Healthier green bean casserole

/ Meg

Of all the side dishes I crave during the holidays, nothing tickles my fancy quite like green bean casserole. If I had to guess, I’d chalk it up to the delicious French fried onions — a food I couldn’t tolerate on anything else, but can’t live without on this holiday treat.

But as I try to get more into shape (in theory, anyway), I’m looking for new and healthier ways to prepare the dishes I already like. In a recent edition of the health magazine I edit, I was looking for “healthy twists” on seasonal classics — and that’s how I came across this recipe for a lower-fat, lower-sodium version of my beloved casserole.

Spencer and I made it a few weeks back when I was taste-testing all the recipes included in our fall issue (a horrible, terrible job, I know), and I was very pleased with how it turned out! Though I missed the salty over-the-top cheesiness of the classic one my mom makes, this was a great alternative that I didn’t make me feel totally guilty after doing an hour of Zumba.

Because I’m as obsessed with mushrooms as I am with cheese, I added a can of sliced mushrooms to this baby, too. If you’re not a fan, just leave them out. No harm, no foul. And though the recipe decidedly does not call for any cheese, I added a little shredd parmesan beneath the french fried onions. But don’t tell anyone.

Though we cherish our beloved family recipes, this verison might be a good way to cut down on a few calories this season . . . though I know it’s a drop in a bucket. Still, every little bit(e) counts, right?


Healthier Green Bean Casserole

Recipe from Allrecipes.com

Ingredients:
1 (10.75 ounce) can condensed cream of mushroom soup
1/4 cup milk (2% fat or skim)
1 teaspoon onion powder
1/8 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 teaspoon reduced-sodium soy sauce
1 pound cut fresh green beans, cooked and drained
2 tablespoons French’s French Fried Onions

Directions:
1. Mix the soup, milk, onion powder, black pepper, soy sauce and green beans in a 1 1/2-quart casserole.
2. Bake at 350 degrees F for 25 minutes or until hot.
3. Stir the green bean mixture. Top with the onions. Bake for 5 minutes more or until the onions are golden brown.


Green bean casserole

8 thoughts on “Healthier green bean casserole”

  2. I don’t make that recipe, but I can eat the French fried onions out of the can. A funny story about that recipe – when we lived in Auburn, a college student approached me in the grocery store wanting to know how to fix it because he was missing his mom’s so much.

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  3. Wait, I want to know more about this health magazine. What a fun job to test recipes! This looks good. I like that you added cheese. In fact, most food, in my opinion, is just a vehicle for eating cheese.

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  4. My family made this with brocolli instead of green beans, so I always think green beans in this dish sound so wrong.
    The green beans were not forgotten, though…they just got cooked to death in a big old pot with lard and bacon.
    There’s nothing like Thanksgiving for making deliciously unhealthy veggies.

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  5. i LOVE green bean casserole. i’m definitely trying out this recipe this holiday season. i’ll let you know how it turns out. hopefully it’ll be just as tasty as yours! thanks for the recipe! 🙂

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  6. Strangely enough, my family never ate green bean casserole at Thanksgiving, but your post makes me want to try it. I must say, I love your blog. I hope to go into writing/editing after I graduate from college, and I admire how you have combined your this and your love of literature with food and other fun topics on here!

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