Growing up, I was not a fan of green bean casserole. I remember slowly pushing it to the farthest side of my plate like I did with cranberry “mold” at Easter. Something about the slimy beans and soupy greige cream didn’t do it for me, no matter how many fried crunchy onions were piled on top.
To be fair, green bean casserole is one of the most controversial holiday sides. You either love it or you really don’t. There’s not a lot of in-between with this one, but years later I happened to be at a Friendsgiving when someone made an excellent version that changed everything. I’m talking about a second-scoop kind of recipe. It was in that moment that I realized I might have been missing out on the greatest Thanksgiving side of all time.
I spent the next few holidays vowing to perfect it myself, only to fail miserably. I pinned all the variations and bought all the fancy ingredients but could not get it right. Why is this seemingly simple side so ridiculously hard to pull off?!
Recently, I asked my husband (who happens to be a chef) that very question, challenging him to make me the best-ever green bean casserole. I was prepared to crack the GBC code once and for all and thanks to Luke, I did. It turns out there’s a far superior way to execute the classic Thanksgiving side and this chef-approved approach will make even the biggest green bean casserole haters diehard fans. Here’s how to do it.
Related: The Best Type of Green Beans for Green Bean Casserole
Ingredients for the Best Green Bean Casserole
If you’re reading this with a can of cream of mushroom soup sitting next to you, put it right back in the cabinet. The star of Luke’s green bean casserole is his homemade wild mushroom cream sauce and to make it, you’re going to need a medley of mixed ‘shrooms. Luke used chanterelles, hen of the woods, hon shimeju (aka white beech mushrooms) and white trumpets, but he says any combo of cultivated mushrooms or a mix of white and brown will work just fine.
Only have buttons or baby bellas on hand? Use ’em! The main point is just to avoid canned cream of mushroom soup, so any mix of mushrooms and a high-quality heavy cream is better. For that, he prefers Origin 100% A2/A2 Heritage Heavy Cream, a full-flavored, old-fashioned cream that comes in a cute little container and looks like it was just milked straight from a cow. You’ll also need the slim French green beans called haricot verts—NOT frozen or canned beans—and a shallot or two to make the frizzled onions. Plus vegetable oil for frying, ghee or butter, soy sauce or eel sauce, nutmeg, cayenne, salt and pepper.
Your choice of beans is crucial here. When I ask him if you can use canned or frozen beans like my mom used to, he looks at me with sheer panic in his eyes. “No! Unless you’re stranded on a desert island, why wouldn’t you just use fresh??” OK. Noted. “The integrity of the vegetable is compromised at that point and they will purge excess liquid,” he continues. However, he also mentions you can use local string beans in place of haricot vert when they’re in season and you can find them.
And although Luke has ingredient connections home cooks don’t, you should be able to find all or most of the ingredients in an upscale market like Whole Foods.
Related: What the Heck Are French-Cut Green Beans?
Kelli Acciardo
Since he has a chef’s kitchen at his restaurant, he went ahead and prepped his mushroom medley by sauteeing the cleaned mushrooms in some clarified butter and olive oil, which is another step you can get out of the way earlier, even in your home kitchen.
Cook them for 3-5 minutes over medium-high heat until all the moisture has evaporated and they’re a deep brown color, then set aside until you need to make your mushroom cream.
The one shortcut he will approve is the fried onion part, telling me store-bought really is easier and French’s is classic. He also suggested stopping by an Asian market, where you can get excellent fried shallots for sprinkling on top.
If you’re feeling ambitious and want to Martha Stewart it up for your GBC, he goes on to say the best way to make the topping is to slice shallots (not onions) on a mandoline until they’re paper thin, then dredge them in a liberal amount of flour and fry the strands in hot vegetable oil at 325° for 4-6 minutes until golden brown. They should look similar to the ones below.
Kelli Acciardo
Related: Here’s Exactly How Many Bags of Green Beans You’ll Need for Thanksgiving Dinner
How to Make Green Bean Casserole
First thing first, set your oven to 450°—despite what the photo below says. That was for a baked potato moment, but really, 450 is what you want for this casserole.
Once you have your ingredients sorted and prepped, you want to make the wild mushroom cream sauce. Luke adds the mushrooms to a hot pan with some ghee and pours in the cream once they’re warm after a minute or two.
Kelli Acciardo
He continues stirring this mixture until it gets nice and thick, then adds a dash of nutmeg, along with some cayenne pepper for a kick. In goes some salt and a few sizeable cranks of black pepper.
Kelli Acciardo
Once the mushrooms have absorbed most of the cream and are reduced by half, he takes them off the heat and pours the mixture into the blender and lets it run until the sauce is super smooth. Then I see him reach for a little vial containing some unidentified dark liquid and he adds a few squirts of that in, too. “Unagi sauce,” he says, “for umami vibes.”
Unagi sauce (aka eel sauce) is the savory-sweet Japanese sauce that’s often used to glaze eel. It used to be made with eel broth, but today is more often a reduced mixture of soy sauce, mirin, sake, and sugar. Luke is quick to point out you can also use soy sauce for a similar flavor profile, which is actually an ingredient in the OG version of the recipe.
Kelli Acciardo
Around this time he gets to work blanching the green beans. “You want a rapid rolling boil,” he says, “salty as the sea, so be liberal with the amount of salt you add.” He also tells me to use the largest pot you have for this. A Thomas Keller trick that helps the beans retain their crunchiness while cooking quickly. Then he goes to the fridge for cheese. “I don’t remember my mom’s version having cheese,” I say. “Did you just make that up?”
“That’s what I would do as a chef,” he shrugs. “A little bit of Parmesan because you can’t even tell it’s there. Actually, I’m going to do parm and cheddar to make it more of a gratin.”
Kelli Acciardo
When the green beans are cooked, he ladles them into the mushroom puree, warming them in the same pan, and folds in 1/2 a cup of Parmesan cheese and a 1/2 cup of shredded cheddar. “If your mixture is too thick, drizzle some more cream on top,” he tells me.
Now it’s time to bake. After transferring everything to a baking dish, the casserole goes into the oven for 15 to 20 minutes uncovered. Only at the end do you sprinkle on the fried onions. I saw Luke return the GBC to the oven for a few more seconds until the onions turned a dark tawny hue. Just be careful not to burn them! No one likes burnt onions—especially atop the side star of Thanksgiving.
Kelli Acciardo
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My Honest Thoughts on My Chef-Husband’s Green Bean Casserole
No offense Mom, but Luke’s version was a million times better than the green bean casseroles of my youth. Never again with frozen or canned beans! The haricot vert have the perfect snap to them, skinny and tender, not mushy and limp and that umami-bomb wild mushroom cream sauce was Thanksgiving GOALS. I may have gone back for a third or 4th scoop.
Obviously, the made-from-scratch fried onions sealed the whole delicious deal, but the cheese was another genius touch. I wasn’t sure if that was the right move until I got to a melty part, but yes, yes it was. In fact, I don’t think I can return to non-cheesy GBCs in the future. Or honestly, anyone else’s. This, friends, is the clear winner. So go forth and make it for Friendsgiving, Thanksgiving, or you know, any day you have some time and are in the mood for a green bean casserole because a dish this good shouldn’t be reserved for only one day of the year.
Kelli Acciardo
Top Tips for My Chef-Husband’s Green Bean Casserole
- Dried mushrooms also work. If you don’t have access to wild mushrooms, you can rehydrate dried mushrooms. There are many types of dried mushrooms available at the grocery store and you can also buy them online. The Wild Mushroom Co. makes a dried gourmet mix of European mushrooms that would be perfect for this recipe.
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Always blanch your green beans. They’ll retain their vibrant green color and nutrients this way.
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Save your leftover mushroom cream. This mushroom cream tends to make a lot, especially if you sautee a big bunch of mushrooms. Use your leftovers to make cream of mushroom soup the next day.
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Don’t cover the baking dish. Green veggies always get brown if you cover them, so if you want your veggies to be verdant, don’t cover the casserole.
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Clean as you go. “So you don’t destroy the kitchen like my wife,” my husband chimes in laughing when I ask him for one more tip for nailing this dish.
And there you have it. Happy Thanksgiving!
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