Green Bean Casserole

Name: Green Bean Casserole
Prep time: 20 min
Cook time: 45 min
Total time: 1 h 5 min
Cuisine: American
Ingredients: 1 tbsp Diamond Crystal kosher salt, for blanching; 2 lb green beans, trimmed and cut into 2-inch pieces; 4 large shallots, sliced into thin rings, about 1/8 inch; ½ cup all-purpose flour, divided; 1 cup neutral oil, for shallow frying; 4 tbsp unsalted butter; 10 oz cremini mushrooms, finely chopped; 1½ tsp Diamond Crystal kosher salt, plus a pinch for the shallots; 2 cloves garlic, minced; 1 tsp fresh thyme leaves; 1 cup vegetable stock; 1½ cups whole milk; 1 tsp soy sauce; 1 pinch nutmeg, freshly grated; ½ tsp black pepper

By the Tapas kitchen · Jump to the recipe

This version makes its own mushroom sauce and fries its own shallots for the top, in place of a can of soup and a can of fried onions. Blanch the beans only until they bend but still snap (they soften again in the oven), and add the shallots for the last 3 minutes so they don't scorch.

A green bean casserole topped with crispy fried onions — Photo by Rick Kimpel from Spring, TX, USA, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons, cropped.

Prep: 20 min
Cook: 45 min
Total: 1 hr 5 min
Yield: Serves 8

Ingredients

For the beans

1 tbsp Diamond Crystal kosher salt, for blanching
2 lb green beans, trimmed and cut into 2-inch pieces

For the shallots

4 large shallots, sliced into thin rings, about 1/8 inch
½ cup all-purpose flour, divided
1 cup neutral oil, for shallow frying

For the sauce

4 tbsp unsalted butter
10 oz cremini mushrooms, finely chopped
1½ tsp Diamond Crystal kosher salt, plus a pinch for the shallots
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tsp fresh thyme leaves
1 cup vegetable stock
1½ cups whole milk
1 tsp soy sauce
1 pinch nutmeg, freshly grated
½ tsp black pepper

The salt amounts here are for Diamond Crystal kosher salt. If you have Morton kosher salt, use a little over half as much, because its grains are denser and saltier by the spoon.

Steps

Heat the oven to 400°F. Bring a large pot of water to a boil, add the blanching salt, and set a big bowl of ice water next to the stove.
Boil the beans until bright green and bendy but still with a snap, 4 to 5 minutes. Drain them straight into the ice water, then drain again and spread them on a towel to dry.
Toss the shallots with half the flour and a pinch of salt. Heat the oil in a medium skillet over medium heat until a shallot ring sizzles on contact. Fry the shallots in two batches, stirring often, until evenly golden, 5 to 7 minutes per batch. Lift them onto paper towels while they are golden, not brown; they keep darkening as they drain.
Melt the butter in a 12-inch oven-safe skillet over medium-high heat. Add the mushrooms and the 1 1/2 teaspoons of salt and cook, stirring now and then, until their liquid has cooked off and they are browned, about 8 minutes. Stir in the garlic and thyme for 30 seconds, then the remaining 1/4 cup of flour for 1 minute.
Whisk in the stock a little at a time, then the milk, soy sauce, nutmeg and pepper. Simmer, stirring, until it thickens enough to coat a spoon, 3 to 4 minutes. Taste it; the sauce has to season the beans, so it should taste slightly too salty on its own.
Fold in the beans. Leave it in the skillet or scrape it into a 9-by-13-inch baking dish. Bake until bubbling at the edges, about 15 minutes.
Scatter the shallots over the top and bake 3 minutes more, just to warm them through.

Notes

To get ahead on Thanksgiving, blanch the beans and fry the shallots a day or two before; keep the beans in the fridge and the shallots in an airtight container at room temperature. Assemble the casserole up to a day ahead, refrigerate, and give it 25 minutes in the oven before the shallots go on.