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Green bean casserole is one of those Thanksgiving side dishes that many people can make with their eyes closed.  You throw together some canned green beans, a couple of cans of cream of mushroom soup, and a little bit of milk, and top it with some crispy fried onions. Pop it in the oven for 30 minutes and BAM, it's ready for everyone to rave about, despite its unbelievably simple structure. 


But when you really stand back and think about it, there are some holes in the standard take on the classic casserole. It's super canned good-forward, which many home chefs try to avoid for the sake of their cholesterol. And yes, we are all about saving time and sanity in the kitchen, but if there's one holiday where we should go the homemade, top-tier taste route, it's Thanksgiving. 

Photo credit: TikTok / juicy.lipz91

Kicking the canned goods to the side doesn't mean cooking has to get super complicated. TikTok user Lady Kay (@juicy.lipz91) shared her from-scratch green bean casserole recipe in a viral video, and there's not a canned good in sight. She starts off by dicing and cooking bacon until it gets nice and crispy.

Photo credit: TikTok / juicy.lipz91

To the bacon, she adds diced onion, garlic, and diced mushrooms and cooks everything together until the veggies are tender. 

Photo credit: TikTok / juicy.lipz91

Once the vegetable and bacon mixture is cooked, she makes a roux by adding heavy whipping cream and flour to the mixture. She also sprinkles what looks like shredded mozzarella into the pan, although she didn't specify what kind of cheese she used.


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Photo credit: TikTok / juicy.lipz91

From there, she tossed some fresh green beans in the mixture and put it in a glass baking dish, topped with more of the shredded cheese. She put it in the oven at 350 degrees for 20 minutes and while it was baking, she fried up some homemade crispy shallots to top the casserole with, which she says makes all the difference. Maybe its her slightly aggressive tone, but we're inclined to believe her.

Photo credit: TikTok / juicy.lipz91

Throughout the video, Lady Kay tells us this casserole will blow away any canned good version that our mothers and grandmothers have clung to for so many years. And we have to admit, even though we make green bean casserole with canned goods like Mom and Grandma did, we're going to give Lady Kay's version a whirl this Turkey Day.