What Makes This Recipe So Good
If you’re anything like my family, your holiday meals aren’t complete if there’s not a big bowl of creamy green bean casserole topped with crispy, crunchy fried onions on the table. I mean, it’s tradition! I love a good green bean casserole as much as they do, but I don’t always have the time to devote valuable oven space to it. This Crockpot green bean casserole totally saves the day, though, freeing up my oven for other high-priority, non-negotiable holiday dishes without sacrificing a classic side, which keeps everyone happy. This version is every bit as delicious as the classic green bean casserole you typically expect to be in a Thanksgiving or Christmas spread. Creamy and rich and savory and tender, with that dreamy crunch and oniony flavor. You only need 5 ingredients to make it, and I’m willing to bet you’ve probably got most or all of them on hand right now. I love, love, love that I can prep this casserole early in the day before all the chaos really ramps up. I just throw everything in the Crockpot, mix it up, and then refrigerate it until I’m ready to start cooking it. One less thing I have to stress about last minute when I’m also scrambling to get the kids dressed and keep the turkey moist and stop the rolls from burning and put the finishing touches on dessert and, and, and. I’ll take it.
Chef’s Tips
If you want to cook the casserole early, you can keep it in the Crockpot on the warm setting until you’re ready to serve it. Just don’t leave it on warm for longer than 3 hours, and make sure you check on it pretty often. If it sits untouched on the heat too long, it’ll start to burn around the edges. Don’t panic, though – just give it a stir or turn off the slow cooker and as long as you caught it in time, there’s no harm done. I personally found that the onions crisp up perfectly with the method outlined below, but if you’d rather brown the onions before you put them on top of the casserole, you’ve got two options. 1) Give them a quick spin with a little butter in a skillet over medium heat. Just be careful not to burn them! They brown up pretty quickly. 2) Spread them across the top of the casserole and then place the Crockpot insert (uncovered!) under the broiler – but ONLY IF your insert is oven-safe! They’ll only need 2-3 minutes under the broiler so don’t wander off. Note that if you brown the fried onions, you can skip the step where you cook the casserole on high for 30 minutes.
Holiday Cooking Made Easy
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