I Tried Alton Brown's Green Bean Casserole—Zero Cans Are Invited to the Party

Published on November 1, 2025

Alton Brown admits that the classic green bean casserole recipe is worth celebrating. On his website, Brown applauds the fact that the holiday casserole made with canned green beans, canned cream of mushroom soup, and canned French-fried onions earned its creator Dorcas Reilly (who worked in the Campbell’s Soup Company Test Kitchen) a coveted place in the Inventors Hall of Fame in 2002.

Former Good Eats host Brown says that with his Green Bean Casserole 2.0, “I’m not trying to reinvent this holiday classic yet again, I’m just trying to make it even classic-er while making it taste more like the stuff that’s supposed to be in it rather than commercial emulsifiers and salt.” He kicks all the cans out of the line-up, and instead, replaces those ingredients with blanched green beans, a homemade mushroom sauce, and DIY fried onions. 

“I call it Green bean Casserole 2.0. You'll call it outstanding,” Brown has said on social media. With Thanksgiving rapidly approaching, I hopped into my kitchen to follow Brown’s lead and see if I agree.

How to Make Alton Brown's Green Bean Casserole

To make Alton Brown’s “2.0” casserole:

1. Blanch the beans. In a large pot, bring salted water to a boil. Add trimmed and halved fresh green beans, and cook for 8 minutes. Drain the beans, then transfer them into an ice bath for 5 minutes. Use a salad spinner to spin the beans dry.
2. Fry the onions. Fill a large, dry pot with ¾-inch of oil. Using medium-high heat, warm the oil to 375°F. Toss thinly-sliced onions in rice flour. Working in batches, fry the onions in the oil for about 5 minutes per batch, stirring often until golden brown. Carefully remove the fried onions from the pot, transfer them to a paper towel-lined sheet pan, and season with salt. Repeat until all of the onions are cooked and salted.
3. Make the creamy mushroom sauce. In a cast-iron skillet over medium heat, melt butter. Add quartered mushrooms, salt, and black pepper. Cook, stirring often, for about 10 minutes. Stir in minced garlic, freshly-grated nutmeg, and all-purpose flour. Cook for 1 minute more to ensure the raw flavor of the flour disappears. Stir in a splash of sherry vinegar, cook for another minute, then slowly stir in chicken broth, scraping up any pan drippings that have gathered along the surface of the skillet. Bring this mixture to a simmer, stir in half-and-half, then turn the heat to low. Simmer, stirring every so often, for the next 12 minutes, or until the sauce is thick.
4. Assemble and bake. Remove the skillet from the heat. Stir in the boiled green beans and half of the fried onions. Scatter the rest of the onions on top. Bake in a 350°F oven for 10 minutes, or until the edges of the casserole are bubbly and the onions are deep brown.

Tips for Making Green Bean Casserole

After giving Brown’s GBC a go, I have a few pointers to share if you, too, decide to give his casserole remix a try.

• Play the mandoline. A knife can certainly tackle the task, but to swiftly cut evenly-thin slices of onion—which will fry at similar rates—your best tool for the job is a mandoline.
• Add bacon. The mushrooms lend some umami flavor, but not as much as you might score from canned cream of mushroom soup, which often contains MSG. To layer on even more savory goodness, cook 6 strips of bacon in the skillet for 6 minutes. Once you have some pan drippings to work with, use tongs to remove the strips, slice them into bite-sized pieces, and return them to the pan with the mushrooms and half as much butter as is called for in the recipe. (The bacon grease can act as a flavorful substitute for the rest.) Proceed with the recipe as written. Or for a vegetarian-friendly option, stir in a pinch of mushroom-based umami seasoning or MSG.
• Get a headstart. Brown confirms that his Green Bean Casserole 2.0 is a stellar option for those in need of a make-ahead casserole option. “The green bean part of the casserole can be assembled up to a day ahead. Just leave off the top onions until you’re ready to bake and bring the casserole out of the fridge about an hour before hitting the oven,” he explains.
• Go semi-homemade. If you find the frying portion of the recipe to be intimidating, feel free to skip it. Take a cue from our Million Dollar Green Bean Casserole, and use Brown’s fresh green bean mixture as the foundation, then top it with canned French-fried onions.

The Verdict on Alton Brown's Green Bean Casserole Recipe

There’s a lot to love about Brown’s self-proclaimed “Best Ever Green Bean Casserole.” Compared to canned, I’ll always vote for—and put in the extra effort to use—blanched fresh green beans, which come out on top in terms of both taste and texture. I also appreciated the subtle warm and sweet nutmeg flavor in the mushroom sauce. The fact that it only requires 10 minutes of oven time is also a win, especially during holiday meal prep when oven real estate can be at a premium. 

That said, Brown’s 2.0 casserole takes quite a bit more hands-on time and effort on the stove; blanching the beans, frying the onions, and making the mushroom sauce. In the future, I think I’m going to outsource the onions (French’s are far more crunchy and iconic at my family’s holiday table!), but will stick with his fresh green bean base. And depending on how much time, energy, and stove space, I’ll make a game time decision to either make Reilly proud by reaching for canned soup or go the Good Eats route with Brown’s fresh mushroom mixture zhuzhed up with MSG or bacon.