Slow Cooker Green Bean Casserole
My family can not go without the Green Bean Casserole. It’s pretty much the best side dish for Thanksgiving or Christmas (well, besides the mashed potatoes). I decided that I had to create the perfect Slow Cooker Green Bean Casserole myself, since most recipes I found online either had frozen green beans or jarred alfredo sauce (yuck!).
This recipe for Slow Cooker Green Bean Casserole makes a ton, when I made this for thanksgiving, it fed about 15, with lots of leftovers. So, I would think this recipe could serve up to 20 people.
At the end of the slow cooking time, I chose to brown the french fried onions on top of the casserole in the oven, it wasn’t a big deal, for the turkey had already been removed from the oven, and all that was left in the oven was the rolls.
Equipment
- Slow Cooker- 6 quart or larger-oval
Ingredients
- 32¼ oz cream of mushroom soup (three – 10¾ oz cans)
- ½ cup milk
- ⅛ tsp black pepper
- ⅛ tsp onion powder
- 145 oz green beans (Ten – 14.5 oz cans; drained)
- 12 oz French's French Fried Onions (Two – 6 oz canisters)
- non-stick cooking spray
Instructions
- In a very large bowl, whisk the cream of mushrooms soup, milk, black pepper, and onion powder until smooth.
- Stir in the drained green beans.
- Gently fold in 1 canisters of French fried onions with a rubber spatula into the green bean mixture, taking care to not break the green beans.
- Spray the slow cooker with the non-stick cooking spray.
- Pour the green bean mixture into the slow cooker.
- Place the lid and cook on HIGH for 2½ hours.
- Once the cook time is up, sprinkle the remaining canister of French fried onions to the top of the casserole.
- Remove the slow cooker insert from the heating element and place it in the oven WITHOUT the lid.
- Cook for 10 minutes at 350°F or until the onions are browned.
- Set the insert back into the slow cooker heating elelment, replace the lid, and set the slow cooker to WARM until ready to serve. Enjoy!
Instead of putting the crockpot insert into the oven to brown the french fried onions I would put them in a separate pan in the oven, and after browning… then sprinkle them onto the casserole in the crockpot. Less chance of causing the insert to crack by placing it into the oven.
Sally, most crock pot inserts are oven safe 🙂 But if you are worried about it still I would transfer it to another dish. 🙂
I’m allergic to mushrooms, can I substitute the cream of mushrooms for cream of celery.
Yes, I think that would work great.
I’ve also heard of cream of bacon soup being used instead too
I don’t like cream of mushroom soup, so I found a recipe that substitutes sour cream. Work that work with the crockpot? Or would i need to add more milk?
What can I do if I only have a 4 quart crock pot?
I would cut the recipe in half? The measurements don’t need to be exact, it always turns out no matter what measurements I use.
I need to travel about 1hr and 45 min to our Thanksgiving Day destination. Do you think this would still cook well if I got everything in the crock pot-traveled with it and then turned it on?
Yes! I plan to do the same. I’m going to make mine the night before and put in the fridge until we travel. Nothing is that perishable.
I would not suggest putting your insert in the oven – I did, as suggested in your recipe, and my insert cracked all the way through.
So we are camping this year for Thanksgiving and its why I searched for a crock pot recipe, has anyone done this without final step of putting it in oven with the onions? I myself think the onions are great with out being cooked. what are your thoughts?
A new thing I just started doing is browning them in a skillet right before serving.
Great idea, Sarah Olson! I think I’ll do that for my hub’s office Christmas Dinner. He signed me up for green beans, and I refuse to make plain old beans.
You state…..set the cooker on warm until ready to serve.
When you serve, do you turn cooker off? Leave on warm? Do you leave casserole in the same heating element when you serve?
You can keep it on warm. Just keep an eye on it.
Can I use fresh string beans instead of canned?
Yes!
I’m making this for a schools friendsgiving and planned on making this at home the night before. How would I go about with heating it up before we serve it?
Don’t cook it the night before (you can get it ready though and put in the fridge. Can you slow cook for the amount of time the recipe says before taking it in? (set an early alarm if needed).