Green Bean Casserole
Certain Very Good People will try to tell you that Thanksgiving isn’t all about the food. It’s… more. It’s about family and charity and gratitude for what we have and how far we’ve come. In order to not be a complete dick we do have to hear them out and nod our heads and say things like, “You’re so right, Brenda, those things are so important, Brenda!” But as soon as Brenda leaves the room, it’s time to go back to drooling and stuffing your face. Thanksgiving is about the food, luv.
But I’ll take it a step further and say that it’s also about carving out your personal culinary legacy among your family and friends. That sounds intense, but you know there’s that one holiday dish that you look forward to every year, and there’s that one member of your family who is widely known for that dish. In my family there’s my uncle’s andouille gumbo on Christmas Eve and my mom’s charbroiled oyster appetizer on Thanksgiving. For you it might be your grandmother’s sweet potato casserole or Brenda’s dry unseasoned dirty rice. Honestly who keeps inviting Brenda, is she even related to us?
Well a few years ago I decided that as a Full Adult it was time to claim my own little space on the holiday table and establish a dish as my territory and everyone else can kindly back off it. I’d always heard of green bean casserole but couldn’t remember ever having it at any of my family Thanksgivings over the years, so that sounded like a good place to start. That’s because step number one is definitely to make sure nobody else famously makes that dish every year. We are not trying to compete! Unless you think you will most certainly win.
I’ll be honest, my role as designated green bean casserole provider got off to a rough start the first couple years. I guess my family wasn’t used to seeing it on the table and didn’t want to take the risk. But I’ve really committed to it year after year, and now about five years in, my Aunt Liz finally said last week, “Matt are you bringing the green bean casserole again? That was so good.” And that was the whole point, so… success!
This recipe is adapted from Alton Brown’s. He calls his “Best Ever Green Bean Casserole” and I love him but I do think I’ve made it a little better, very sorry Alton. But the key to a great green bean casserole (and I would’ve never gotten to this without him, I guess) is making your own cream of mushroom soup and crispy onions rather than opting for the pre-packaged kind. And of course use fresh green beans instead of canned! The result is a tasty and exceedingly fresh dish that is lightyears ahead of the mushy processed green bean casserole of yesteryear. Anyway I’ll shut up so you can get to the recipe. Enjoy!
Green Bean Casserole
serves 10-12 as a small “thanksgiving sized” side or 4-6 as a regular dinner side
(You know how at Thanksgiving there are sometimes like seventy
dishes and you just want a very small portion of each one? 10-12 servings of that.
It’s a casserole, you know what I mean.)
For the crispy onions
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon garlic powder
2 teaspoons salt
1 1/2 teaspoons black pepper
2 medium onions, sliced into thin rings (the thinnest you can possibly get them!)
1 1/2 - 2 cups canola oil, or enough to fill your skillet about 1/4” deep for 3-4 batches (see notes)
For the beans
2 tablespoons + 1 teaspoon salt + more to taste
1 1/2 pounds fresh green beans, trimmed and halved (see notes)
3 tablespoons unsalted butter
12 ounces white button mushrooms, sliced
1 teaspoon black pepper + more to taste
4 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground nutmeg
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 cup chicken broth
1 cup half-and-half
Method
Start with the crispy onions by combining 1/2 cup flour with garlic powder, 2 teaspoons salt, and 1 1/2 teaspoons black pepper. Dredge thin-sliced onion rings through flour mixture and coat thoroughly, then set aside.
Line a plate or sheet pan with paper towels to absorb excess grease and set aside. Heat 1/2 cup oil in a frying pan (we recommend you use a 12” pan) over medium-high heat. When the oil has reached 375°F, begin frying onions in batches, careful not to crowd or layer onions on top of each other. Fry for 1 1/2 to 2 minutes each side, or until golden brown, using heat-safe tongs to handle them. Transfer onto a paper towel lined plate to drain excess oil and cool. Repeat with remaining onions until all have been fried, discarding and replacing oil as needed—see notes on this. Be sure to remove all bits of food from oil so there are no leftover pieces that will burn and cause the pan to smoke!
In a 6-8 quart pot, bring a gallon of water and 2 tablespoons salt to a boil. Add green beans and blanche 5 minutes. Drain in a colander and plunge immediately into an ice bath to stop the cooking. Drain again through colander and set aside.
If serving immediately, now would be the time to preheat your oven to 400°F (if serving later or transporting, don’t preheat now but continue with this step and see notes). Melt butter in a 12” skillet over medium-high heat. Add the mushrooms, 1 teaspoon each of salt and pepper, and cook, stirring occasionally, until the mushrooms become tender, about 5 minutes. Add garlic and nutmeg and continue to cook for 2 minutes. Sprinkle flour over mixture and stir to coat and thicken, then cook 1 minute. Add chicken broth and simmer 1 minute. Reduce heat to medium-low and add half-and-half. Cook until thick, stirring occasionally, approximately 8 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in the green beans and 1/2 of the crispy onions. Top with remaining crispy onions. If serving immediately, proceed to step 5. If transporting or serving later, see notes.
Bake in preheated oven 12-15 minutes, until liquid begins bubbling. Serve and win Thanksgiving.
Notes
cooking oil: I use canola oil for pan frying because it’s cheap and can get very hot without burning. If there’s another oil you prefer for frying, by all means use that. But whatever oil you use, keep in mind that when frying flour coated foods, you’ll inevitably leave behind small particles of flour that will slowly burn and darken the oil. When frying in a shallow pan like this (as opposed to with a deep fryer) you’ll likely have to discard and replace the oil every few batches to avoid nasty black fried onions, then bring the new oil up to temperature before continuing. Just account for this when shopping to make sure you’ve got enough oil!
skillet: we photographed this recipe with our Our Place Always Pan and while we’re super happy with how it looks, we actually double checked and this pan is not recommended for oven use. Your best bet is a standard 12” cast iron skillet as recommended in the recipe.
trimmed and halved green beans: if this language is unfamiliar to you, trimming means snapping the tiny stem off the full bean by pinching it and twisting it off, then discarding it. Halving the bean literally just means snapping it in half after it’s been trimmed. Sometimes in grocery stores you can find sacks of fresh beans that are already trimmed and halved, but doing this part yourself helps make sure your beans are at maximum freshness!
transporting or serving later: If transporting or serving later, stop at the end of step 4 and cover with aluminum foil and store, letting cool to room temperature before refrigerating if doing so. When ready to serve, bake in a 400°F oven uncovered for 20 minutes, or until bubbly, then serve immediately.