My version of a green bean casserole is made with tender fresh green beans, sauteed mushrooms and a creamy bechamel sauce. Topped with melted cheese and crispy fried onions, this green bean casserole is perfect for serving as a side dish for holidays, celebrations or simply as part of a midweek family meal.
**As an Amazon affiliate, I earn from qualifying purchases.**
Cheesy green bean and mushroom casserole
I have more green beans than I know what to with, thanks to hubby’s abundant harvest from the allotment. I’ve already made this crustless vegetable quiche and my popular mashed green beans recipe, and frozen more packets of beans than we can ever eat, yet still they keep on coming.
I’ve also given plenty away to friends and family. It’s an absolute bumper crop this year.
That’s why I was delighted to discover a recipe for Campbell’s green bean casserole, which I’ve linked to here so you can see it for yourself. The recipe I found dates back to 1955, so it’s certainly stood the test of time. Unfortunately, it uses a can of condensed cream of mushroom soup. And while I’m certain that it would make a delicious dish, I prefer to make my own food from scratch. So this is my own homemade version of a green bean casserole. I hope you will enjoy it.
It’s made with green beans and mushrooms in a creamy white sauce and topped with grated cheese that gets melted under the grill. Once the cheese has melted the casserole is topped with homemade crispy fried onions.
The onions provide a delightful crunch that contrasts perfectly with the cream sauce, slightly crispy beans and tender mushrooms.
What I love about it is that I can make a large casserole and store the leftovers in the fridge for up to 3 days and use them as part of another meal, saving both time and energy.
And it’s much quicker to make than you might think. It only takes 15 minutes to prep, then it’s into the oven for 30 minutes while you get on with cooking the rest of your meal!
Let me show you!
What you will need
Equipment
You will need a saucepan for par-boiling the beans, and a frying pan for browning the mushrooms.
You will also need a 7 x 10-inch casserole dish for baking the casserole.
Other items you will find useful are a sharp knife and a chopping board for preparing the vegetables, and a cheese grater for grating the cheese.
Ingredients
This recipe will serve 6 to 8 people as a side dish.
**You can get the complete list of ingredients and full instructions for making this cheesy green bean casserole on the printable recipe card at the end of this post**
Green beans – use fresh green beans, which should be topped and tailed and cut into 2 to 3-inch lengths. I recommend using fresh beans, but you can substitute for frozen beans if necessary. I would avoid using canned beans as they might turn mushy in the oven.
Mushrooms – cut into thickish slices. You can use either brown chestnut or white closed-cap mushrooms.
Crispy fried onions – you can buy these in the supermarket, normally sold in the condiments aisle. However, my recommendation would be to make your own crispy fried onions from this recipe – they don’t take too long to make and they taste delicious.
Butter – this is used both for frying the mushrooms and for making the creamy bechamel sauce.
Flour – used for thicking the sauce.
Milk – for the sauce – either full-fat or semi-skimmed is fine.
Salt and black pepper – for seasoning – to your own taste.
Grated cheese (which I forgot to include in the photo) – for sprinkling on the casserole. You can use cheddar (or your favourite grating cheese). If you want extra ‘stringiness’ you could use half cheddar and half grated mozzarella.
What to do
Place the prepared beans in a pan of lightly salted water and bring to the boil. Allow the beans to boil for 3 minutes then immediately run them under cold water to stop the cooking process.
Melt the butter in a frying pan and add the sliced mushrooms.
Fry the mushrooms over medium heat for 4 to 5 minutes until they are nicely browned.
Transfer the beans to a casserole dish and stir in the mushrooms.
Melt the butter over medium heat in a saucepan (use the one you cooked the beans in to save on washing up) and stir in the flour. Mix well to remove any lumps.
Add the milk and stir over medium heat until the sauce thickens (3 to 4 minutes). The sauce should be thick enough to drop slowly from the spoon. Season with salt and black pepper to taste.
Stir the sauce into the mushrooms and beans in the casserole dish.
Sprinkle the grated cheese over the top.
Bake in a preheated oven (200C/400F) for 20 to 25 minutes until the cheese is melted and golden.
Sprinkle with crispy fried onions and bake for 2 to 3 minutes longer to give the onions time to warm through.
Serve hot as a side dish with your choice of protein.
If you’d like to be notified of any new recipes, why not subscribe to my newsletter? As a thank-you gift, you will receive a free recipe e-book containing some of my most popular cakes and desserts.
Green bean casserole FAQ
That’s a difficult question, there are so many dishes that go well with green beans:
– Beef– any beef dishes, whether fried/grilled steak, roast beef or potroast.
– Chicken – fried, roast or crumbed chicken.
– Pork – grilled pork chops are particularly good, but the casserole will also pair beautifully with roast pork.
– Fish – green beans and fried fish go well together. I’d probably steer clear of serving it with prawns or other shellfish though. But that’s just my preference!
I find that if I don’t parboil the beans they do not cook to my liking in the time the casserole is in the oven. If you prefer your beans to be very crunchy, then, by all means, leave out this step.
Yes, you can make this green bean casserole with frozen beans. Allow the beans to defrost and pat them dry with a paper towel to avoid adding extra water to the casserole or you may find that the sauce becomes runny. I would use the defrosted beans without parboiling them first as the frozen beans will take less time to cook than fresh ones.
Yes, you can freeze the green bean casserole, however, bear in mind that the crispy onions will lose their crispness in the freezer, and the beans may be slightly softer once defrosted.
If you want to freeze the entire casserole, I would recommend only adding the onions once you have defrosted the dish and are ready to warm it up.
If you freeze leftovers, then you may want to add an additional sprinkling of fresh crispy onions before heating.
The casserole can be frozen for up to 4 months.
Because there is dairy produce (milk) in the sauce, I wouldn’t store this for longer than 3 days in the refrigerator. I would also be inclined to discard any second leftovers if the first lot of leftovers don’t all get eaten – ie don’t refrigerate and reheat twice.
Save for later
If you would like to make this green bean casserole yourself, why not save the recipe to one of your Pinterest boards so you can find it easily? Just click on the image below.
Alternatively, you can save the recipe by clicking on the floating heart icon on the right hand side of the screen.
Other recipes
If you enjoyed this green bean casserole, you may enjoy some of my other vegetable side dishes too.
- Baked cauliflower and broccoli cheese – cauliflower and broccoli oven-baked in a tasty cheesy sauce with a crispy topping of cheese and breadcrumbs.
- Glazed carrots – sometimes referred to as vichy carrots, these carrots are sauteed in butter and sugar until they are sticky and tender.
- Spicy braised red cabbage with apple – red cabbage braised in vegetable stock, and flavoured with Chinese 5-spice powder (yes – it does work!)
- Creamy leek and brussels sprouts bake – a delicious side dish flavoured with cream and oven-baked with a cheese and breadcrumb topping.
- British mushy peas – and let’s not forget this traditional recipe which goes so well with pies and of course fish and chips!
The recipe
Green bean casserole
(Click the stars to rate this recipe)
Equipment
- Casserole dish 7" x 10"
Ingredients
- 1 pound / 450 grams green beans
- ½ pound / 225 grams mushrooms
- 1 cup / 60 grams crispy fried onions
- 1 ounce / 25 grams butter for frying the mushrooms
- 2 ounces / 50 grams butter for the sauce
- 4½ tablespoons / 50 grams flour
- 2 cups / 480 ml milk
- ¾ cup / 100 grams grated cheese
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon black pepper
Instructions
Preparation
- Wash the beans, cut off the ends and cut them into 2 to 3-inch lengths.1 pound / 450 grams green beans
- Wipe the mushrooms with a damp cloth and slice them thickly (4 to 6 slices per mushroom depending on size)½ pound / 225 grams mushrooms
- Grate the cheese on the largest holes of your cheese grater.¾ cup / 100 grams grated cheese
Green bean casserole
- Place the prepared beans in a pan of lightly salted water and bring to the boil. Allow the beans to boil for 3 minutes then immediately run them under cold water to stop the cooking process.
- Melt the butter in a frying pan and add the sliced mushrooms.1 ounce / 25 grams butter
- Fry the mushrooms over medium heat for 4 to 5 minutes until they are nicely browned.
- Drain the beans and transfer them to a casserole dish and stir in the mushrooms. Set aside while you make the sauce.
- Melt the butter over medium heat in a saucepan (use the one you cooked the beans in to save on washing up) and stir in the flour, salt and pepper. Mix well to remove any lumps.2 ounces / 50 grams butter, 4½ tablespoons / 50 grams flour, ½ teaspoon salt, ¼ teaspoon black pepper
- Add the milk and stir over medium heat until the sauce thickens (3 to 4 minutes). The sauce should be thick enough to drop slowly from the spoon.2 cups / 480 ml milk
- Stir the sauce into the mushrooms and beans in the casserole dish.
- Sprinkle the grated cheese over the top.
- Bake in a preheated oven (200C/400F) for 20 to 25 minutes until the cheese is melted and golden.
- Sprinkle with crispy fried onions and bake for 2 to 3 minutes longer to give the onions time to warm through.1 cup / 60 grams crispy fried onions
- Serve hot as a side dish with your choice of protein.
Notes
Nutrition
I am not a nutritionist. The nutrition information has been calculated using an on-line calculator, and is intended for information and guidance purposes only. If the nutrition information is important to you, you should consider calculating it yourself, using your preferred tool.
If you made this recipe and enjoyed it, I’d love it if you could give me a star rating in the comments below. And if you’d like to get in touch, you can email me at [email protected]. I’d love to hear from you. And don’t forget to subscribe to my mailing list so you can grab yourself a copy of my FREE COOKBOOK!
If you’d like to continue browsing, just click on this link to all my recipes.
Leave a Reply