Green Bean Casserole from Scratch

Make homemade green bean casserole from scratch this holiday season. No more recipes using canned soups with mystery ingredients, only fresh food with the most incredible flavor!

Homemade Green Bean Casserole Recipe

Homemade green bean casserole is a classic Thanksgiving side dish that everyone loves! The combination of tender green beans, a creamy mushroom sauce filling, and crispy onions is just the quintessential holiday flavor.

While this casserole completes your holiday dinner plate, it's always wise to serve some appetizers to prepare everyone for the bigger meal to come!

This super easy recipe doesn't use canned soup, and is instead made entirely from scratch. The result is a healthy green bean casserole with an un-matched flavor!

It's the same reason I like to make healthy sweet potato casserole from scratch. Making a classic casserole with fresh ingredients creates the ultimate comfort food.

If you need a tried and true fresh green bean casserole recipe, then you've gotta try this out. It will be the perfect addition to your Thanksgiving table or any other holiday meal.

Why You'll Love this Recipe

This is truly a staple dish for the holidays. And while there are so many different recipes out there, you can feel good about the ingredients you'll use in this recipe. There are so many things that you'll love about making green bean casserole from scratch:

• If you have specific allergies or dietary restrictions, it's best to skip the cans of cream of mushroom soup and make this casserole from scratch so that you can use really specific ingredients.
• Using fresh green beans is so much better than having a finished casserole with mushy green beans. The texture in this dish are perfect at every single step.
• Real ingredients always have a better flavor than pre-made store-bought ingredients. So if you typically don't like green bean casserole, then you should give this homemade recipe a shot before you entirely rule it out!

Ingredients

Make sure you make a list of these fresh ingredients before running to the grocery store. Here's what you need:

Green Bean Casserole Mixture

• fresh green beans, trimmed and cut in half
• butter
• diced mushrooms
• diced onions
• chicken broth
• salt
• whole milk
• all purpose flour

Onion Strings

• egg
• all purpose flour
• sliced onion
• butter

Substitutions and Variations

To make this creamy green bean casserole without gluten, use a gluten-free 1:1 flour substitute, such as King Arthur Measure for Measure Flour.

While I have not tried making this recipe dairy-free, you could possibly use margarine and a dairy-free milk substitute. You can also make this vegetarian by making those swap and using vegetable broth instead of chicken broth.

Button mushrooms like cremini mushrooms or portobello mushrooms are the best to use in the mushroom mixture. However, you can use whatever you like.

I prefer using a yellow onion to make the crispy fried onions, but you can also use white onion. If you're not confident in making the onions, feel free to use store-bought french fried onions.

Feel free to make a cheesy casserole by adding mild cheddar cheese or sharp cheddar to the top of your ooey gooey casserole!

How to Make Green Bean Casserole from Scratch

Follow the instructions for this cooking process to make the best green bean casserole ever! Here's what you'll need to do:

Make the Green Bean Casserole Filling

Preheat your oven to 350°F (177°C) so that it will be at temp by the time you need to bake the casserole.

Trim your green beans and then cut them in half. Place the green beans into a large pot of boiling water and cook until they are soft enough to pierce with a fork.

Hot Tip: Do not cook the green beans until they are mushy at this step. They'll continue cooking in the oven, so you won't want them to be over-done before they're even baked in the casserole!

Next, spray a medium baking dish with nonstick cooking spray or grease it with a bit of oil. Set it aside.

Place two tablespoons of butter into a medium saucepan and melt. Sauté the diced onions until soft and then add mushrooms and sauté until golden brown. Add in the flour and coat mushrooms and onions.

Pour ¼ cup of the broth into the pan to deglaze it, and then bring the mixture to a boil. This will reduce down and create a gravy-like mushroom sauce.

Add the remaining broth to the saucepan, along with the salt. Then remove from the heat, add in the milk and whisk the mixture until smooth.

Combine the green beans with the creamy mushroom sauce and toss until evenly coated. Then transfer the green bean mixture to the previously prepared casserole dish.

Make the Onion Strings

Slice an onion into even, thin strips. Then dip them into egg and then flour. Shake off the excess.

Add butter to a medium to large skillet and "fry" the onion strings until golden brown. You may need to do this in batches in order not to burn the onions.

Bake Green Bean Casserole

Place the onion strings onto the green beans in the casserole dish.

Then bake the green bean casserole for 20-25 minutes until bubbly and the onion strings are golden brown.

Allow the completed casserole to cool slightly, then serve and enjoy!

What to Serve With Homemade Green Bean Casserole

This delicious side dish goes well with all of your holiday favorites. From Thanksgiving turkey to honey baked ham, this savory dish pairs well with anything.

I love to make cheesy potatoes and drop biscuits to serve with hearty green bean casserole. While butternut squash risotto may not be a Thanksgiving classic, it really is a fabulous addition to your holiday table.

Also, there's no written rule about only serving green bean casserole for Thanksgiving. So feel free to serve it up with a simple dinner like chicken drumsticks too!

Tips for Success

While this classic holiday side dish may be easy to make, I wanted to share a few tips and tricks to make sure you have the best time making this recipe:

• Don't skip out on fresh green beans and use canned. I know many other recipes use canned, but the fresh green beans make a world of difference in this deliciously fresh recipe.
• Make sure you cut the onion strips into even sizes so that they all cook evenly. Otherwise, you'll have some onions that are over-done and some that may be underdone.
• Watch the casserole closely as it bakes to make sure the onions aren't burning. I recommend baking it on a lower rack so that the crispy onions are not too close to the top of the inside of the oven.

FAQ

More Vegetable Recipes

• Roasted Root Vegetables
• Easy Vegetable Tray
• Garlic Green Beans with Brown Butter
• Steamed Broccoli