thanksgiving

This Fun, Crunchy Green Bean Casserole Topper Will Be the Talk of Your Thanksgiving Dinner

published Nov 17, 2022
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Green Bean Casserole with Onion Rings
Credit: Cory Fernandez
Green Bean Casserole with Onion Rings

If your family is a fan of old-fashioned Thanksgiving classics, then chances are you’ll have a spread that includes buttery mashed potatoes, a marshmallow-studded sweet potato casserole, tangy cranberry sauce, and, of course, green bean casserole.

When it comes to what makes the perfect green bean casserole, there’s plenty of debate about whether to use canned cream of mushroom soup or a homemade sauce and whether to opt for canned, fresh, or frozen green beans. But just about everyone agrees that green bean casserole needs some sort of crunchy element on the top.

While French’s Original Crispy Fried Onions are a go-to grocery store grab for many, you can definitely mix things up by making a homemade crunchy topping like fried onions or sweet fried shallots. Or you can choose to use this smart hack from Diane Morrisey. All you have to do is take a trip to the freezer aisle.

To make her green bean casserole, Morrisey prepares a homemade cream of mushroom soup that she mixes with frozen green beans and adds to a baking dish. Then comes the best part: Instead of French’s onions, Morrisey tops the green bean casserole with small frozen onion rings!

I tried this simple yet fun idea out for myself. I prepared my green bean casserole a tad bit differently than Morrisey: I used bagged frozen green beans, mixed them with 1 can of cream of mushroom soup and half a can of cream of chicken soup without warming them up. I added a few of my own seasonings and then topped the green beans with the frozen onion rings (I used the brand Alexia, although they come in less uniform sizes than the ones Morrisey used), overlapping them slightly.

Credit: Cory Fernandez

One of my main worries was that the onion rings wouldn’t get super crispy in the oven, as they were sitting on top of a bed of creamy soups and frozen green beans, both of which I presumed would release steam and make the onion rings soggy. To my surprise, though, the onion rings were nice and crispy, almost as if they had been baked by themselves.

Overall, the dish turned out great (the onion rings especially!). My only recommendation — after testing this method out myself — is the be sure to use small, uniformly sized onion rings like Morrisey did in her version. Something like these frozen onion rings from Walmart should do the trick! My version was tasty but because the rings were all different sizes, I had to choose them more carefully or use broken pieces to fill in the gaps to make sure they all fit. Otherwise, give your family members something totally not-awkward to talk about and bring this dish to Thanksgiving!