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Like any other family, mine has several holiday traditions: some funny, some touching, and probably many that are quirky.
On Thanksgiving, we all write what we are thankful for on little note cards and drop them into the “thankful jar.” At dinner, we pass the jar around, taking out one note and reading it.
Thanksgiving dinner, of course, is also full of traditions. I always made the cranberry sauce, my dad would take on the turkey and my mom made her famous sage dressing from a treasured family recipe.
My mom was convinced that taking a walk after dinner assisted with digestion. Even when we lived in Montana, and the snow and cold and turkey made you want to curl up and take a nap, she convinced us to bundle up and go for a trudging walk through the snow. And by the end, when we were all laughing and throwing snowballs and maybe even pulling out the sleds, it was definitely worth it.
Sometimes, we had Thanksgiving lunch. That was always the better schedule. Eat. Walk. Nap (oh yeah, we definitely snuck it in somewhere!). And then leftovers for dinner.
I don’t remember if we always had green bean casserole, but I remember it enough that it’s definitely a Thanksgiving staple in my mind.
The history behind green bean casserole goes back to the beginnings of Campbell Soup Company. In 1869, New Jersey fruit merchant Joseph Campbell and local icebox maker Abraham Anderson partnered up to make cans, fill them with canned tomatoes, vegetables, jellies, soups, condiments and mincemeat and sell them to grocers.
In 1897, the company hired Dr. John T. Dorrance, a young chemist who had trained in Europe. Dr. Dorrance headed up the company’s lab and invented condensed soup within a year. Dr. Dorrance became president of the company in 1914, and two years later the company published a recipe guidebook for its products.
Several of the recipes became very popular throughout the United States, but one in particular, invented by Dorcas Reilly, really caught on. She mixed green beans and cream of mushroom soup and made…yeah, you guessed it. Green bean casserole. Campbell Soup estimates that 40% of annual sales of cream of mushroom soup end up in green bean casseroles.
The most traditional recipe of green bean casserole consists of green beans, cream of mushroom soup, and French fried onions. Some health food fans will tell you that this recipe is not the healthiest one out there, but with a bit of tweaking, you can make it tasty and artery-friendly.
This recipe calls for fresh green beans. It’s a little bit more work, but oh so worth it! And if you can find organic canned mushroom soup, it makes this dish a bit more healthy. Also, consider substituting oven baked onion slices instead of the French fried ones.
©2026 CDKitchen, Inc. No reproduction or distribution of any portion of this article is allowed without express permission from CDKitchen, Inc.
To share this article with others, you may link to this page:
https://www.cdkitchen.com/cooking-experts/sarah-christine-bolton/805-green-bean-casserole/
Go Green and Be Thankful: Make a Casserole
Like any other family, mine has several holiday traditions: some funny, some touching, and probably many that are quirky.
On Thanksgiving, we all write what we are thankful for on little note cards and drop them into the “thankful jar.” At dinner, we pass the jar around, taking out one note and reading it.
Thanksgiving dinner, of course, is also full of traditions. I always made the cranberry sauce, my dad would take on the turkey and my mom made her famous sage dressing from a treasured family recipe.
My mom was convinced that taking a walk after dinner assisted with digestion. Even when we lived in Montana, and the snow and cold and turkey made you want to curl up and take a nap, she convinced us to bundle up and go for a trudging walk through the snow. And by the end, when we were all laughing and throwing snowballs and maybe even pulling out the sleds, it was definitely worth it.
Sometimes, we had Thanksgiving lunch. That was always the better schedule. Eat. Walk. Nap (oh yeah, we definitely snuck it in somewhere!). And then leftovers for dinner.
I don’t remember if we always had green bean casserole, but I remember it enough that it’s definitely a Thanksgiving staple in my mind.
The history behind green bean casserole goes back to the beginnings of Campbell Soup Company. In 1869, New Jersey fruit merchant Joseph Campbell and local icebox maker Abraham Anderson partnered up to make cans, fill them with canned tomatoes, vegetables, jellies, soups, condiments and mincemeat and sell them to grocers.
In 1897, the company hired Dr. John T. Dorrance, a young chemist who had trained in Europe. Dr. Dorrance headed up the company’s lab and invented condensed soup within a year. Dr. Dorrance became president of the company in 1914, and two years later the company published a recipe guidebook for its products.
Several of the recipes became very popular throughout the United States, but one in particular, invented by Dorcas Reilly, really caught on. She mixed green beans and cream of mushroom soup and made…yeah, you guessed it. Green bean casserole. Campbell Soup estimates that 40% of annual sales of cream of mushroom soup end up in green bean casseroles.
The most traditional recipe of green bean casserole consists of green beans, cream of mushroom soup, and French fried onions. Some health food fans will tell you that this recipe is not the healthiest one out there, but with a bit of tweaking, you can make it tasty and artery-friendly.
This recipe calls for fresh green beans. It’s a little bit more work, but oh so worth it! And if you can find organic canned mushroom soup, it makes this dish a bit more healthy. Also, consider substituting oven baked onion slices instead of the French fried ones.
Slow Cooker Green Bean Casserole
Made with french fried onions, green beans, bacon, cream of mushroom soup, mushrooms, milk, salt and pepper
Made with french fried onions, green beans, bacon, cream of mushroom soup, mushrooms, milk, salt and pepper
Serves/Makes: 6
- 2 pounds fresh green beans
- 8 slices turkey bacon or regular bacon
- 1 can (10 ounce size) condensed cream of mushroom soup
- 1/2 cup milk
- 1 cup sliced mushrooms
- salt and pepper, to taste
- 1 cup french fried onions
Rinse the green beans and dry on paper toweling. Snip the ends and cut the beans into bite-sized pieces.
Cook the bacon in a skillet over medium heat until it is crisp. Remove from the skillet and let cool on paper toweling. Crumble the bacon into bits.
Combine the soup, milk, mushrooms, bacon, and green beans in a crock pot. Mix well. Cover the crock pot and cook on low for 3 hours or until heated through.
Season with salt and pepper as needed. Top with the onions right before serving.
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©2026 CDKitchen, Inc. No reproduction or distribution of any portion of this article is allowed without express permission from CDKitchen, Inc.
To share this article with others, you may link to this page:
https://www.cdkitchen.com/cooking-experts/sarah-christine-bolton/805-green-bean-casserole/