Name: Green Bean Casserole with Crispy Shallots
Prep time: 25 min
Cook time: 35 min
Total time: 1 h
Yield: 6 servings
Ingredients: 1½ lb green beans, trimmed and halved; 3 shallots, thinly sliced into rings; ¼ cup all-purpose flour, plus 3 tbsp; 1 cup vegetable oil, for frying; 4 tbsp butter; 8 oz cremini mushrooms, sliced; 2 cloves garlic, minced; 1½ cups chicken or vegetable broth; 1 cup heavy cream; ½ tsp ground nutmeg; Salt and pepper to taste

Green Bean Casserole with Crispy Shallots

The Thanksgiving standby rebuilt without a can of soup — real mushroom cream sauce under shallots fried crisp instead of tinned.

Serves

Prep

25 min

Cook

35 min

Written

August 1, 2026

Method

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil and blanch the green beans 4 to 5 minutes, until bright green and just tender. Drain and shock in ice water, then drain again.

Heat the oil in a skillet over medium-high until it shimmers. Toss the shallot rings in ¼ cup flour, shake off the excess, and fry in batches until deeply golden and crisp, about 3 minutes a batch. Drain on paper towels and salt right away.

Pour off all but 2 tbsp of the oil. Melt the butter in the same skillet, add the mushrooms, and cook until browned and their liquid has cooked off, about 8 minutes.

Add the garlic and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Sprinkle in the remaining 3 tbsp flour and stir until it coats the mushrooms.

Whisk in the broth and cream. Simmer, stirring, until the sauce is thick enough to coat the back of a spoon, 4 to 5 minutes. Stir in the nutmeg and season with salt and pepper.

Fold the blanched green beans into the sauce and transfer everything to a greased 2-quart baking dish.

Bake at 375°F until bubbling at the edges, about 20 minutes. Scatter the crispy shallots over the top and bake 2 to 3 minutes more, just to set them, before serving.

Notes

The can of cream of mushroom soup is the whole reason this dish has a reputation for tasting like a can of cream of mushroom soup. A real béchamel-style sauce built off actual mushrooms fixes that without changing anything about the dish people expect to see on the table.

Assemble the casserole through the beans-in-sauce step up to a day ahead and refrigerate; fry the shallots separately and re-crisp them in a 375°F oven for a couple of minutes right before serving so they go on the table hot.