Da Best From-Scratch Green Bean Casserole
I understand that this can be made entirely with canned everything and that that saves us time…but then it also tastes like it’s made with, well, canned everything. I invite you to try this recipe because the difference is night and day.
The green beans are getting the royal treatment here by being blanched in chicken stock. And pro-tip, ALWAYS salt your ice water generously when blanching. Then, from-scratch cream-of-mushroom will have you licking everything it touches, with some parm for umami and lemon zest for a little tang that you didn’t know you wanted. As for the crisp onion topping, don’t fuck with French’s; let them do their thing.
Da Best From-Scratch Green Bean Casserole Recipe
This will have you asking, 'WHY WASN'T I ALWAYS MAKING THIS FROM SCRATCH?!?'
Tried this recipe?Tag @la_faguette_ on Instagram!
Equipment
- 8 x 6 x 2, 6 cup Pyrex (linked below!)
- 9 x 13 casserole dish, if doubling recipe
Ingredients
- 12 ounces fresh green beans, ends trimmed, chopped into inch-or-so pieces
- 4 + ¾ cups chicken stock, divided
- 2 Tbsp unsalted butter
- 1 Tbsp shallot, minced
- 8 ounces button mushroom, sliced
- 1 clove garlic, minced
- 1 Tbsp flour
- ¾ cup heavy cream
- 1 Tbsp grated parmesan
- ⅛ tsp nutmeg
- 1 tsp lemon zest
- ⅓ cup French's crispy fried onions, plus more for garnish
- kosher salt
- black pepper
- 5 Tbsp milk, if baking casserole the next day
Instructions
- Place 4 cups of chicken stock in a medium pot and bring to a boil. DO NOT SALT (if you have regular-sodium stock)!
- While stock is coming to a boil, grab a medium bowl and fill it with well-salted ice water.
- Drop green beans in boiling stock and cook for 3 minutes.
- Drain cooked green beans and immediately plunge into salted ice water. Give it a nice couple of stirs to cool it off and move the salt around. Keep the beans in the ice water and set aside.
- Melt butter in a large pan over medium heat. Once melted, add shallot and a pinch of salt and pepper. Cook until translucent, a couple minutes.
- Add mushrooms to shallot with a pinch of salt and pepper. Cook until mushroom have completely shrunk and let out their water, about 10 minutes (most of water from shrooms should be gone; drain excess if not).
- Next, add garlic to the mix and cook another minute. The smell should be intoxicating!
- Ok, to our shroom mix, throw in flour and cook for 2 minutes, stirring constantly.
- Add the remaining ¾ cup chicken stock to the pan and cook for 1 minute, stirring often.
- Pour in heavy cream and cook until sauce has thickened, about 10 minutes, stirring often.
- Turn off heat and drain green beans. Add beans to the sauce along with parmesan, nutmeg, lemon zest, and ⅓ cup onions. Give it a good stir and season to taste, if needed, with salt and pepper.
IF MAKING SAME DAY:
- Preheat oven to 425°F.
- If you want a creamier casserole, add a tablespoon of milk at a time and stir, until desired consistency is achieved. Taste sauce in case you need to season again!
- Top casserole with French's onions and bake until onions are golden brown, about 10-15 minutes, or until heated through. Keep an eye on the onions so they don't burn!
IF MAKING NEXT DAY:
- Pour casserole into Pyrex (linked below) and allow to come to room-temp, uncovered. Then, cover and store in fridge until next day. On the day of baking, try to take it out of the fridge at least an hour before placing in oven.
- Preheat oven to 425°F.
- Add 4-5 tablespoons of milk to casserole (a few at a time) and stir to loosen things up. Taste sauce in case you need to season again! Top with French's onions and bake until onions are golden brown, about 10-15 minutes, or until heated through. Keep an eye on the onions so they don't burn!
Notes
JUST THE TIPS!
1.) Set up your ‘mise en place.’ This means do what the recipe tells you to do to the individual ingredients, measure them out, and then place them in separate little bowls/dishes/what-have-you. When it’s time to build the recipe, you have everything measured and ready to go. It makes the entire process so much easier and more enjoyable!
OMG DID YOU MAKE THIS?!?
Tag @la_faguette_ on IG and hashtag it #lafaguette !
OMG DID YOU MAKE THIS?!?
Tag @la_faguette_ on IG and hashtag it #lafaguette ! Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!
Equipment:
The equipment section above contains affiliate links to products I recommend, many of which I love and use daily!
This was so good! I used celery instead of mushrooms just because my husband doesn’t like shrooms and it was still so tasty. Never using canned soup again.
LOW KEY WANT TO TRY YOUR CELERY VERSION CAUSE IT SOUNDS LIKE IT WOULD SLAP!
GOOD INTUITION.
Huge hit at Thanksgiving!! Thanks for a great from-scratch recipe, much better than the canned version
YOU ARE SO WELCOME!
A LITTLE WORK AND A LOT OF LOVE MAKE A HUGE DIFFERENCE!
🌈🥖💕