Can You Make Green Bean Casserole Ahead Of Time?

Last Updated on 17th December 2021 by

There are a lot of foods that you can make up ahead of time and just reheat in the oven or the microwave and they taste just as good as if they were made fresh. Well, maybe not quite as good, but they taste close enough that most people will not be able to tell the difference.

Then, there are other foods that if you try to reheat them or serve them when they are not made fresh, they don’t taste very good. Everyone can easily tell that the food was reheated and wasn’t made the same day. A few foods come to mind- like fries, prawn crackers, and just about any kind of fried food. It is tough to get that same texture and consistency back after they have been put into the fridge for storage. Reheating them in oil just makes them soggy and extra oily.

This is a common problem with cooking and one you have to keep in mind as you make up large dishes of food. Is it safe to reheat the food? Is it going to taste okay after it has been stored in the fridge for a while? Can you make it up ahead of time?

Green bean casserole is a holiday favorite around my house. As you are probably well aware, holiday spreads can be extensive and exhausting. It makes sense to try to make a few foods up ahead of time. The foods that can store easily and be reheated well and still taste good are ones you want to make first. You can make them a few days ahead so that on the day of the big family gathering you only have a few things to make.

Can you make green bean casserole ahead of time? It would be helpful to know if you can make this one up early and then just keep it in the fridge until it is time to heat it up and serve it. Does it reheat well and will it still taste good after being in the fridge for a few hours or a few days? Let’s dig into this question and find out about making up green been casserole early.

Green Bean Casserole- Can You Make It ahead of Time?

A green bean casserole is made using mushroom soup (either from scratch or canned) as well as green beans. The beans can be fresh, frozen, or canned. For best results, it is recommended that you use fresh or frozen green beans and avoid the canned ones, but it is up to you what you want to use.

The casserole is usually topped with crispy French onions, which have been fried or toasted so that they come out crunchy. They tend to have a breading to them that can be problematic if you are going to reheat the casserole. What do you think will happen to your green bean casserole if you top it with crispy onions and then store it in the fridge? Once you reheat it, how will those crispy onions taste?

They will be soggy, whether you freeze or refrigerate the green bean casserole. This is really the only part of the dish that you need to be careful about making up ahead of time. You can actually make up the entire green bean casserole and leave off the crispy French onions and then store the casserole in your fridge.

Can you make the green bean casserole ahead of time? Absolutely, but you need to leave out the French onions. Do not garnish the casserole but make up the rest of it. It will store in your fridge for a few days and still taste great when you reheat it.

How to Reheat a Green Bean Casserole

Can you make green bean casserole ahead of time? You can, but you need to hold off on the garnish- the French onions. You can make up the remainder of the casserole ahead of time and store it in the fridge. It can store there for a few days, and then you can reheat it when you are ready to use it.

How to reheat green bean casserole? You can simply preheat the oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit and then warm the casserole in the oven for about 10 minutes before serving it. It should come out piping hot. Large casseroles may need to warm for longer, and the times I have given you here are for a medium sized casserole in a baking pan or casserole dish that is 12 inches. Large dishes will take longer, and smaller dishes may not need as much time to warm.

If you were wondering: “Can you make French green bean casserole ahead of time?” now you have your answer. You can make up the dish almost in its entirety a few days ahead of time, the day before or even earlier the same day it is going to be used.

Just make sure that the casserole is warmed all the way through before you serve it. Also, don’t forget to add the French onions as the finishing touch on the casserole. They definitely add a nice texture to the dish and give it some variety, but you want to add them at the right time. They only need to cook for about 5 minutes, so you can add them part way through the reheating time on the casserole. If you have done it properly and added them when you are supposed to, then the onions will still be crispy when the casserole is done cooking.

Adding the French onions at the right time is crucial to ensuring you get the right texture for your casserole and making certain that the onions are crispy rather than soggy.

Can You Make Green Bean Casserole ahead of Time and Freeze?

I touched on the topic of freezing the green bean casserole for storage to reheat for later, but let’s get into this question in detail. Can you really freeze the casserole to use it another day? Will that keep your casserole fresh and ensure that it still tastes good and has the right texture when it is reheated?

The short answer is “no”. You really should not freeze your casserole for storage. It’s better to just serve it fresh and hot or store it in the fridge. What happens if you store it in the freezer? Is it really going to turn out badly?

What happens when you freeze the casserole and then rewarm it is that the sauce can separate. It won’t look or taste consistent, and you will have a casserole that isn’t unified anymore. It will look very different from how it should, and you want to avoid that. Don’t store the green bean casserole in the freezer and instead use the fridge for any kind of storage.

I hope that answers the question: Can you make homemade green bean casserole ahead of time?

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Pauline

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I'm Pauline, a mother of four grown children, my passion for cooking stemmed from the joy i get cooking for my family. I love to try new dishes, especially when dining out but creating and sharing my own recipes is my favourite thing to do!