No Holiday Is Complete Without This Green Bean Casserole (2024)

FAQs

Why is green bean casserole a Thanksgiving tradition? ›

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.

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.

Green Bean Casserole Tips

Don't overcook the green beans: Remember when you are blanching the green beans that they will continue to cook and soften while baking in the oven with the rest of the casserole. So it's important to undercook them slightly during this first step so that they don't get mushy in the oven.

Before you add your topping, try to thicken the casserole with flour or cornstarch so the topping sits on top and doesn't sink to the bottom. If you're freeing up your oven by making your casserole in a slow cooker or a pressure cooker (like an Instant Pot), don't add your topping until it hits the serving dish.

So, to the question “What did the Pilgrims eat for Thanksgiving,” the answer is both surprising and expected. Turkey (probably), venison, seafood, and all of the vegetables that they had planted and harvested that year—onions, carrots, beans, spinach, lettuce, and other greens.

Green Beans – For this recipe, you can use fresh, frozen, or canned. Canned green beans are softer but are easy to use because they require no prep. Simply drain and enjoy. Frozen green beans require no cutting and have a tender-crisp texture.

Mistake #5: A Runny Casserole

Be sure that frozen green beans are completely defrosted and drained before adding them to the casserole, Chef Patel says. If you don't, the excess water from the beans can leak out into the casserole and make it thin and runny.

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.

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

One of the primary reasons for draining and rinsing canned beans, or any canned food, is to remove some of the excess salt.

How many cans of green beans are 4 cups? ›

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

Roasted turkey, mashed potatoes, cornbread dressing—you get the picture. But guess what? You don't have to wait until Thanksgiving to eat green bean casserole. It's also delicious alongside a simple roasted chicken for an easy family meal!

Let the casserole cool to room temperature. Wrap well with plastic wrap and foil, label and date, then freeze for up to 2 weeks. To serve, preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Discard the plastic wrap and foil from the frozen casserole.

1. 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.

Native Americans taught the Pilgrims to grow beans next to cornstalks. The was so that tbe beans could use the cornstalks as their pole as they grow, hence American beans are also known as Pole beans. Beans are therefore a special symbol of thanksgiving feast.

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.

The Pilgrims may have learned about some of these foods from Native Americans, but others were not available to the early settlers. The tradition of eating them at Thanksgiving likely reflects their affordability for later Americans.