You will love and enjoy this healthy green beans casserole recipe. This simple recipe is made from scratch.
And it is also the ideal addition to your holiday table.
It is the perfect side dish to serve with your Thanksgiving turkey, along with all the fixings such as cranberry sauce, stuffing, mashed potatoes, and sweet potato casserole.
What Is Green Bean Casserole?
Well, the traditional green bean casserole is made with cream of mushroom soup, French fried onions, and green beans.
It is also very likely to be a little mushy and quite heavy, so it is time to dive into the best green bean casserole recipe.
Healthy Green Bean Casserole
With this clean-eating recipe without canned soup, you will get to enjoy a healthy green bean casserole.
You will be cooking it from scratch, and it does have an amazing flavor. Simply put, a perfect family favorite.
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 35 minutes
- Total Time: 50 minutes
- Servings: 10 servings
Ingredients
- 2 ½ pounds of green beans (trimmed)
- ½ cup of whole wheat panko breadcrumbs
- 2 cups of 2% milk
- ½ teaspoon of black pepper
- 1/8 teaspoon of ground nutmeg
- 3 tablespoons of all-purpose flour
- ¼ cup of freshly grated Parmesan cheese
- 2 tablespoons of chopped fresh parsley (plus additional for garnish)
- 4 tablespoons of extra-virgin olive oil (divided)
- 1 medium onion (very thinly sliced)
- 8 ounces of baby bella (cremini) mushrooms, sliced (avoid plain white mushrooms as they do not have much flavor).
- 1 teaspoon of kosher salt
- 7 ounces of 2% Greek yogurt
Laid-Out Instructions
- First, get a rack and position it in the upper third of your oven. Preheat to broil, then coat a 2-quart, broiler-safe baking dish with nonstick spray. Make sure that this is done lightly.
- Get a small bowl and stir in the parmesan, parsley, panko, and 2 tablespoons olive oil, then set aside.
Blanch the Green Beans
- Get a large pot of water and bring it to a boil, then prepare an ice water bath and set out a large, clean kitchen towel.
- Then you can place the beans in the water and cook them just until they become crisp-tender, around 3 minutes.
- Thrust into an ice bath to stop the cooking. Afterward, drain and transfer to the towel, then pat dry. This should be done lightly.
- For the time being, get a large, wide saucepan over medium heat and heat 1 tablespoon of oil in it.
- Add the onion and mushrooms, then cook, stirring frequently, until the onion becomes soft and golden and the mushrooms are brown and have given up their liquid. This should take around 15 minutes.
- Now, add the remaining 1 tablespoon of olive oil, spray the flour over the top, and cook, stirring, for an additional 1 to 2 minutes until all of the flour becomes golden and no white bits remain.
- Make sure you slowly add the milk, a few splashes at a time, then stir between each addition, as this helps prevent lumps from forming.
- After that, increase the heat to medium-high, then mix in the pepper, nutmeg, and salt.
- Cook, mix, and allow the sauce to bubble. Just run a spatula or wooden spoon along the bottom of the pan.
- Continue cooking and mixing until the sauce reduces, thickens, and looks similar to a creamy gravy, around 8 to 10 minutes.
- After that, remove it from the heat and mix in the Greek yogurt. Then, transfer half of the green beans to the prepared baking dish.
- With that being done, spread half of the sauce over the green beans, add the remaining green beans, and top them with the remaining sauce. Also, spray the breadcrumb mixture over the top.
- That being done, broil, then watch closely until the casserole is bubbling and starts to brown on the top.
- This should take about 1 to 3 minutes; however, it depends on your broiler. Allow it to stand for 10 minutes before you serve. You can garnish with additional fresh parsley.
What Should You Serve With This Casserole
You can prepare this easy side dish for a holiday meal or a weeknight dinner.
It can be served with a lot of main dishes, including crispy roast chicken, fish amandine, beef tenderloin with cabernet-mushroom sauce, roast turkey with white wine gravy, and roasted leg of lamb with red wine-shallot sauce.
However, when a healthy green bean casserole is served with herbed lemon orzo, wild rice salad with arugula pesto, or winter kale and quinoa salad with avocado, it can be the main dish.
How to Store and Reheat
To refrigerate, you can just store any leftover casserole in the fridge, but make sure it is tightly wrapped. It can last for up to 3 to 4 days after baking.
- To reheat, you can just reheat any leftovers in the microwave, or you can also reheat them in the oven.
- However, make sure you remove the casserole dish from the fridge 15 to 20 minutes before reheating if you want to reheat the whole casserole. After that, allow it to come to room temp.
- That being done, place the casserole dish in a 350-degree oven and reheat for 10 minutes; however, ensure that it is covered with foil.
- Remove the foil after 10 minutes, allow the casserole to finish heating, and let the topping crisp up a bit before removing it from the oven for more or less another 5 to 10 minutes.
Recipe FAQs
Is Green Bean Casserole Better With Canned Or Fresh?
The truth is that you can never go wrong when you use fresh green beans if you want the best green bean casserole.
The texture, color, and flavor will be much better compared to canned.
Can I Make It Gluten-Free?
The short and straight answer to the above question is yes; you can make it gluten-free.
To do so, all you need to do is substitute gluten-free all-purpose flour and gluten-free breadcrumbs for the regular ones.
Final Thoughts on Healthy Green Beans Casserole Recipe
Keep in mind that green beans can actually be blanched a day ahead, and the sauce can also be prepared a day ahead.
Just store them separately in the refrigerator, and then you can reheat the sauce on the stove until it is steaming before combining it with the green beans. Make sure this is done gently.
Thin it out with a splash or two of milk if the mixture becomes too thick.
Now, that being said, this concludes this guide on healthy green beans casserole recipe.
Healthy Green Beans Casserole Recipe
Ingredients
- 2 ½ pounds of green beans trimmed
- ½ cup of whole wheat panko breadcrumbs
- 2 cups of 2% milk
- ½ teaspoon of black pepper
- 1/8 teaspoon of ground nutmeg
- 3 tablespoons of all-purpose flour
- ¼ cup of freshly grated Parmesan cheese
- 2 tablespoons of chopped fresh parsley plus additional for garnish
- 4 tablespoons of extra-virgin olive oil divided
- 1 medium onion very thinly sliced
- 8 ounces of baby bella cremini mushrooms, sliced (avoid plain white mushrooms as they do not have much flavor).
- 1 teaspoon of kosher salt
- 7 ounces of 2% Greek yogurt
Instructions
- First, get a rack and position it in the upper third of your oven. Preheat to broil, then coat a 2-quart, broiler-safe baking dish with nonstick spray. Make sure that this is done lightly.
- Get a small bowl and stir in the parmesan, parsley, panko, and 2 tablespoons olive oil, then set aside.
Blanch the Green Beans
- Get a large pot of water and bring it to a boil, then prepare an ice water bath and set out a large, clean kitchen towel.
- Then you can place the beans in the water and cook them just until they become crisp-tender, around 3 minutes.
- Thrust into an ice bath to stop the cooking. Afterward, drain and transfer to the towel, then pat dry. This should be done lightly.
- For the time being, get a large, wide saucepan over medium heat and heat 1 tablespoon of oil in it.
- Add the onion and mushrooms, then cook, stirring frequently, until the onion becomes soft and golden and the mushrooms are brown and have given up their liquid. This should take around 15 minutes.
- Now, add the remaining 1 tablespoon of olive oil, spray the flour over the top, and cook, stirring, for an additional 1 to 2 minutes until all of the flour becomes golden and no white bits remain.
- Make sure you slowly add the milk, a few splashes at a time, then stir between each addition, as this helps prevent lumps from forming.
- After that, increase the heat to medium-high, then mix in the pepper, nutmeg, and salt.
- Cook, mix, and allow the sauce to bubble. Just run a spatula or wooden spoon along the bottom of the pan.
- Continue cooking and mixing until the sauce reduces, thickens, and looks similar to a creamy gravy, around 8 to 10 minutes.
- After that, remove it from the heat and mix in the Greek yogurt. Then, transfer half of the green beans to the prepared baking dish.
- With that being done, spread half of the sauce over the green beans, add the remaining green beans, and top them with the remaining sauce. Also, spray the breadcrumb mixture over the top.
- That being done, broil, then watch closely until the casserole is bubbling and starts to brown on the top.
- This should take about 1 to 3 minutes; however, it depends on your broiler. Allow it to stand for 10 minutes before you serve. You can garnish with additional fresh parsley.
