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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Made this recipe last year for Thanksgiving and it has become a family tradition for both Thanksgiving and Christmas!! This is the BEST Green Bean Casserole I have ever had!!
It is flavorful and not dry. Defiitelt try with adding the grated cheddar cheese.
What size dish would you use for the 16 servings? Would you need to buy one of the aluminum trays to be big enough or would a 13×9 be sufficient?
Hi Renee, a 9×13 dish should be big enough for 16 servings Let us know how it turns out for you!
Hello! Quick ques…Could I possibly use cream of broccoli or celery for this recipe? I don’t like mushrooms.
Sure you can, cream of celery is great in this recipe.
Hello,
If making this in advance, do you follow the entire recipe, including cooking the dish and then reheat it? Or do you prep the dish and cook it for the first time before eating?
Hi Megan, you could do either. But I would put everything in the pan uncooked and then bake before serving if possible. Enjoy!
I have never put cheese or soy sauce in my green bean casserole before but it was delicious!
Is the cream of mushroom soup the condensed kind?
Yes it is condensed, you do not need to add any water or milk to the soup.
The recipe does not actually specify the soup is condensed.
Legitimately fantastic. Wouldn’t change a thing.
This was my first time making this, and it was a huge success! Delicious!
Thank you.
If you use the mushroom sauce recipe, do you still add the milk when mixing it with the green beans?
It depends which mushroom sauce you’re using. The sauce will thicken slightly as it bakes so you can add a little bit if needed.
I cant find the directions, just a bunch of fluff explanation. KISS – keep it simple s,
Hi Mary, the information is not fluff explanation, it is so that people who are making a recipe and have a question can find the answer in the post and continue with the recipe. None of the writing is irrelevant however you can use the JUMP TO RECIPE button to skip to the recipe on any page on the site. Hope you enjoyed it!
My first time making this dish and it was a success! I used canned beans and used one regular can, one no salt added. I think it was a good call as the original recipe calls for fresh or frozen beans (without added salt). I also cut soy sauce in half, I didn’t want it too salty. And it turned out perfect! My brother in law said it was the best one he’s ever had. My secret is bake it as instructed, but do the topping last minute so it doesn’t get soggy. Hope this helps someone.
I used just one can of cream of mushroom like the recipe stated, but it doesn’t seem like near enough?
Very good. I used one can regular and one can french cut green beans and shredded chedder and it was delicious.
I made this recipe without anything different than what the recipe states. I took your tip about making my own cream of mushroom sauce which is absolutely so much better than canned soups. It added so much flavor and everyone noticed a difference in the taste. I will never used canned soup again. Delicious recipe!
What size is the casserole dish?
I use a 2 quart dish but any dish from 1 ½ qt to 2 qt will work.
This was a big hit yesterday! I added mushrooms, fresh onions and cheese.
This is the exact recipe I was looking for as I was making the green bean casserole for Thanksgiving, 2023. I used approximately 7 cups of fresh blanched green beans, a half a cup of milk, two cans of cream of mushroom and half a can of cream of celery, along with pepper, no salt, a teaspoon of soy sauce, and a teaspoon of Worcestershire sauce. I added a little more than a cup of the French fried onions into the mixture. No cheese. I loved the thicker gravy like consistency. It did need to bake for closer to 45 minutes, but was delicious and not too salty. This is a keeper!
how do you thicken casserole. put a little to much milk in?
You can add extra green beans or another blanched (cooked) veggie like broccoli. You could also stir in a little bit of potato flakes if you have it. If it’s a larger amount of liquid, you could also add some extra cream of mushrooms or a bit of sour cream. Hope that helps!
Perfection!!! We used roasted garlic cream of mushroom soup, so we got the garlic flavor but without any extra work. And we added some cheddar as suggested. Best GB casserole I’ve had yet!! Thank you for sharing your recipe with us ☺️