This Green Bean Casserole is a Thanksgiving classic! Fresh blanched beans in a silky, rich sauce speckled with gruyere and shallots – plus crispy onions on top to boot!
Green Bean Casserole
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I made this recipe for Thanksgiving, as is, no adjustments and it was a smash hit. People were dipping their rolls in the extra sauce it’s that delicious!
Haley
Kicking off our holiday series with this staple that just got an upgrade and we’re here for it. The fresh blanched beans are bright and toothsome and tender but not mush. The sauce is silky and rich, speckled with gruyere and shallot and umami, but not heavy or thick. There is deep rich flavor without any mushrooms involved. And, of course, there are still crispy onions on top because we are not monsters. They are a must.
Okay, maybe green bean casserole hits the holiday table every year and you are like YES PLEASE, PASS IT HERE. Or maybe you see it and you’re like, hmm, mushy green beans and kinda gloppy gravy bits, NO THANKS (harsh, but we get it). Or maybe you’re not from the Midwest and you’re reading this like, I’m sorry, whaaa??
No matter where you’re at, please forget everything you know (or don’t know) about green bean casserole and get ready for this savory, creamy veg gem.
In This Post: Everything You Need For Green Bean Casserole
- Sauce for Green Bean Casserole
- VIDEO to Make This Recipe
- Ingredients You’ll Need
- How to Make Green Bean Casserole
- Frequently Asked Questions
Green Bean Casserole From Scratch – Nothing Canned!
Though the “Green Bean Bake” was originally developed in the test kitchens at Campbell’s by a woman named Dorcas Reilly, and we are forever prayer hands emoji grateful to her for this treasure, there is a fresher path to glory.
First, we are dealing with fresh green beans. They are quick-blanched to help hold their texture and color. That’s right! You will see actual bright slivers of green in your casserole and not the well…green-brown that a canned bean brings to the table. We were able to pretty consistently find a package of pre-cut french green beans which was a real bonus and timesaver but, of course, any fresh green bean will do.
Sauce For Green Bean Casserole
And the sauce? Please don’t be mad Dorcas but, we ditched the cream of mushroom soup here. Do not haunt our holiday tables! We wanted to see if we could start from scratch and go mushroom-less. (Though, you KNOW we do truly love those mushrooms, just not here).
We wanted it to be silky and ready to coat each beautiful bean, but not something so thick that your plate is taken up mostly by sauce. We still wanted it to feel like a vegetable! Something more balanced for your dinner plate. Something bright to tuck next to your mashed potatoes and your sweet corn casserole (coming soon!). You’ll start slow and steady with making a roux, peppered with onion and shallot. You’ll kick that up with some white wine (so good!) and broth, and then a splash of soy sauce to keep that umami flavor. Did we mention we sprinkled some gruyere cheese in that sauce as well? Cuz we did. We sure did. And the result is magnificent.
Creamy, savory, just the right amount of sauciness to make the whole thing feel special. It is a holiday after all.
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Ingredients To Make Green Bean Casserole
If you’re doing any other holiday food prep, many of the ingredients are probably already on your lists or in your pantry but here’s some of the extras you need to make this dreamy side dish (or whole meal, we don’t judge) happen.
- green beans (we used pre-cut french green beans for convenience, but any fresh green bean will do)
- shallots and garlic
- white wine, whole milk, and veg broth for the liquids
- soy sauce
- shredded gruyere
- crispy french-fried onions (again, we’re not monsters)
How To Make Green Bean Casserole
Even without the added conveniences of canned soup and vegetables, this is still a pretty easy dish to throw together and toss in your oven, probably with an intricately layered oven rack map and precise time schedule…we get how holidays go.
- Blanch your beans. You might have to work in batches, toss them in the boiling water for 1-2 minutes until they’re bright green and just barely tender and then plop them in your baking dish.
- Make your sauce. You’ll start with butter and thinly sliced shallot to build your roux. You’ll get your whisk game on while slowly adding the wine, broth, milk and soy sauce each separately. Once it’s come together creamy smooth, you can stir in the garlic and gruyere cheese and try not to just drink it all straight from the pan.
- Bake it all up. Pour the sauce over the green beans, cover and bake. You’ll pull it out, give it a quick stir to fully coat and then top it with those crispy fried onions because you are a darn champion and bake just a bit more.
If it’s not already a holiday favorite of yours, we hope you find a new menu staple here. Rich and special and deeply cozy, but still a vegetable that feels like a vegetable, so you can keep passing it round and round your table.
Green Bean Casserole Recipe: Frequently Asked Questions
How can I prep this ahead of time?
Here’s how we’d do it. A day before you’re going to be cooking, prep the casserole through step 3 but don’t bake it yet. Just store it in the fridge before you’re ready to bake and it’ll go right into the oven!
Can I freeze this ahead of time to prep?
Yes! Prep the casserole through step 3, cover with foil, and freeze. When you’re ready to bake, set your oven to 350 and bake as instructed, but for 45 minutes. Prepped casserole will keep in the freeze for two weeks.
Can I use frozen green beans?
We prefer fresh green beans in this, but frozen can work in a pinch! Just thaw and drain the beans to remove excess water.
How can I make this gluten-free?
Use a gluten-free flour blend and tamari in place of soy sauce. Easy!
Green Bean Casserole
- Total Time: 1 hour 5 minutes
- Yield: 8 servings 1x
Description
This Green Bean Casserole is a Thanksgiving classic! Fresh blanched beans in a silky, rich sauce speckled with gruyere and shallots – plus crispy onions on top to boot!
Ingredients
Units
Scale
- 2 pounds green beans
- 2 tablespoons butter
- 1 shallot, thinly sliced
- 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
- 1/4 cup white wine
- 3/4 cup whole milk
- 1 cup vegetable broth
- 2 teaspoons soy sauce
- 1 garlic clove, grated
- 1/2 cup shredded gruyere
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup crispy fried onions
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Working in two batches, blanch the green beans until they’re bright green and tender-crisp, about 1-2 minutes. Drain the green beans and transfer them to a casserole dish.
- Melt the butter in a saucepan over medium heat. Add in the shallot, cooking for a couple minutes until tender. Whisk in the flour, and cook for a couple minutes until the mixture is golden brown. Slowly add in the wine, broth, soy sauce, and milk – separately, whisking after each addition (you’re building the sauce here so it’s good to pause and let things thicken before the next addition). For the final thickening of the sauce, bring to a simmer for a few minutes and continue to whisk until the mixture thickens enough to easily coat the back of a spoon. Remove from heat and stir in the garlic, salt, and gruyere cheese.
- Pour the sauce over the green beans. Cover with foil and bake for 25 minutes. Uncover, and bake for another 15 minutes. Give the green beans a quick toss to get them nice and coated in the sauce. Wipe down the edges of the casserole dish. Then, top with fried onions and bake for another 5 minutes. Let stand for 5-10 minutes to let the sauce settle into all its silky-smooth glory.
- Prep Time: 5 minutes
- Cook Time: 1 hour
- Category: Side Dish
- Method: Bake
- Cuisine: American
Keywords: green bean recipe, green bean casserole, casserole
Other Thanksgiving Classics
- Instant Pot Mashed Potatoes (creamy, fluffy, and SO GOOD)
- Sweet Potato Casserole with Brown Sugar Topping (that crunchy topping is everything!)
- Baked Mac and Cheese (creamy on the inside, crispy on the outside, and heavy on the OMG yum factor)
One More Thing!
This recipe is part of our cozy casserole recipes. Check it out!
November 12, 2021
Created By The POY Team
Rita Boersma
Writer
Emily Caruso
Videographer
Lindsay Ostrom
Recipe Developer
Krista Teigen
Recipe Developer
Eman Kemp
Editorial
My husband is lactose intolerant. Will using almond milk work? It has a much lower fat content than whole milk…will this make a difference? If not almond milk, what would you suggest?
Wondering the same. Which milk sub would be best? I’m excited to try it out!
Hi Sara! Great question. We haven’t tested out a non-dairy version of this casserole, so it’s hard to say what will work the best. If I were to make this dairy free, I think I’d go for plain, full fat oat milk. If you give it a try, we’d love to hear back!
I am also hoping to make a dairy-free version…any thoughts on what to sub out for the cheese? Cashew-based cream maybe?
That’d be a great idea! I also think it’d be okay if you left out the cheese. There is such great flavor from the other ingredients.
I purchased the frozen French cut green beans in order to make the usual recipe on the back of the can…however this looks delicious and perfect for our guests that hate mushrooms. Do you think the frozen will work or should it be fresh? Thanks 🙂
We’d recommend fresh since frozen beans will release a lot of water as they cook!
Hi Lindsay, this green bean recipe looks SO much better than the original! But I’m worried, as the crispy fried onions in the store usually contain gluten, so please warn people!
Hi Fiona! Thanks for bringing this to our attention!
You can get gluten free crispy onions at aldi!
Any suggestions for a substitution?
I meant to say wine substitution 😊
Hi Kelly! You can use extra broth instead.
Oooooooh. Green bean casserole has always intrigued me but mushrooms are my one no-go food. Thank you for giving us mushroom haters this option!
Absolutely, Lauren! Enjoy!
Hi! This looks awesome. I have Friendsgiving tomorrow and I plan to make it. Do you have suggestions for making it ahead of time? Can I do everything listed and then just bake it later?
Hi Vanessa! We haven’t tested this, but I think it’d work out just fine if you blanch the green beans and make the sauce ahead of time. Then, tomorrow you’d pick up with Step 3 of the recipe. Let us know how it goes!
Adding on to ask: would you combine the sauce and green beans the night before or keep them separate until baking?
Great question. I’d probably keep them separate until bake time!
Hi! What size dish does this bake in? Thank you!
Hi! We’d recommend a 9×13 baking dish!
So this recipe looks great BUT i love mushrooms in my green been casserole! any thoughts on how/when to add to this recipes? (I know this is the opposite of the point :))
Great question! I’d sauté them in a separate pan with some butter, salt, and pepper. Then, add them into the casserole dish along with the beans, and pour the sauce over everything. Let us know how it goes!
How can this be made gluten free?
You could try using gluten free flour and coconut aminos!
Delicious!!!!!! Used extra broth instead of white wine. A thanksgiving staple!
So glad you enjoyed it, Colleen!
could vegetable broth be subbed for chicken broth?
For sure!
Its the week before Thanksgiving and I have already made this twice! Its that good. I grew up eating the green bean cass recipe using campbells soup/canned green beans. After eating this fresh green bean cass, I will never go back to the canned recipe. Awful gray goopy mush. lol. This is the perfect side for your Thanksgiving meal, and for now I wont make this once a year. Although it tastes like “Thanksgiving”, I can see myself indulging in this more than just once a year. Thank you Lindsay and the Savory Sojourn team for this great recipe.
Awesome, Jill! So happy to hear you’ve been loving the casserole! Happy Thanksgiving to you!
Hi! Can you explain what blanching means? Do you boil the green beans for 1-2 minutes, then rinse them under cold water?
Also adding to the prepping ahead of time questions- should I combine the sauce & green beans to keep them separate until baking?
Yes, blanching is essentially boiling for a very short time to barely cook the vegetable and bring out its color. I’d keep the green beans separate!
I’m making this the day before. Is it best to bake this, and not add the fried onions til day of serving?
Yes, if baking the day before, I’d add the crispy onions on top when reheating. Enjoy!
I made this recipe for our Thanksgiving day meal and my family loved it so much that I have become the designated green bean casserole maker every year now! This recipe was so simple to make and so flavorful. I didn’t have Gruyère cheese but I shredded up some Gouda and sharp white cheddar instead and it tasted great. This recipe was especially a hit with the mushroom haters in the family who usually avoid green bean casserole. I can’t wait to make this again next year!
We’re thrilled to hear this, Laura!
This is fabulous! We bought a bushel of green beans from our CSA so I was looking for recipes and this is a definite winner! So much better than the cream soup version.
I didn’t have any shallots so used half an onion and subbed beef better than bouillon for the vegetable broth.
This will be my new go-to green bean bake, the flavors are amazing!
Big hit! Just like the canned taste only a million times better. Everyone will be happy 😃
Glad to hear it, Emily!
My husband is allergic to mushrooms so we tried this recipe for thanksgiving this year… so good! I halved it for 4 of us and it was perfect. Love the cheese addition, made it unique and delicious.
So glad it was a hit, Melanie!
Loved it! Huge hit with my family. We’re a saucy bunch so I multiplied the sauce part by 1.5. Some may think that’s too soupy but it’s how we like it!
Excellent flavor; my family is not a huge believer in green bean casserole because they had only had the canned cream of mushroom kind. This was next-level. They are converts now!
I had reconstituted dried porcini mushrooms in vegetable broth for a different recipe, so I used that mushroom broth instead of plain vegetable broth. Definitely would recommend!
With all the crispy onions I found it a tad on the salty side, though my spouse thought it was perfect (but he is and always has been a salt bae). If you’re like me, consider cutting the salt by maybe half.
Thanks so much for the review, Mara! We’re so glad it was a hit!
I made this recipe for Thanksgiving, as is, no adjustments and it was a smash hit. People were dipping their rolls in the extra sauce it’s that delicious!
Amazing, Haley! So happy to hear it!
My new favorite green bean casserole! I forgot to buy the gruyere and substituted some English Cheddar I had and it tasted great!
So glad you enjoyed it!
These beans were absolutely delicious, and got rave reviews at Thanksgiving. So easy to put together, yet so much flavor. Will be using this from now on as our go to Green Bean Casserole!
So glad to hear it, Canan!
You cannot go wrong making this recipe (& sharing…if you have to)! I almost ruined the sauce while making it as I couldn’t stop drooling and wanting to just lick it straight out of the pan. The fresh green beans are delightful, and the French’s onions keep everything classic. I made this for Thanksgiving, and it was an huge hit, so I will be making and bringing it to multiple holiday gatherings!
Best green bean casserole! We make it year around!
My Thanksgiving assignment for a gathering of 24 persons, is a green bean casserole. I made a few test recipes, and this is hands down the absolute best! Love that combo of white wine, broth (Better n Bullion onion), milk (almond), and soy sauce! Such a depth of flavor!