Smitten Kitchen’s Green Bean Casserole Is Worth the Extra Step

Deb Perelman is a wizard when it comes to recipes. Her wildly popular food blog, Smitten Kitchen, is filled with countless delicious recipes that are fuss-free, fun, and always approachable. It’s one of the most beloved food blogs on the web, and for good reason! If I’m ever lost on what to cook for dinner, Smitten Kitchen is one of the first places I look. So when trying to pick which recipes to test in our green bean casserole recipe showdown, including one of her recipes only made sense.

Smitten Kitchen’s recipe is a completely homemade version of the classic, made with freshly fried crispy onions and a hearty mushroom base. It’s made entirely in one skillet and has a beautiful rustic look that would stand out on a crowded Thanksgiving table. It looked absolutely delicious, and I was eager to give it a try.

Get the recipe: Smitten Kitchen’s Green Bean Casserole With Crispy Onions

Smitten Kitchen’s green bean casserole is entirely homemade, so it’s a bit of a project compared to the classic French’s version. You’ll start by making the crispy onions. Toss thinly sliced onions in a combination of flour, breadcrumbs, salt, and pepper. Heat a skillet with half an inch of oil until hot. Add your onions and fry until golden-brown, then drain them on paper towels.

Bring a pot of salted water to a boil, then blanch green beans and quickly plunge them into an ice bath. Drain, and set them aside. Melt butter in a skillet and add mushrooms, salt, and pepper. Cook until the mushrooms release their liquid, then add garlic and continue cooking. Add flour and stir to coat the mushrooms, then slowly add broth and cream, and cook until thickened. Add the blanched green beans and stir to coat them in the sauce. Sprinkle the crispy onions on top, and bake until bubbling.

This recipe was a perfect homemade version of the classic. It had everything I love about the old-school French’s recipe presented in an entirely from-scratch package. I especially loved the crispy onions; they reminded me of something you would get at a diner served alongside a burger. I could barely stop myself from snacking on them!

The casserole itself was also delicious, and I appreciated how many mushrooms were in the sauce. It was creamy, well-seasoned, and intensely savory. The green beans themselves were tender and still had a pleasant snap. The casserole also looked beautiful, and cooking it entirely in one skillet made cleanup a breeze. I would happily make this again without changing a thing.

1. Cut your mushrooms into big, irregular pieces. Smitten Kitchen notes that the mushrooms can be either “thinly sliced or coarsely chopped.” I did the latter and found they gave the casserole a wonderful hearty texture.
   
2. Be generous with the fried onions. This recipe makes a lot of fried onions, but we all know they’re the best part of green bean casseroles. Go ahead and load them all up on top of your casserole. They are delicious and I firmly believe that more is merrier.
   
3. Feel free to prep it ahead of time. If you plan to make this for Thanksgiving, you can get a head-start by making both the base and the crispy onions the day before. Just wait until right before you bake it to add the crispy onions on top.

Rating: 10/10

Have you ever made Smitten Kitchen’s green bean casserole with crispy onions? Tell us what you thought!