Can Green Bean Casserole be frozen? - The best way

Do you have a favorite side dish that your family can never seem to get enough of? Green bean casserole is one such dish in many homes. Although some people only enjoy it at large family gatherings (like Thanksgiving) or dinner with friends, this casserole can be made and shared anytime.

Green bean casserole is a classic dish. It is very easy to make and it is delicious. You can combine it with many different things and you can mix how you make it and add different things to it according to your personal preferences and tastes. It’s so versatile!

A little stew goes a long way.

But can green bean casserole be frozen? Green bean casserole freezes best without the crispy onion topping, but you can still freeze it if it’s already part of the dish. It’s quite simple to make and it freezes well and reheats easily. 

In this guide, we’ll walk you through the proper method of freezing green bean casserole. You can make it ahead of time and freeze it, or you can freeze leftovers. We will also be sharing some tips and information related to green bean casserole.

Read on to find out all about freezing green bean casserole and much more.

Green Bean Casserole Guide: How to Freeze Them

The green bean casserole is self explanatory. If you’ve never tried it, you’re missing something. It’s the perfect mix of flavors and crunch, and it even has vegetables in it.

The initial concept for Green Bean Casserole is straightforward.  Traditionally it was made with green beans, cream of mushroom soup, and fried onions.  From the traditional dish, there are many recipes that have adapted it to their tastes, which is great!

Now you can find it made with cheese. You can find recipes that add milk to the cream of mushroom soup. You can also find recipes that opt to use cream of chicken or cream of celery instead. And then there are those who make their own mushroom soup or enhance the dish with other vegetables and additives.

Really, you can do pretty much anything you want with the dish.

How to make green bean casserole

To give you an idea of what we’re working with as we go through the freezing process, it’s pertinent that we talk about how green bean casserole is made.

We are going to share with you a simple recipe. This will be for traditional green bean casserole, but keep in mind that this is just for reference. 

1. For this recipe you will need milk, cream of mushroom soup, green beans, salt and pepper, and fried onions.
2. Start by mixing the soup, milk, and seasonings in a bowl.
3. Pour the drained green beans into a saucepan.
4. Pour the sauce mixture over the beans and mix well. You can mix a few fried onions into this part of the casserole, but don’t cover the casserole yet.
5. Bake the casserole mix for 25 minutes at 350 degrees.
6. Stir the cooked mixture and put a layer of fried onions on top. Add as many or as few as you like.
7. Bake another 5-10 minutes.

This is to make the Fresh Green Bean Casserole. If you plan to make it ahead of time and freeze it for later, we recommend that you leave the fried onions out until you are ready to bake it for serving.  This will save you some hassle when it comes to keeping them and not having to worry about them getting soggy.

Don’t worry though, if you only have leftovers, you can freeze the green bean casserole.

Uses for Leftover Green Bean Casserole

If you need some options to try to make the most of that green bean casserole, we have some great ideas for you. There are many things you can do with green bean casserole that will mix it up. Of course, it is very good in its original state, but sometimes you need a little change.

Here are several ideas. 

• Casserole
• Soup
• Green bean paste in casserole
• Turn into an egg hash
• Stuffed mushrooms
• Cheesy Green Bean Casserole

These are just a few ideas for simple things you can do with your leftover green beans. Sometimes we get tired of the same thing and we need a good way to change it. There are tons of recipes to incorporate your leftovers into another dish and give it a whole new flavor.

How to Freeze Green Bean Casserole

There are two different approaches to consider when it comes to freezing green bean casserole.

1. 1. You can make the casserole ahead of time and freeze it and then just pop it in the oven to cook before serving.
   2. Or, you can bake the green bean casserole and deal with freezing leftovers. The difference between the two is when you should freeze it. There are a few variations to the process depending on which one you use, so we’ll cover both in detail.

Freeze No Cook Green Bean Casserole

Freezing green bean casserole as a make-ahead dish is actually the best way to freeze it. It is very simple because you literally just have to gather the ingredients, wrap and seal them.

When you’re ready to cook it, you just have to take it directly from the freezer to the oven and put it on the heat. Too easy!

Here are the steps to freeze green bean casserole before cooking. 

1. If you cook with fresh beans, you will need to cook and prepare them ahead of time. Cook the beans and prepare the soup mix also superheated. If you are using canned green beans, you can make the mix without cooking it.
2. Pour the green bean mixture into a casserole that is oven-safe and freezer-safe. If you’ve heated something up, be sure to let it cool down to room temperature before completing the rest of the process.
3. Wrap the pan with plastic wrap.
4. Seal the pan with aluminum foil over the plastic wrap.
5. Label and date the foil.
6. You can freeze the prepared green bean casserole for up to 6 months.

Once you’ve frozen the casserole, it’s very easy to work with. You simply take it out of the freezer and remove the aluminum foil and plastic wrap.

It takes a little longer to cook from frozen, but you can bake it at 350 for about 45 minutes. Then add the fried onions on top and cook another 20 minutes until golden and bubbly perfection.

Freeze Cooked Green Bean Casserole (Leftover)

The process is slightly different for freezing already cooked green bean casserole.  For starters, you don’t have the option of freezing the casserole without the fried onions because you’ve already cooked the casserole with them in and on top.

Some will say that freezing leftover green bean casserole is not a good idea. You do run the risk of the fried onions getting a bit soggy, but we promise it won’t ruin the dish . You can successfully freeze it.

Here we tell you how. 

1. Allow the cooked casserole to cool to room temperature.
2. Remove some of the onion toppings if you can do so without destroying the casserole. They should scrape off pretty easily.
3. Cover the ovenproof casserole with plastic wrap.
4. Wrap well with aluminum foil so that the casserole and the contents are well sealed.
5. Label, put the date and put it in the freezer.
6. You can store cooked green bean casserole in the freezer for about 6 months.

When you’re ready to use the green bean casserole, you’ll treat it much like we did for a no-cook casserole above. You can refresh it with new fried onions when it’s almost done heating. 

Even if you haven’t removed the original onions, we recommend adding some fresh ones to give it a new look.

Related questions

We hope you found this guide to freezing green bean casserole a satisfying resource as you navigate the process.

We invite you to take a look at the following question and answer section for additional information.

What is used to make cream soup from scratch?

If you’d rather make your own rather than buy the can, you’d need mushrooms, stock, butter, milk, cornstarch, and heavy cream.

It is a joint cooking process on fire.

What happens if the casserole is pasty?

If your casserole seems soggy, you can fix it!

It is probably an indication that you have put in too much milk. Most of the time, you can fix this by adding a little cornstarch or flour and mixing it well.

Can you substitute the cream of mushroom soup?

If you don’t like cream of mushroom soup, you can use another form of cream soup.

It is not uncommon to substitute it for cream of chicken or cream of celery as an alternative.  Or you can make your own cream and omit the mushrooms.