The Best Green Bean Casserole Recipes to Grace Your Thanksgiving Dinner Table (2024)

FAQs

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

Green beans from a can have already been cooked to death right in the can and harbor plenty of sodium that could make your casserole too salty. 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.

Green Bean Casseroles are served at 20 million Thanksgiving dinners every year.

Green bean casserole was considered a perfect dish for holiday entertaining because it was simple, inexpensive, and could easily be made ahead of time.

The best side dishes to serve with a green bean casserole are collard greens, corn on the cob, kielbasa, fried shrimp, spaghetti and meatballs, London broil, broccoli, caramelized onions, zucchini carrot bread, lentil loaf, Cajun turkey, roasted chicken, grilled steak, baked salmon, pork chops, Apple slaw and Christmas ...

In fact, some frozen vegetables, such as green beans, have an edge over the limp and old green beans in your fridge! Frozen vs. Canned: In general, frozen vegetables are better than canned. Fresh vegetables are blanched before freezing, and they do lose some nutrients but not a lot.

Any liquid from the beans will make your casserole watery. Only add 1/4 cup milk with the condensed soup—do not add the water as directed on the can. Add the crispy fried onions during the last 5 minutes of baking or they will absorb some of the sauce and become soggy.

“When alternative sides are plentiful, assume guests will eat a little less of each and one pound will serve four people,” Hartigan says. “And if vegetarians outnumber carnivores at your table, assume your green beans will go fast and assume that one pound will serve two people.”

Green beans: 1 ½ pounds of beans makes 6 to 8 servings. Mashed potatoes: A 5-pound bag of potatoes makes 12 to 16 servings.

Notes: ✿ 4 cups of green beans is about 1½ pounds fresh or 16 ounces frozen or 2 cans (15 ounces each) drained.

What Wasn't Served at the First Thanksgiving. It is also worth noting what was not present at the first Thanksgiving feast. There were no cloudlike heaps of mashed potatoes, since white potatoes had not yet crossed over from South America.

How many days can you eat green bean casserole? ›

This green bean casserole recipe is best on the day it's made, but leftovers keep well for up to 2 days. Store them in an airtight container in the fridge, and reheat in the microwave or a 350°F oven.

Rinse them for about 1 minute with cold water. Place beans in a bowl, cover, and refrigerate if you will use them later in the day or the following day. They can be prepared up to 3 days ahead of time.

Then, I toss the blanched beans with olive oil, lemon juice and zest, garlic, and salt to pep up their flavor. Serve them just like that, or dress them up more with toasted almonds or pine nuts, grated Parmesan cheese, red pepper flakes, or fresh herbs like basil, parsley, or thyme.

"Canned green beans are very soft and delicate," Malarkey says. "They tend to mush up while mixing, and I like a little crunch to my green bean casserole." The other two pros we spoke with agreed. When presented with the choice of fresh or frozen green beans for green bean casserole, frozen came out on top.

“While there's no reason to be worried about using frozen or canned food, there's a preference for frozen because of the amount of added salt [in canned], and some canned fruits have added sugar,” says Hachem. Still, canning also can improve the safety of foods, particularly those prone to harbouring pathogens.

Canned green beans are a little more nutrient dense than fresh green beans. Raw green beans have a Nutrivore Score of 605. Canned green beans including the liquid have a Nutrivore Score of 661. So eat whichever one you prefer!

Casseroles of all kinds are frozen- and canned vegetable-friendly.

Looking at the nutrition information between canned and fresh green beans revealed that the nutritional content is pretty similar between the two. However, one of the primary differences is sodium content, with canned green beans having more than fresh vegetables.