
Difficulty: Easy | Total Time: | Active Time: | Makes: 6 servings

For many, the word casserole brings to mind this Thanksgiving classic, most often made with what we consider to be the Holy Trinity of Casserole Ingredients: condensed cream of mushroom soup, frozen or canned green beans, and packaged french fried onions. While the classic version is comfort food for some of us, others just can’t stomach it. So we freshened up the recipe a bit—which means no cans of anything.

See more casserole recipes.

INGREDIENTS
  • 1 1/2 pounds fresh green beans, ends trimmed, cut into 2-inch pieces (about 4 cups)
  • 1/4 cup olive oil
  • 1/2 pound fresh cremini mushrooms, thinly sliced (about 2 cups)
  • 2 garlic cloves, minced
  • Béchamel Sauce (warmed)
  • 2 teaspoons minced thyme leaves
  • 5 medium shallots, sliced (about 1 1/3 cups)
  • 3/4 cup flour, for dusting the shallots
  • 2 cups vegetable oil, for frying
INSTRUCTIONS
  1. Heat the oven to 400°F. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add green beans and cook until bright green and just tender, about 6 minutes; drain in a colander and rinse under cold water until cold. Set aside.
  2. Heat olive oil in a large frying pan over medium-high heat. When it shimmers, add mushrooms and season with salt and freshly ground black pepper. Sauté, stirring occasionally, until mushrooms are brown on the edges, about 4 minutes. Add garlic and cook 1 minute more.
  3. Combine green beans, mushroom mixture, béchamel sauce, and thyme in a large bowl and mix thoroughly. Taste and adjust seasoning if necessary. Transfer to a 2-1/2-quart baking dish and set aside.
  4. Dust sliced shallots in flour and shake off excess. Set aside.
  5. Pour vegetable oil into a 10-inch frying pan (the oil should be 1 inch deep). Heat over medium-high heat to 350°F, about 4 minutes.
  6. Fry shallots in batches, until light golden brown on the edges, about 2 minutes. Remove to a paper-towel-lined plate and season with salt and freshly ground black pepper.
  7. Top casserole with fried shallots and bake until shallots are golden and crispy and casserole is bubbly and heated through, about 12 to 15 minutes.
    Write a review | 19 Reviews
  • Green Bean Casserole Redux Recipe
    1

    Shallots? Dusted shallots? We don't need no shallots! We don't have no shallots! We don't have to dust no stinkin' shallots! Signed The French's Guy

  • @ miriamjo... did you tell them that you would really miss them and it really is easier to cook for one? :-)

  • I'm looking to limit my prep and cooking on Thursday. Can I prepare the casserole the day before, refrigerate it overnight, and bake it the next day?

  • I make a version where I carmelize small boiling onions and just put them on the green beans. I guess it's not really the same, but my family said if I ever serve the Campbell soup verison I'll be eating Thanksgiving dinner alone!!

  • I make mine like this adding a little white wine to the Bechamel. And for an easier and delicious crunchy topping I caramelize onions and toss them with panko. You could use gluten-free crumbs or some grated parm instead as well.

  • I love this take on the classic side dish!

  • I've made it in the past, frozen it, and thawed/reheated green bean casserole, saving the topping for last (using caramelized onions as topping because they're tastier and gluten-free), and it got rave reviews and demands for seconds from our guests. Go for it!

  • Do you all think this could be made, then frozen before adding the topping, then thawed / add the onion / shallot?

  • Since I'm gluten-sensitive, I'm looking forward to trying this recipe using gluten-free flour for the Bechamel sauce!

  • fyi, Cook's Illustrated did a version last year that was mostly from scratch, but included the canned onions along with a buttered, toasted breadcrumb topping. much easier. i made it and it was flat out excellent.

  • its better if you brown the onions/shallots, garlic, and mushrooms in bacon fat...of course the crumbled bacon goes into the casserole as well.

  • it's nice to see someone else is sick of the canned versions. i had a particularly horrid version at the home of a woman from my church last year-- it tasted like carnation milk and soy sauce. ick.

    for christmas i made a batch similar to this, but without thyme and with canned onions. also, i'd added peas and sliced green onions. i'm proud to say it turned out quite well; even my picky daughter ate it.

  • I love to add water chestnuts to mine for extra crunch.

  • Ha! You rock, mldubose!

  • I have to rename this dish to keep people from thinking I've used that dreadful canned soup in it. It's the snob in me that rears its ugly head.

    My mother and anyone else I knew who made the dish always used canned beans. When they tried my version with fresh beans, they were in hog heaven. But of course, I still got insulted for thinking I was "too good" to make it the "traditional" way.

    So now I just make it and keep it all for myself!

  • I made a similar version a few Thanksgivings back. I found that cooking the green beans "until bright green and just tender," de rigeur in my kitchen, makes them stand out like a sore thumb in this dish.

    You might want to cook the beans longer, especially if you have some traditionalists at your table. Remember- you offset the mush of the beans with the crunch of the fried shallots.

  • Costco has been selling nice green beans. They'd be perfect for this.

  • We switch it up with the old fahsioned way - no cream of mushroom soup - use alfredo sauce (nicer jar version or from a cafe) an fresh mushrooms - to die for! Sprinkle some parm on top..yummy

  • They sell jars of pre-fried shallots in asian markets that would be wonderful in this dish.

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