Homemade Green Bean Casserole with Crispy Fried Shallots
Homemade Green Bean Casserole with Crispy Fried Shallots is made 100% from scratch with fresh green beans and no condensed soup or french fried onions!
Christmas ads and merchandise are everywhere but I’m not paying any attention to it. My mind is firmly planted on Thanksgiving and that’s where it will stay until it’s over.
Christmas is gonna have to wait!
I’ve been recreating some of my favorite Thanksgiving recipes the past couple of weeks which you may have caught on my Instagram stories.
I served this Homemade Green Bean Casserole with Crispy Fried Shallots last week with some spatchcock chicken and my sweet potato casserole. My family said it felt like a mini Thanksgiving dinner and it did.
While that meal was nice, I’m so ready for the real thing. 🙂
I posted a green bean casserole recipe way back in 2012 but the photos were hideous and I used store bought french fried onions for that recipe. I feel strongly about not using those onions any more so I decided to re-do the post entirely with a recipe that’s 100% from scratch.
This casserole includes fresh green beans, mushrooms and homemade bechemel sauce (no condensed soup here!). The clincher is the crispy fried shallots — they taste so much better than those canned onions!
How to make this recipe
While there are a few components to green bean casserole from scratch, they’re all extremely easy and not at all time consuming.
Start things off my blanching your green beans until crisp tender. I like to run mine under cold water to stop the cooking process and set aside until the sauce the is ready.
From there, cook the mushrooms in some butter, whisk in the flour and cook for 1 minute. Add the milk and cook until thickened for about 5 minutes.
Next, stir the grated cheese into your sauce and stir in those fresh green beans. Place the entire mixture into a greased 2 or 2 1/2 quart casserole dish.
From here, you can cover with plastic wrap and store in the fridge for 1-2 days or until you’re ready to bake it. If you make it ahead, remove from the fridge and allow to come to room temperature for about an hour before baking as it will take much longer to bake when it’s cold.
Next comes the fun part –> crispy fried shallots!
I used (3) very large shallots and ended up with about 2 cups. You probably don’t need this many but it was nice to have extra to munch on because they were sooo good. They almost didn’t make it to the casserole!
I tossed them with a bit of flour and some salt and fried them in a saute pan with about a 1/2″ worth of oil.
I placed them on a paper towel lined plate and seasoned with a bit more salt.
I recommend waiting until just before baking to top your casserole with the shallots so that they’re nice and perfectly crispy.
I’ve told you before that I detest frying because it’s messy, but I used a high sided pan and there was barely anything to clean up. The extra 10 minutes of prep and frying was completely worth the effort too.
How could you ever resist these?
Top your casserole with the crispy fried shallots just before baking and pop in the oven.
If it starts to brown too quickly, cover loosely with aluminum foil until bubbly and golden brown.
The casserole should take about 45 minutes or so to cook. Once done, remove from the oven and allow to cool for about 10 minutes.
This homemade green bean casserole recipe is everything you want your green bean casserole to be. It’s packed with fresh veggies, it’s made 100% from scratch, and those crispy shallots!
Need I say more?
Recipe notes
- I used whole milk in this recipe which resulted in a rich sauce. You can certainly use low fat or skim milk if you’d like to reduce the amount of fat in this recipe.
- If you’re not a fan of mushrooms simply omit them from the recipe.
- Substitute the fried shallots with store bought french fried onions to save time.
More Thanksgiving recipes you’ll love:
- 50+ Ultimate Thanksgiving Day Recipes
- Cranberry orange sauce
- Dinner rolls by Gimme Some Oven
- Pumpkin pie bars
- Roasted Turkey
- Roasted Turkey Breast
- Turkey gravy
- Yukon Gold Mashed Potatoes
If you try this recipe I’d love to hear from you! Leave a comment and rating below, or tag me at @flavorthemoments on Instagram!
Homemade Green Bean Casserole with Crispy Fried Shallots
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 lbs. fresh green beans trimmed and cut into bite sized pieces
- 3 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 8 ounces cremini mushrooms stemmed and sliced
- 3 cloves garlic minced
- 5 tablespoons all purpose flour divided
- 1 teaspoon dry mustard powder optional
- 2 1/2 cups milk*
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1/2 cup grated cheddar cheese
- 1/2 cup oil the oil should come up about 1/2″ from the bottom of the pan
- 3 large shallots peeled and sliced into 1/4″ thick rings (you should have about 2 cups sliced)
Instructions
- Fill a large pot with water. Cover and place over high heat until the water boils. Add the green beans and reduce the heat to medium. Cook the beans for 3-5 minutes or until crisp tender. Place in a colander and rinse well with cold water to cool the beans down (this will help the beans retain their green color). Drain well and set aside.
- Heat the butter in a large saute pan over medium heat. Add the mushrooms and cook until softened and the liquid has evaporated, about 5-6 minutes. Add the garlic and saute 30 seconds more.
- Sprinkle 3 tablespoons of the flour evenly over the mushroom mixture, followed by the dry mustard powder. Stir and cook for 1 minute until the flour smells like shortbread.
- Add the milk slowly while whisking constantly (be sure to scrape the bottom of the pan as well), then add the teaspoon of kosher salt. Continue to whisk constantly and continue cooking until the sauce has thickened and come to a boil, about 5 minutes more.
- Remove from heat and stir in the cheese until melted, then stir in the green beans and toss to coat.
- *From here, you can place the mixture in a bowl and store in the fridge until you’re ready to top with the fried shallots and bake in the oven.
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 2 – 2 1/2 quart baking dish with cooking spray.
- Pour the green bean mixture into the baking dish and set aside.
- Place the shallot rings in a bowl and toss with the remaining 2 tablespoons of flour and about 1/2 teaspoon salt.
- Place the canola oil in a saute pan and heat over medium high heat. When the oil is hot (not smoking), add about 1/4 of the shallots in a single layer and cook 2-3 minutes until lightly golden brown. Place on a paper towel lined plate. Repeat until all of the shallots have been cooked. Sprinkle with a bit more salt if necessary.
- Top the casserole with the shallots and bake at 350 degrees for 30-40 minutes or until bubbly and heated through (this will take longer if the green bean mixture is cold). If the top begins to brown too quickly, cover with foil.
- Remove from heat and cool 10 minutes. Serve and enjoy!
Notes
- *I used whole milk in this recipe which resulted in a rich sauce. You can certainly use low fat or skim milk if you’d like to reduce the amount of fat in this recipe.
- If you’re not a fan of mushrooms simply omit them from the recipe.
- Substitute the fried shallots with store bought french fried onions to save time.
Nutrition
Nutrition is estimated using a food database and is only intended to be used as a guideline for informational purposes.
8 Comments on “Homemade Green Bean Casserole with Crispy Fried Shallots”
I love green bean casserole and this one is a must try! Looks so good! Can’t wait to try it!
Thanks so much Mira!
Talk about the perfect side dish! nice touch with the fried shallots! this will be perfect for thanksgiving, thank you for the recipe 🙂
Thank you so much!
I agree…it’s Thanksgiving time until it’s over, then we can focus on Christmas! Green bean casserole is my favorite side of Thanksgiving and I’m LOVING your version! Those fried shallots sound amazing! And I love how easy this is to make. Definitely a show-stopper!
Thanks so much Gayle!
Green bean casserole is my favorite Thanksgiving dish (even more favorite than pie). But I have yet to make it entirely from scratch! Maybe it’s time for just to do it. Thank you for the inspiration!
It’s so good I could probably skip the pie and go for more of this instead. haha Thanks Kelsie!