Everyone loves a classic green bean casserole recipe with tender green beans and crispy fried onions in a shortcut creamy mushroom sauce. This is a perfect Thanksgiving side topped with crispy french-fried onions and baked until golden brown and bubbly.
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Holly’s Recipe Highlights
I love green bean casserole, it reminds me of holidays from my childhood. This version is great because…
- Fast prep: It needs just 5 minutes of prep—it’s the easiest side dish ever.
- Versatile: It can be made with fresh, frozen, or canned green beans.
- Make ahead: Make this casserole a few days in advance and bake before serving (see notes).
- Serve anytime: Perfect for a holiday meal or alongside a Sunday supper like meatloaf.
Ingredient Notes
- Use fresh, frozen, or canned green beans:
- Canned green beans have a softer texture and require no prep—drain and stir (my personal favorite).
- Frozen green beans require no cutting and have a tender-crisp texture. They should be boiled for about 3-5 minutes, and you’ll need to add extra salt.
- Fresh green beans have a tender-crisp texture and a fresh flavor. Simmer for 8 minutes.
- Sauce: Condensed cream of mushroom soup is the base of this casserole and makes it easy to prep. Use any flavor of “cream of” soup, such as cream of celery.
- Crispy Fried Onions: French’s Crispy Fried Onions adds both flavor and crunch.
Variations
- Cheese: I love to add cheddar cheese to the green bean casserole sauce. Try other favorite cheeses.
- From Scratch: Swap out the soup for mushroom cream sauce and replace the onions with fried shallots.
- Garlic: Add minced garlic cloves cooked in butter or ½ teaspoon of garlic powder.
- Topping: Swap the crispy onions with ¼ cup of Panko breadcrumbs mixed with 1 tablespoon each of melted butter and Parmesan cheese.
How To Make Green Bean Casserole
There’s a reason this dish has been around for years, it’s simple. It’s delicious. Perfect in every way.
- Cook Beans: Simmer fresh or frozen green beans. (drain them if they’re canned)
- Mix Sauce: Combine mushroom soup, milk, soy sauce, and salt & pepper (full recipe below).
- Toss Together: Add the sauce, green beans, some crispy onions, and cheese to a bowl.
- Top & Bake Top the green bean mixture with more crispy onions and bake until golden and bubbly!
Prep Ahead Tips For Green Bean Casserole
- Prepare as directed, except store the crispy onion topping in a separate container or sandwich bag. Refrigerate for up to 48 hours.
- Remove the casserole from the refrigerator at least 30 minutes before baking.
- Sprinkle the onions on top, bake as directed, adding up to 10 minutes of extra cooking time if needed.
Green bean casserole needs to cook for about 40 minutes at 350°F. If your green bean casserole has been in the fridge, you will likely need to add some extra time!
Yes, it can be prepared up to 48 hours ahead of time. Add about 10 minutes to the cook time when reading to bake.
Yes, this casserole can be frozen. Prepare as directed and freeze before baking. Thaw in the fridge overnight and bake as directed adding 10 minutes to the baking time.
More Thanksgiving Side Dishes
Did you enjoy this Green Bean Casserole? Be sure to leave a rating and comment below!
Equipment
Ingredients
- 4 cups frozen cut green beans see notes for canned or fresh beans
- 1 (10.5 ounce) can condensed cream of mushroom soup
- ½ cup milk
- 1 teaspoon soy sauce
- ½ teaspoon black pepper
- ¼ teaspoon seasoned salt more to taste
- 1½ cups crispy fried onions divided
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F.
- Bring a medium pot of salted water to a boil. Add the frozen green beans and boil until tender crisp, about 2 to 3 minutes.
- In a large bowl, combine green beans with soup, milk, soy sauce, pepper, salt, 1 cup of crispy onions, and cheese if using (see notes). Transfer to a 2-quart baking dish.
- Bake uncovered for 30 to 35 minutes or bubbly.
- Remove from oven and stir. Top with remaining onions and return to oven for an additional 10 minutes or until golden.
Video
Notes
- drain 2 (14.5 ounce each) cans of cut green beans
- 1 ½ pounds fresh green beans, trimmed and simmered for about 7-8 minutes
- 1 ½ cups shredded cheddar cheese mixed into the sauce (favorite!)
- fried mushrooms, onions, garlic, and/or shallots
Nutrition Information
Nutrition information provided is an estimate and will vary based on cooking methods and brands of ingredients used.
Course Casserole, Side Dish
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Great recipe, I add Diced water chestnuts and add a bit of vanilla coffee Creamer. But “PENNIES TO MAKE?”
just a can of fried onions now are almost $5, water chestnuts $2, and everything else is probably now a $10-13 side dish.
Question- Does the cooking time remain the same if I doubled the recipe and how much cheese do I put- I’m I able to you Colby jacks or is cheddar the best one for this? I have mild cheddar but not sure. Thank you
The cooking time would need to increase if doubling the recipe, you want to make sure it’s heated through in the middle and the cheese is melted if you’re adding cheese. You can use either Colby jack or cheddar.
Could I use an alternative to milk? For example almond beverage? Thanks
Yes, that would work just fine.
op I just saw your reply to another! 2qt dish okay, I have a 3L dish. so hoping that will be alright!
For making ahead… do we bake first and then refrigerate until the day we need… OR do we just put everything in the pan uncooked and refrigerate then bake the day we need it? PLS specify lol
Hi Kay, you could do either. But I would put everything in the pan uncooked and then bake before serving if possible. Enjoy!
This recipe looks really good! My husband’s brother in law is allergic to onions so I was going to try to use panko breadcrumbs in the mixture instead and then add the crispy onions on top for everyone else. I’m assuming I’d have to use less than one cup of breadcrumbs since it will completely change the recipe right? Thanks!
If using a Panko bread crumb topping on the whole casserole I would follow the topping steps in this casserole recipe. I would love to hear how it turns out!
Hi, I wanted to try this recipe using the crockpot variation that you mention (mainly because I dont have space in the oven!) — Should I still cook the fresh green beans before putting them in the crockpot, or is the 2-3 hours on low cook them to a nice texture without the additional cook time?
Hi Taunisha, I would still simmer the fresh green beans for 8 minutes otherwise I worry they will not be soft enough. If you try it I would love to hear how it turns out!
Silly question, but I have vacuum sealed fresh (now frozen) beans from my garden. Any tips or just follow what you already laid out? I’ve only ever used canned and don’t wanna waste my fresh beans lol.
Hi Sydney, for frozen green beans you can skip cooking them, but I prefer the texture if they’ve been cooked in boiling water for about 5 minutes (and you’ll need a bit more salt). Otherwise you can follow the recipe the same! If you try it I would love to hear how it turns out!
Hi Sydney, follow up to your question, you sound just like me, I’m using beans from the garden that have been frozen and vac sealed. I blanched the beans (I believe I did 4 min. boiling then 4 in the ice bath) before vac sealing, did you?
I just made this recipe and found that the 5 minute boiling time made my beans limpy. I was hoping a bit more crisp.
Anyway, Happy Thanksgiving and I’m sure however the Green Bean Casserole is made, everyone will love it!
Great recipe!
What size casserole dish 1 qt or 2 qt?
I use a 2qt dish.
How much cheddar cheese do you add ?
I add 1 ½ cups of cheddar cheese.
This came out extremely soupy—like green bean soup. The cream of mushroom soup in this recipe was way too much for the brand I used. It would have been helpful if you showed us what brand you used so I could see the texture. More pictures of the different steps would also be helpful.
Hi. This recipe looks great! Question — if you make the suggested alternative creamy mushroom sauce (https://www.spendwithpennies.com/creamy-mushroom-sauce/) — not the homemade mushroom soup — do you still put milk in the recipe? I wasn’t sure if that only replaces the soup or the soup and the milk.
Also if I was planning on doing the 3X quantity of the green beans, would it also be 3X the quantity of the creamy mushroom sauce or does that make a completely different quantity than you’d need for that recipe?
Buying groceries tomorrow so hope to hear from you soon! :)
If using the creamy mushroom sauce, you likely won’t need to add the extra milk. You’ll need about 10oz/1 ½ cups of mushroom sauce per recipe of casserole.
Okay, I haven’t tried this yet, but it looks yummy! I do have one questions regarding the shredded cheese; do you shred your own cheese or is okay to buy it already shredded in the bag? I do want to add the cheese to the recipe but want to know what you recommend regarding the cheese. Thanks! :)
Pre-shredded cheese works just fine in this recipe.
Pre-shredded cheese is coated in cellulose… that’s why it doesn’t clump. Shred your own.
I have been using this recipe for the past six years instead of the french cut green beans. I use standard frozen cut (thawed). The recipe is loved by all at my home for the holiday meals.
Thank you for all of your great recipes. I’m going to make this using your recipe for homemade condensed mushroom soup. The recipe states it serves 4. My question is how much of the soup do I use after making the recipe. As for the green bean casserole I’m going to make 1.5x but if works out better I could do 2x. Leftovers!!
You’ll need 10oz/1 ½ cups of the condensed soup mixture.
Trying this over the weekend. Hoping it’s good
If using fresh green beans, how much would I need to buy?
You will need 1 ½ pounds fresh green beans for this recipe Katie. Enjoy!
Looks great! To make ahead, would you just combine ingredients and then store in the fridge, or first bake, cool, and then store in the fridge? Thank you for your help!
To make ahead you can combine everything and then bake just before serving. I would suggest keeping the onions for the top separate and adding them right before baking. Enjoy
I can’t wait to try this, all the 5 star reviews, but I have a question, what size glass baking dish should I use? Thank you!
I use a 2qt baking dish.