Friendsgiving Recipe: Green Bean Casserole w/Bacon

Is a Friendsgiving recipe really any different than a Thanksgiving recipe? Short answer: no, it is not.

Enter: Green Bean Casserole with Bacon. Friends and family alike will rejoice.

Here’s one thing you should know about this recipe – I used the microwaveable green beans in a bag instead of the raw/fresh ones. Blanching them and then transferring to ice water is just a pain. So I bought these and cooked them for half the time in the microwave. Sue me. The texture and all that was still the same as the original Campbell’s version, and I never used canned green beans for that either. Gross. But I promise you this one was just perfect.

Green Bean Casserole w/Bacon

For “fried” onions:

1 large onion, sliced thin
2 tbsps all-purpose flour
2 tbsps panko breadcrumbs
1/2 tsp Kosher salt

Beans and sauce:

1 lb green beans, trimmed and halved
10 oz sliced white mushrooms
4 slices of bacon, cut into 1-inch pieces
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 tbsp all-purpose flour
1 tbsp unsalted butter
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1 tsp Kosher salt
1/4 tsp Black pepper
1 cup half and half
1 cup chicken broth

Directions

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. In a large bowl, toss the onions, salt, flour, and panko and toss to coat as evenly as possible. Spray a sheet pan with nonstick cooking spray and spread onions out evenly. Bake for about 20-25 mins and toss a few times while cooking. Some pieces will get a little burnt, but don’t worry, it will be delicious. Once done, set aside to cool and turn oven down to 400.
While the onions are cooking, prepare the beans. I used the beans that cook in a microwaveable bag to save time, so I cooked them for half the amount of time the package directions suggested. If you can’t find those, bring a large pot of water to boil and add 1 tbsp salt. Blanch the beans for about 5 mins and then put directly into a large bowl of ice water to stop the cooking (and will keep them from turning grey).
Heat a large, oven-safe sauce pan or cast iron skillet over medium-high heat. Add the bacon and cook for a few minutes til slightly crisp. Don’t make too crisp because they will go back in the oven later to crisp more.
Remove bacon from pan and leave the bacon fat in there. Add the 1 tbsp unsalted butter, then add the mushrooms, 1 tsp Kosher salt and black pepper. Cook for 4-5 minutes until slightly brown and the juices release from the mushrooms.
Add garlic and nutmeg and cook for another minute.
Sprinkle the flour over the mushroom mixture and let cook for 1-2 minutes.
Add chicken broth and stir to combine. The flour on the mushrooms will thicken the broth and it will look like mushroom gravy. Yum.
Lower the heat to medium-low and add the half and half. Stir together. Cook until the mixture thickens, about 6-8 minutes.
Remove from the heat and add 1/4 of the baked/frizzled onions and all of the beans. Stir to coat everything in the pan.
Top with bacon and the rest of the onions, and pop in the oven for 15-20 minutes until the whole thing is nice and bubbly. Serve immediately.