Healthy green bean casserole, and what the can of soup really costs

The classic green bean casserole is not the calorie disaster the healthy versions imply. By Campbell’s own figures its recipe comes to 151 calories a serving. What it does carry is 513 mg of sodium and 3 g of protein. This version is about 199 calories with 9 g of protein and about 187 mg of sodium before you add any salt.

The swap below takes it to 164 calories. Portions are comparable: about 100 g of beans a serving in the classic, 110 g here.

Is green bean casserole good for a diet?

It depends on which number you are watching, and the honest answer is that calories are the wrong one. Per serving, by our estimate for this recipe and Campbell’s published figures for theirs.

So the swap buys you three times the protein and about a third of the sodium for 13 calories. The fat is the same until you swap, and then it drops by 4 g.

The sodium figures are not comparable in one respect, and it matters: ours counts no added salt, because you season this one yourself. In the classic the salt arrives in the can, and no amount of tasting takes it back out.

What can I use instead of cream of mushroom soup?

A pan of browned mushrooms, 2 tbsp of cornstarch and 2 cups of milk, which is what this recipe does. That replaces one 10.5 oz can with about the same volume of sauce.

The order matters more than the ingredients:

1. Brown the mushrooms in a dry pan first. They release a surprising amount of water, and until it has gone they steam rather than colour. Browning is where the savoury flavour the can supplies comes from.
2. Whisk the cornstarch into cold milk, never into the hot pan. Starch dropped into hot liquid seizes into lumps that no amount of whisking fixes. How much cornstarch to thicken has the ratios for other consistencies.
3. Add the cream cheese off the heat. It melts in the residual heat, and keeping it off the boil is what stops the sauce splitting.

Campbell’s recipe also adds a teaspoon of soy sauce, for salt and savour. You can add one here too: spread across eight servings it comes to about 40 mg of sodium each, still a long way below the can.

Fresh, frozen or canned green beans

This is where most of the sodium decision gets made, and almost nobody mentions it. Per 110 g, a serving’s worth, by USDA figures:

Canned beans bring more sodium to the dish than everything else in it put together. If they are what you have, tip them into a sieve and rinse them under the tap, which takes a useful share of it away, and taste before you season.

Frozen is the one to buy here: next to no sodium, three minutes in the pan rather than five, and they hold their shape in a bake where canned beans go soft.

The fried onions, and what they cost

Keep them if you want them. They are the flavour people are actually expecting, and this is a once-a-year dish.

French’s label gives 45 calories and 3.5 g of fat for a 2 tbsp serving. The toasted panko and parmesan topping here is about 20 calories for the same job. So a scattering of fried onions instead costs roughly 25 calories and 3 g of fat a serving, which is a fair price for the thing that makes it taste like Thanksgiving.

The middle path: use the panko topping, and crumble a smaller handful of fried onions over the top in the last five minutes of baking, where they stay crisp.

Can you make it with Greek yogurt?

You can, but it is the substitute most likely to let you down in the oven. Yogurt carries far more protein and far less fat than cream cheese, and those proteins tighten and separate when they get hot, which reads as a grainy, watery sauce. Food52 explains the mechanism, and Ricardo covers the fix: about a teaspoon of cornstarch stirred into each cup of yogurt before it goes anywhere near heat.

Blended cottage cheese is the steadier choice, which is why it is the swap on this page. The cream cheese substitutes guide compares them on macros and on what survives baking.

Where the calories are

Per serving, which is an eighth of the dish.

The cream cheese is a quarter of the calories and half the fat, which is exactly why it is the line the swap goes after. The vegetables come to 55 calories between them.

The swap, and what it is worth

Blend it completely smooth before it goes in, or the curds survive the oven and give the whole thing away. Full fat blends better than fat free, and fat-free cottage cheese releases more water in the bake.

What goes wrong

A watery casserole. Two causes, both upstream of the oven: beans that went in wet, and mushrooms that were never browned. Drain the beans properly and let them steam dry, and keep the mushrooms in the pan until the water has gone.

A grainy sauce. The cream cheese went in over heat, or the sauce boiled after it. Take the pan off the hob first, every time.

A soggy topping. Breadcrumbs that sit on a wet sauce for half an hour go limp. Toasting them first helps, and so does leaving the dish uncovered in the oven.

Too much salt. Between the parmesan, the panko and the cheese, there is already about 187 mg of sodium a serving before you reach for the salt. Taste the sauce, then decide.

Making it ahead

Thanksgiving is the reason this dish exists, and the oven is the bottleneck. Assemble it up to a day ahead without the topping, cover it and keep it in the fridge. Add 10 minutes to the bake, since it goes in cold, and scatter the toasted panko over for the last 10 minutes.

Leftovers keep 3 to 4 days in the fridge, the USDA guidance for leftovers. It does not freeze well: the sauce splits and the beans go soft.

One note for a vegetarian table. Parmesan made the traditional way uses animal rennet, so use a vegetarian hard cheese in its place if that matters to your guests.

Every figure here is an estimate from USDA values and product labels rather than a measurement, except Campbell’s, which is their own published figure. Why recipe macros are estimates explains how far they move with what you buy.