I think it really depends on preparation. It’s one of those dishes that varies wildly in how good it is based on a few simple things. Canned green beans? The casserole can’t be saved, green beans are one of the worst foods to buy canned that a lot of people still do. Frozen green beans? You can make it good, but you’ve gotta do some doing. Fresh green beans? Even a mid recipe will be pretty dang good, but then you get it good and crispy and maybe you upgrade to a homemade cream of mushroom, and yeah it can steal the show. But people use canned green beans because nobody really likes it and it’s just there to be a traditional vegetable option and so they don’t know how little effort it needs to be drastically better.
Give fresh a try. Canned green beans tend towards mushy where fresh have some crispness. A lot of people who like it swear by some trick, and I really think that upgrading the beans is the best strategy, upgrading the soup is risky with good payoff if you do it well, and upgrading the onions is something that I always see people suggest whenever fried onions appear and it’s a crazy increase in effort for at absolute best, very little improvement.
But what do I know I’m the cheese and potato casserole/mac and cheese relative.
I think it really depends on preparation. It’s one of those dishes that varies wildly in how good it is based on a few simple things. Canned green beans? The casserole can’t be saved, green beans are one of the worst foods to buy canned that a lot of people still do. Frozen green beans? You can make it good, but you’ve gotta do some doing. Fresh green beans? Even a mid recipe will be pretty dang good, but then you get it good and crispy and maybe you upgrade to a homemade cream of mushroom, and yeah it can steal the show. But people use canned green beans because nobody really likes it and it’s just there to be a traditional vegetable option and so they don’t know how little effort it needs to be drastically better.
Green bean casserole is one of my top 3 favorite thanksgiving dishes since first trying it a few years ago, and I use canned French cut green beans
Give fresh a try. Canned green beans tend towards mushy where fresh have some crispness. A lot of people who like it swear by some trick, and I really think that upgrading the beans is the best strategy, upgrading the soup is risky with good payoff if you do it well, and upgrading the onions is something that I always see people suggest whenever fried onions appear and it’s a crazy increase in effort for at absolute best, very little improvement.
But what do I know I’m the cheese and potato casserole/mac and cheese relative.