The Small From-Scratch Touch That Makes Canned Green Bean Casserole 10x Better

Tabletops across America cradle many a green bean casserole, whether for holiday gatherings, church socials, family dinners, and everyday comfort-food meals whenever the mood strikes. There are no rules attached to this easy casserole dish, and any version is just fine and dandy — no judgements allowed. That also applies to anyone venturing outside the standard preparation involving canned green beans, cream of mushroom soup, milk, and crispy fried onions. 

Particularly, we're talking about a from-scratch touch that instantly elevates ordinary GBC to extraordinary homemade status. It doesn't involve the green beans, though using fresh beans is definitely a plus. This time, it's that cream of mushroom soup getting the boot, replaced by a mushroom veloute. If that term has yet to enter your kitchen vocabulary, no worries. Veloute is a French word meaning "velvety," and in culinary vocabulary, it's basically a smooth French sauce made with fresh ingredients. 

While exploring common mistakes everyone makes with green bean casserole, we consulted some experts, including Eric Sornoso, co-founder at MealFan. He's a big advocate of using fresh ingredients over canned ones, saying that the tinned versions "ruin the dish in terms of texture and flavor." That includes canned green beans, but also canned cream of mushroom soup. He advocates ditching cans entirely. "Instead of the canned mushroom soup," he says, "make a mushroom veloute from fresh mushrooms, shallots, garlic, and cream." He notes that it's tastier and more complex, bringing a nice depth of flavor to the casserole.  

It's true that using canned ingredients for green bean casserole can be much simpler and more affordable, coming together in mere minutes. But once you've gone the veloute route, it's hard to imagine returning to the quickie version invented in the 1950s by Dorcas Reilly, a recipe developer and once-manager of Campbell Kitchens for the Campbell Soup Company. Even in that professional environment, convenience was the key, using on-hand ingredients such as the company's condensed cream of mushroom soup and canned green beans. All these years later, it's still a standard in terms of nostalgic cooking.

Though a classic green bean casserole recipe pulls at the sentimental heartstrings, many other variations do exist. That includes our easy and healthy green bean casserole recipe created by recipe developer and registered dietitian nutritionist, Kristen Carli, MS, RD. It leans closer to the mushroom veloute approach proposed by Sornoso, in that it employs fresh mushrooms and onions to make a roux-like sauce — but instead of cream, it comes together with unsalted butter, olive oil, vegetable broth, parmesan cheese, and a few other ingredients. 

The point is still to bypass canned cream of mushroom soup in favor of the freshness, complexity, and texture of homemade versions. For further insights in this realm, check out more Tasting Table ideas for making green bean casserole from scratch, which include stirring in things like lemon zest, parsley, or other fresh herbs such as basil, dill, tarragon, and basil. Other options include bringing the heat with fresh serrano chiles or pink peppercorns.