We Tested 4 Famous Green Bean Casserole Recipes and Found a Clear Winner (2024)

FAQs

Which is better in green bean casserole canned or frozen? ›

Frozen French-cut green beans are a better option. They hold their texture better than canned, and you can cook them straight from their frozen state. And if you're using fresh green beans? You'll need to cook them first by roasting, steaming or boiling them.

Green Bean Casserole was created by a Campbell Soup Company employee, Dorcas Reilly, at our Camden, New Jersey headquarters in 1955. She was one of the first full-time members of Campbell's Home Economics department—now known as the Campbell Test Kitchen, where I work.

Green Giant, the frozen and canned food brand, has shattered the Guinness World Record for largest green bean casserole. The massive dish weighed in at 1,009 pounds and was made with an estimated 1,069 cans of Green Giant green beans, 485 cans of mushroom soup, 65 quarts of milk, and 95 pounds of French onions.

Green bean casserole

These are all potential signs of Clostridium botulinum, a bacterium that produces the dangerous botulism toxin. While relatively rare, this neurotoxin is among the most dangerous in the world and can be deadly.

Mistake #5: A Runny Casserole

If you sense it's a little watery, "add a thickener like roux or starch to absorb the additional liquid or cook a little longer," she says. That'll give it that rich, dense consistency you're looking for.

Your Crispy Onion Topping Is Soggy

Yet it's one of the most common green bean casserole mistakes a home chef can make. If this happens to you, it may be due to adding that topping too early; toppings should be added at the very end of the cooking process, shortly before you pull it out of the oven.

Macaroni and cheese is the oldest written casserole recipe found in 1250.

How It Became a Holiday Staple. Green bean casserole was considered a perfect dish for holiday entertaining because it was simple, inexpensive, and could easily be made ahead of time. It became known as a "jiffy casserole" because it went from one bowl to one pan.

Fans love the dish in part because of how simple it is to throw together. It calls for ingredients that could be found in a typical home kitchen pantry: canned or fresh green beans, mushroom soup, milk, soy sauce and black pepper.

Of course, we know that isn't exactly accurate. For one thing, macaroni and cheese is definitely not a traditional Thanksgiving food, nor did the Pilgrims and Wampanoag have oven-safe dishes for baking green-bean casseroles.

How to make green bean casserole thicker? ›

Transfer the filling to a Dutch oven or large skillet on the stovetop. Heat the filling until it's at a gentle simmer. Make a "slurry" with either cornstarch or flour. Start making a slurry, a tool for thickening sauces, by whisking a small amount of cornstarch or flour with water or broth.

Your creamy green bean casserole will last about four days in the fridge. The crunchy topping will get softer as time goes by; pop it into the oven to reheat to crisp it up a bit. While casseroles have a reputation for being freezer-friendly, green bean casseroles don't freeze so well.

According to the USDA, food that has been left out of the fridge for more than two hours should be thrown away. That's because between 40° F and 140° F (what the USDA calls the "Danger Zone"), bacteria grows incredibly fast and can make you sick.

Lectins are proteins present in green beans that help bind carbohydrates. Lectins cause digestive problems such as nausea, vomiting, bloating, and diarrhea. Cooking beans neutralizes the lectin, making them safe to eat, improves taste, and increases antioxidant levels.

Sometimes, fresh produce contains harmful germs such as Salmonella, E. coli, or Listeria. These bacteria can make people very sick. Some people are more vulnerable to getting a foodborne illness than others.

"Frozen beans hold their texture and flavor better when cooked, while canned beans can become mushy," says Lauren Allen, the owner and creator of recipe website Tastes Better From Scratch and an Amazon best-selling cookbook by the same name.

Canned content

The more intense heat treatment used on food that's destined for a metal can shows a greater reduction in nutrients than frozen food, Barrett says. But as with fresh food, different nutrients in different kinds of produce degrade at different rates.

Conclusion. Canned peas are not necessarily bad, especially when there are no frozen or fresh ones. They make great side dishes and still retain a few of their nutrients. Frozen peas are much healthier but fresh ones are the best.

Fresh vs. Frozen Green Beans. You may be surprised to learn that frozen green beans have just as many nutrients as, if not more than, fresh green beans. That's because frozen produce is harvested at peak ripeness, blanched, and flash frozen to preserve most of the nutrients and prevent spoiling.