Green Bean Casserole Without Mushroom Soup
Don’t want to cook with canned cream of mushroom soup or canned green beans? Make this easy homemade Green Bean Casserole Without Mushroom Soup from scratch for Thanksgiving and Christmas using frozen green beans, fresh mushrooms, and sour cream.
I’ve been eating some variation of Green Bean Casserole Without Mushroom Soup every Thanksgiving and Christmas for as long as I can remember.
Growing up, Mom made the famous version with canned cream of mushroom soup, canned green beans, and French fried onions. It was my absolute favorite thing to eat alongside stuffed Cornish hen.
As I started cooking for myself and my palate matured, I could no longer eat a lot of canned items, especially cream of whatever soup.
Not wanting to give it up, I was on a mission to make green bean casserole from scratch.
And I succeeded by using sour cream and fresh mushrooms as a substitute for cream of mushroom soup plus some Worcestershire sauce to add some depth known as umami (bonus points if you can pronounce it).
Ingredients For Green Bean Casserole Without Mushroom Soup
I don’t think a year has gone by where we don’t make green bean casserole without cream of mushroom soup for the holidays!
Here are the ingredients you’ll need:
- Green beans: Can use fresh or frozen (more on that below)
- Butter: Used to fry up your onion, garlic, and mushrooms
- Salt: No more bland casserole!
- Onion and garlic: Aromatics to build flavor into your casserole
- Mushrooms: Instead of mushroom soup, use fresh button mushrooms instead.
- Flour: Used to make a roux to thicken the filling so it’s not a soupy mess
- Broth: I use chicken broth because it’s always in my fridge, but for a vegetarian green bean casserole, use vegetable broth.
- Sour cream: Replaces the cream in cream of mushroom soup
- Cheese: Mom always added cheese, and I didn’t know until a few years ago there is no cheese in the original. You’ll definitely want to make a cheesy green bean casserole.
- Milk: Smooths out the sour cream into a sauce so it’s not a thick glob
- Worcestershire sauce: Adds some earthiness, which pairs well with the mushrooms
- French fried onions: Although I believe in making everything from scratch, I cut myself some slack on Thanksgiving by buying a bag.
Can you use fresh green beans for green bean casserole?
Because green bean casserole from scratch is typically made in the winter, I opt for frozen green beans rather than fresh.
They’re still technically fresh because they’re frozen during peak season. Regardless they’re a million times better than canned green beans.
I use frozen French cut green beans when I can find them, which means the beans are cut lengthwise into thin strips.
However, they aren’t easy to find, so you can definitely use regular cut green beans.
To substitute fresh green beans, boil them in salted water first until softened, about 5 minutes. Then proceed to follow the casserole recipe.
If you don’t precook your fresh green beans, they’ll be too hard even after baking.
Is green bean casserole vegetarian?
Although at first glance green bean casserole without mushroom soup looks vegetarian, it actually isn’t due to the Worcestershire sauce because it contains anchovies.
No worries! You can leave it out or use a vegetarian-friendly brand.
Serve it with stuffed butternut squash, cranberry stuffing and mushroom gravy for a vegetarian Thanksgiving.
How To Make Green Bean Casserole Without Mushroom Soup
Here’s how to make green bean casserole without cream of mushroom soup:
- Blanch green beans in a pot of salted water. Blanching means cooking in hot water until softened but not fully cooked, about 3 minutes or so. That way the green beans aren’t raw after cooking the casserole.
- Cook onion and mushrooms in melted butter until softened then add the garlic.
- Stir in the flour to make a roux then slowly whisk in the broth. This will help thicken the filling so it’s not too soupy.
- Mix in sour cream, cheese, milk, Worcestershire sauce, green beans, and some French fried onions. Transfer to a casserole dish and top with the remaining French fried onions.
- Bake at 350F for 30 minutes or until hot and bubbly.
Store leftovers in the refrigerator for up to 5 days.
Green Bean Casserole FAQ
Yes, you can! Make the filling, refrigerate, then add the onions on top right before baking. You may need to add an extra 10 minutes in the oven since you’re baking cold filling straight from the fridge.
Although the mushrooms are my favorite part, you can certainly make green bean casserole without mushrooms by leaving them out.
To make your casserole even better, add bacon! Instead of using butter, fry your bacon in the skillet, remove once cooked, then continue frying your onion and mushrooms in the bacon grease left behind. Crumble your bacon then stir into the mixture before baking.
What To Serve With Homemade Green Bean Casserole
Since the likelihood of you reading this while planning your Thanksgiving menu is very high, here are links to my favorite accompanying dishes.
For a full list, check out my Thanksgiving Dinner For Two and Christmas Dinner For Two menus.
Green Bean Casserole Without Mushroom Soup
Easy homemade Green Bean Casserole Without Mushroom Soup from scratch for Thanksgiving and Christmas using frozen green beans, fresh mushrooms, and sour cream.
Ingredients
- 1 bag (12-16 ounce) frozen regular cut or French cut green beans
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
- Salt, to taste (preferably kosher)
- 1/4 cup diced white or yellow onion
- 4 large white button mushrooms, sliced
- 1 clove garlic, minced
- 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
- 1/4 cup vegetable or chicken stock/broth
- 1 cup full-fat sour cream
- 1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese
- 1/4 cup whole milk, room temperature
- 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce (omit if making casserole vegetarian-friendly)
- 1 cup French fried onions
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350F. Have a 1 quart casserole dish ready.
- Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Once boiling, add a handful of salt then add green beans. Cook for 3 minutes to soften but not fully cook. Drain and run under cold water to stop the cooking.
- Meanwhile, in a large deep skillet melt the butter. Once hot, add the onion, mushrooms, and a pinch of salt. Cook until softened, about 5 minutes. Add the garlic and cook 1 minute.
- Stir in flour until a roux (paste) forms. Slowly stir in the broth.
- Stir in the sour cream, cheese, milk, Worcestershire sauce, green beans, 1/4 cup French friend onions, and salt to taste (up to 1 teaspoon) until smooth and cheese has melted.
- Transfer to the casserole dish and top with remaining 3/4 cup French fried onion. Bake 30 minutes or until bubbling.
Notes
- To make the casserole ahead of time, make the filling then refrigerate. Right before baking, top with the remaining French fried onions. You may need to add extra bake time since you're baking cold filling straight from the fridge.
- To use fresh green beans, fully cook them in salted water until fork tender, about 5 minutes.
- Planning your holiday menu? Check out Thanksgiving Dinner For Two, Easter Dinner For Two, and Christmas Dinner For Two for recipe pairings.
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First published November 21, 2013
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This looks SO much better than the canned variety. I’ve posted a link to this recipe on my blog. Happy Thursday!
Thanks for including me!
This is so helpful! I always loved green bean casserole, too, but we haven’t had it in ages because, well, on Thanksgiving Day, ridiculous amounts of sodium aren’t needed on top of all that food! I like the addition of Worcestershire sauce, too- although I think i pronounce it a different way each and every time :)
Ha most of the time I just say Worcestshhhshhh sauce.
I love that you’ve made this without the canned soup, Carla! I love that dish too and have always avoided it for that very reason…I am looking forward to making this!
Down with canned soup! ;)
This is the first green bean casserole that has ever looked good to me – when I clicked and saw you made it I pinned quick and then came right over – it looks delish and I have never said that about any GBC I have ever seen or tasted. Now I have found 2 things on Yum Goggle today that I want to make for Thanksgiving.
Aw thanks Kelli :) I was a little worried with the onions on top because ideally I’d use shallots for those golden brown onions everybody knows and not the very little onion I had left in the drawer. Either way it still tasted very good!
this looks great! can’t wait to try it…do you think i could sub the sour cream with FF greek yogurt?
I actually thought about that too! I haven’t tried it yet, but I know it would give it the same creaminess. Of course the flavor will differ slightly, but both should still have a little bit of that tang. Just adjust to taste if you decide to try it.
I’ve made the Great Plains’ favorite Tater Tot Casserole without the traditional Cream of Chicken or Mushroom soup. I’ve never had Green Bean Casserole before…The mushrooms scare me off!
The mushrooms are my favorite part! You can always leave the mushrooms out if you do decide to try this.
This looks delicious, Carla! I’m trying to muster the enthusiasm to make green bean casserole this year, and your lovely photos are helping. Want to come dig through the freezer to see if I put up some beans when I got them in the farm share? Yeah, me neither. :)
Thanks!
Haha guess we can make a party out of it ;)
This sounds delicicious! I have traditionally been the one to make green bean casserole for Thanksgiving potlucks. For the past 15 yrs or so, I have made another alternative recipe that consisted of somewhat similar ingredients. I, too, am not a fan of canned condensed soup which was my motivation for doing so. I always use fresh green beans as well. I will give this recipe a whirl this year. Thank you!
Oh, and I say it like this…Worsh-teh-shur. :)
Yes I’ve seen different variations and ended up combining several ideas into this recipe. Let me know what you think of this one if you do try it!
Yum! This sounds wonderful. I’ve never had green bean casserole for Thanksgiving – my mother always did succotash, and I guess there have been a lot of years when I’ve done nothing for Thanksgiving. This recipe makes me want green bean casserole.
I have one recipe I’ve always loved, which dates back to college, which my husband affectionately calls ‘road kill’ (real name Skid Road Stroganoff), which calls for cream of chicken soup. I’ve been making my own soup for it, and also subbing plain, nonfat Greek yogurt mixed with a dab of sugar for the sour cream.
Green bean casserole has always been on our Thanksgiving table (although it started out as the canned soup version and has evolved over the years). I’ll have to look up that stroganoff recipe. I don’t make it often but think a casserole would be the perfect way to serve it up. Thanks for sharing!
Carla, if you can’t find the stroganoff, let me know & I’ll give it to you. I’ve never seen it in print anywhere, and I got it from a college roommate back in 1966.
Is it this? http://old.post-gazette.com/food/20020926mailbox1.asp
No, that’s not it. Mine uses 1 pound ground beef, enough flour to soak up the grease from the meat, 1T Hungarian sweet paprika, 1 chopped medium onion, 2 minced cloves of garlic, 1 can cream of chicken soup (or cream of mushroom) and 1 cup sour cream. Brown beef with onions and garlic, mix in paprika (& flour), cook for 5 minutes, add soup (undiluted) and cook for 10 minutes. Add sour cream, warm through, and serve over rice. Serves 4.
Enjoy!
Pinned! And thanks for the shout-out for my recipe!
recipe looks great! Any chance this can be made ahead of time??
Yes, I did just that a few weeks ago. Make everything but the onion topping ahead of time, put in your casserole dish/pan, cover, and refrigerate. Cook the onions the day you’re serving. However if you can’t, you can substitute store bought French-fried onions (I was traveling with my casserole and wasn’t sure how homemade fried onions would hold up).
The ingredient list did not include green beans so I had no way of knowing how much green beans to use. I just used the whole bag and it was way too much. Other than that it was delicious! The soup base turned out great and I will use that for other recipes that call for mushroom soup
I’m so sorry about that! I recently switched recipe card plugins, which messed up formatting on a lot of my recipes, including erasing instructions and other important information. I’m in the process of fixing all 11 years worth. Thank you for bringing this to my attention! It’s fixed now.
Almost exact recipe is out of the oven! (I used almond milk). Beautiful and tasty! Thank you so much for this recipe I never thought to use cheese before! I will post a pic where you said. Thanks again!
Wonderful! Love the adaptation with almond milk.
So happy about how this recipe came out! I have some kiddos who won’t eat mushrooms and this was a great alternative to our favorite casserole!
Awesome! Happy to hear everyone loved it.
This was a hit with the family! I’ll be making again and again!
Awesome! Happy to hear everyone enjoyed it.
Does this dish freeze well ahead of baking?
I haven’t tried it, but I believe you can! Don’t add the crispy onions on top until ready to bake or they’ll get soggy.
If I choose to omit mushrooms, does the recipe stay the same?
Yes
I absolutely love this. I can never eat anyone’s Green Bean Casserole because of the cream of mushroom soup. All cream soups have MSG – monosodium glutamate in them. I am highly allergic to it. I’m so happy to see an easy recipe that I can eat. BTW – I make my own clam chowder, cream of mushroom soup and ranch dressing. All with no MSG. Also, I just turned 69 and live by myself with 3 dogs. Cooking for 1 can be such a bother.
Happy birthday! I’m glad you’re able to eat this casserole without worrying about MSG.
This is wonderful and so exciting to be able to make this without sodium filled canned soup! I also cut the sodium by making my own french fried onions but never would have thought to do this without your recipe Carla thank you so much my husband is thrilled so am i!
Glad you were able to adjust this for your dietary needs!
This has become a holiday staple! Thank you so much for creating this green bean casserole recipe delicious and lower sodium wow win-win!
Happy to hear you liked the casserole!
This looks great! Is there anything you would recommend using instead of sour cream if someone in your family doesn’t like some cream?
I’m not sure how much they’ll be able to tell it’s sour cream because it’s all blended into the casserole. However, you can try plain Greek yogurt or possibly even mayonnaise.
This recipe is fantastic! Simple to make and delicious flavors. I haven’t bought canned soup since finding your recipe. Thanks for sharing.
Wonderful! Happy to hear you enjoyed it.
This will be my 9th Thanksgiving making this casserole! It’s a family favorite and so so tasty!! I am thankful every year for this recipe!! heart!!
Oh wonderful! So happy to hear it’s been a part of your dinner for 9 years.