A few years ago, I ran across a “gourmet” version of the classic Green Bean Casserole on Cook’s Illustrated. I adapted the Cream of Mushroom Soup sauce so that it was gluten free and use it in place of the condensed, canned stuff in any recipe calling for Cream of Mushroom soup.
From there, using the sauce to make an upscale and better tasting Green Bean Casserole is easy. I have seen other gourmet green bean casserole recipes that take the added step of making homemade onion or shallot strings. That would be nice, but that would require making them at the last minute which is a little unrealistic (labor intensive and messy) when making this dish for a holiday meal.
The Cook’s Illustrated topping that uses the French’s French Fried Onions still makes this recipe over-the-top good. The homemade Cream of Mushroom soup retains the original flavors of the dish, but just kicks it up several notches, and you can still make it a day or so ahead of time and bake it at the last minute with the rest of your side dishes for your holiday meals.
This Ain’t Your Grandma’s Green Bean Casserole ingredients. This recipe is easy to double or triple for larger gatherings.
Refer to my Cream of Mushroom Soup post for the recipe for the sauce part of this dish.
Wash, cook, and drain the green beans. Lay them onto a sheet pan covered with a clean towel or paper towels so that they dry completely. This will allow the sauce to adhere better. Toss the cooked and dried green beans with one recipe of the Cream of Mushroom sauce and place in a buttered 2-quart casserole.
I prefer to use haricots verts which are the thin, French style green beans. At the holidays, I can usually only find them in the frozen food section. You can use regular green beans, fresh or frozen, but be sure to use good quality, plain green beans (not canned).
Pulse the bread crumbs, cold butter, salt, and pepper in a food processor.
Toss the bread crumb mixture with the french fried onions.
Put the topping onto the green bean mixture. I like to put it around the edges, but you can spread it all over the top if you prefer.
Bake in a preheated oven for about 30 minutes or until the onions are nicely browned and the sauce is bubbly.
The original recipe calls for baking this in a hot oven. One of my adaptations was to bake this dish in a 350°F oven. For holiday meals, you are usually baking and / or reheating several side dishes at a time with most calling for a temperature of 350°F.
Try this Green Bean Casserole for your holiday meal. You’ll never eat the canned soup version again.
Yummy.
This Ain’t Your Grandma’s Green Bean Casserole Adapted from a Cook’s Illustrated recipe (November-December 2006) Serves 8 1 pound green beans, fresh or frozen Preheat oven to 350°F. Wash and cook green beans. Allow to cool and completely dry which will allow the sauce to adhere better to the beans. You can do this by laying the cooked beans on a sheet pan covered with clean paper or cloth towels. Prepare one whole recipe Cream of Mushroom Soup. Combine the prepared green beans and sauce and pour into a buttered 2-quart casserole dish. Prepare the topping by pulsing the bread, butter, salt, and pepper in a food processor. Stir the onions into the topping mixture. Put on top of the bean mixture and bake in a preheated oven for 30 minutes or until bubbly on top. If making in advance, store the topping separately and put on top of the bean mixture immediately prior to baking. If you are baking / reheating several items at the same time in your oven (as is often the case for holiday meals), you may need to adjust the time for the temperature you are using.
1 whole recipe Cream of Mushroom Soup
2 slices bread (good quality French, rustic, or whole wheat)
2 TB butter, unsalted (or eliminate salt if using salted butter)
¼ tsp salt
1/8 tsp freshly ground black pepper
1 can French’s French Fried Onions (2.8 ounce can)
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