There was a time when I thought condensed cream soups were God’s gift to the home cook. I specifically recall a Crock Pot chicken recipe I used to make that involved cream of chicken and cream of mushroom soup (and maybe Velveeta cheese?). Yes, it was creamy, and probably tasty, but also crazy high in sodium and pretty highly processed.
I’ve come a long way since those days. Now, whenever I can, I prefer to make sauces for casseroles, meat, or pasta dishes myself. I’ve found doing so cuts back on mystery ingredients, reduces sodium, and honestly just results in better quality food.
Enter this condensed soup-free Green Bean Casserole.
If you’ve ever made green bean casserole with a traditional recipe, I’ll bet it called for cream of mushroom soup. I know the recipes in both my Betty Crocker and Better Homes and Gardens cookbooks start this way. But now that I’m a fan of homemade sauces–and since I’ve never been fond of mushrooms–when I wanted a green bean casserole to go with a grilled chicken dinner recently, I thought I’d try my hand at a 100% from-scratch version. (Except for the fried onions on top. Those I’m happy to outsource to good old French’s.)
This recipe came out full of savory flavor, thanks to shallot, sage, and thyme. And thanks to a vegetable broth base, it’s totally vegetarian. Even though Thanksgiving may be several weeks off, I’d make this again for a veggie side dish any day!
Give this one a try if you’re looking for something a little less processed, or if someone in your family has the good sense to not like mushrooms. 🙂
Green Bean Casserole {No Soups, No Mushrooms}
Ingredients
- 24 oz. frozen French-style green beans
- 3 Tbsp. butter
- 1 small shallot, diced
- 3 Tbsp. all-purpose flour
- generous 1/2 tsp. salt
- 1/4 tsp. black pepper
- 1/4 tsp. dried sage
- 1/4 + 1/8 tsp. dried thyme
- 1 c. milk
- 1 1/4 c. vegetable broth
- 6 oz. crispy fried onions
Instructions
- Heat a large pot of water to boiling. Add green beans and cook about 5 minutes. Drain and set aside. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- Wipe out the pot and melt butter over medium-low heat. Satue diced shallot until tender and barely browned. Add flour, salt, pepper, sage, and thyme and whisk about 1 minute.
- Add milk and vegetable broth and whisk to combine. Increase heat to medium and whisk occasionally until sauce thickens. (It's ready when the whisk leaves a defined trail.) Remove from heat and stir in green beans.
- Spray an 11 x 7-inch baking dish with cooking spray. Pour in green bean mixture and smooth. Sprinkle with fried onions.
- Bake 20-25 minutes or until heated through.
Notes
sounds good a challenge I’ll try
hey great
thank you for sharing such nice and useful information
House of dietary restrictions here (gluten/dairy free). This recipe was a God send for Thanksgiving.
I did have to substitute gluten free all purpose flour, and crispy onions, then used dairy free Ripple Milk.
The dish was full of incredible flavor, I’m beyond impressed!
Thank you so much!
Thanks so much for letting me know, Joan! So glad to hear it worked out well.
I am 99.999% sure I made this green bean casserole the year before last for Thanksgiving and it was a HUGE success! I remember having to use onions, possibly shallots, and this recipe says it calls for shallots in the description, but in the list of ingredients and directions on making it, there is no mention of an onion or shallots. Am I not remembering correctly or was it left out on purpose? Thank you for making it possible to make foods that everyone will eat – even when they’re convinced they don’t like it. You helped me prove them wrong!
Awesome, thanks for the comment! You’re right, I forgot to include the shallot in the recipe. I’ve just added it. You’ll sautĂ© it in the butter before adding the flour and herbs. Happy Thanksgiving!
I am 99.999% sure I made this green bean casserole the year before last for Thanksgiving and it was a HUGE success! I remember having to use onions, possibly shallots, and this recipe says it calls for shallots in the description, but in the list of ingredients and directions on making it, there is no mention of an onion or shallots. Am I not remembering correctly or was it left out on purpose? Thank you for making it possible to make foods that everyone will eat – even when they’re convinced they don’t like it. You helped me prove them wrong!