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Creamy Green Beans and Mushrooms

Creamy Green Beans and Mushrooms

About this time of year a lot of people come to this site searching for green bean recipes. We have several, but most of them are geared to the summer, when we have a bountiful supply of fresh green beans. I wanted to make something that would work well with fresh or frozen beans, so we could enjoy it during any season. In this recipe, green beans are first lightly boiled (I used frozen), then tossed with cremini and shiitake mushrooms and onions that have been sautéed in butter. Finally, sour cream is added to bring everything together. If the sour cream seems odd, think of this as a stroganoff. With green beans.

Okay, I'll be the first to admit it. This is not the most attractive dish I've ever made. (The photo might be pretty, but that has more to do with the lighting than anything else.) In fact, I hesitated posting it, because, well, I like my food to look appealing. But, you know what? It tastes great. Even reheated leftovers. So, here's my advice. Sprinkle it with lots of parsley and go for it.

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Creamy Green Beans and Mushrooms Recipe

  • Prep time: 5 minutes
  • Cook time: 15 minutes

I used a combination of 3/4 lb of cremini and 1/4 pound of shiitake mushrooms for this recipe. The ratio of mushrooms to beans is 1:1. If you wanted, you could use all shiitake mushrooms, but use half as much, because they pack so much more flavor.

Ingredients

  • 1 pound green beans, fresh or frozen, cut into 1-inch pieces (if fresh, remove ends, if frozen get pre-cut)
  • 1 pound mushrooms (cremini, button, shiitake), thickly sliced
  • Salt
  • 1/2 cup onions, chopped
  • 2 Tbs butter
  • 1/2 cup sour cream
  • Freshly ground black pepper
  • 2 Tbsp freshly chopped parsley for garnish

Method

1 Put 2 quarts of water, salted with 1 tbsp of salt, in a pot to boil while you cut the mushrooms and onions.

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2 Heat a large sauté pan on medium high heat. Add the mushrooms to the pan and dry sauté them until they begin to release their water. Sprinkle them with a little salt. Once they have released most of their water, remove them to a bowl and set aside.

creamy-green-beans-mushrooms-3.jpg

3 Add the green beans to the boiling water, and time them for 5 minutes, or until just tender. (No need to defrost frozen beans.)

creamy-green-beans-mushrooms-4.jpgcreamy-green-beans-mushrooms-5.jpg

4 Add butter to the hot sauté pan. Once the butter has melted, add the onions. Cook until the onions are beginning to brown.

5 As soon as the green beans are cooked just tender, strain them. Add the mushrooms to the pan with the onions, then add the green beans.

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6 Remove from heat. Stir in the sour cream. Sprinkle with salt and freshly ground black pepper. Taste and add more salt if needed.

Sprinkle with parsley and serve.

Yield: Serves 4 to 8.

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26 Comments

Great Great Great My husband has a swolling problem and this sounds like a recipe I can use. No crunches

Posted by: Gloria Kettering on November 19, 2011 8:31 PM

When recipes make for good leftovers, you KNOW it's good!

Posted by: Belinda @zomppa on November 19, 2011 9:29 PM

Hi Elise,
Yup, I'm one of the "a lot of people" who come here looking for green beans recipe. You're almost always the first place I go to for any given recipe, for the stories and for plain inspiration when I run out of ideas what to make.
I've learned a lot about how to cook from your site, and about American food. I made my first meatloaf from here, my first potato salad, first banana bread, you name it! Thank you for sharing so much with us. Happy Thanksgiving!

Jasmine

Posted by: Jasmine on November 20, 2011 1:02 AM

The sour cream doesn't bother me at all! This sounds awesome.

Posted by: Katrina on November 20, 2011 5:18 AM

I think it looks amazing and I'm considering making it for breakfast. !!

Posted by: Bev Weidner on November 20, 2011 6:06 AM

this looks so much better than the green bean casserole i made last year!

Posted by: lynn @ the actor's diet on November 20, 2011 7:01 AM

I make something very similar to this. A quick cream sauce with a little sherry and sour cream tossed with blanched green beans and caramelized mushrooms. If people want the crunch, skip the canned onion-thingys and top with some fried shallots or frizzled leeks!

Posted by: Lee on November 20, 2011 7:53 AM

Sounds great! I use sour cream alot for the flavor & creaminess it adds. Will try.

Posted by: Kathe on November 20, 2011 8:33 AM

Ohhhh . . . that doesn't look unattractive at all, it looks delicious! If it isn't against the purity of the dish, I might like to get some small-diced red bell pepper in the saute with the last minute of the onions cooking. I love sweet red peppers with my green beans. And it will make pretty.

Posted by: mantha on November 20, 2011 2:02 PM

These look great. It is nice to see a creamy green bean recipe that does not use cream of mushroom soup. And I just love the addition of mushrooms. I think I might use chanterelles when I try this!

Posted by: Becky @The Root Cellar's Garden on November 20, 2011 2:30 PM

My Serbian aunts - to whom I owe a lot of lovely recipes - would (in the summer) often serve a simple dish of cooked green beans tossed with some sour cream to go with grilled meat and such.
It would never occur to me to combine green beans with mushroooms, but I'm sure I'll try now.

Posted by: Tatianna on November 20, 2011 2:41 PM

I wouldn't worry about it not looking appealing, I don't like mushrooms at all, but somehow you have managed to make them look delicious!

It's the lighting. Believe me, in person this dish won't win any beauty contests. ~Elise

Posted by: Tes on November 20, 2011 2:53 PM

Many years ago at college I had two Russian housemates, a brother and sister from Siberia, who made lots of lovely veg dishes almost exactly like this.

They would do greens beans and mushrooms in sour cream, and also carrots, cauliflower and mushrooms in sour cream, which is a really delicious combo. They would steam the cauli and carrots, then mix them in with the fried mushrooms and sour cream in the fry pan, and season them.

Posted by: Rebecca H. on November 20, 2011 6:25 PM

This sounds wonderful and a great alternative to the canned version. I like that it is fresh, but has a nice creamy sauce to give it a comforting flavor.

Posted by: Becki's Whole Life on November 21, 2011 3:42 AM

This looks lovely. However, in order to reduce the fat, I am thinking of substituting plain low fat yogart for sour cream. Happy Thanksgiving to all!

Posted by: Cecilia on November 21, 2011 4:02 PM

We prepared this dish to accompany our Thanksgiving meal today. We used half button and half shiitake. It was wonderful! Thank you for the recipe.

Posted by: Jim Price on November 24, 2011 9:58 PM

I prepared the Creamy greenbeans and mushrooms for our Thanksgiving dinner yesterday and I have to say...AWFUL!!! Tasteless and really hard on the eyes....I threw it out and didn't even serve it!! And yes, I did follow the recipe.

I have never had a disappointment with a dish from Simple Recipes, until now.

Sorry..........

If it was tasteless, it needed more salt. ~Elise

Posted by: Linda K Estes on November 25, 2011 8:48 AM

I made this for a Thanksgiving side dish. It was a huge a hit and especially delicious. Thanks elise!!!

Posted by: Mrs. K on November 25, 2011 12:10 PM

I am greatly surprised by the post by Linda above. My dish, that I followed the recipe exactly, came out very, very good. The green beans I used were fresh and their taste came through beautifully. And the shiitakes shined! I hate to see food wasted without at least trying to rescue the dish. I think of all the starving people that would have killed to have such an 'AWFUL' dish. JMHO

Posted by: Jim Price on November 25, 2011 12:32 PM

Very nice. I'm glad I read the comments because the "add more salt" suggestion fixed the dish for me! It was great over brown rice as a meal.

Posted by: Daniel on November 26, 2011 9:31 PM

Just made this for a faux-Thanksgiving dinner over in the UK for myself and all of my friends from America. I substituted creme fraiche for the sour cream and it turned out fabulously; everyone loved it!

Posted by: Matthew on November 27, 2011 12:28 PM

I made this recipe and substituted the sour cream for the cream of mushroom soup and it turned out very well.

Posted by: almostveg on December 1, 2011 1:04 PM

I made this for Thankgiving, and I made it pretty. I used skinny haricot verts, all the same size, arranged them all aligned in a dish, drizzled the mushroom mix over the middle.
There were no leftovers, alas.

Posted by: Roz on December 3, 2011 1:56 PM

I can't eat sour cream... Think it would be OK to sub mayo?

No, I wouldn't recommend it. I would just skip the sour cream and make it a basic green beans and mushroom dish. ~Elise

Posted by: Joanna on December 3, 2011 4:55 PM

I made this and threw in slices of hot italian sausage and I am DYING OF JOYYYYY for how good this tastes OM NOM NOM NOMMMMM

Posted by: Julie on December 4, 2011 5:52 PM

I followed the recipe, using 3/4 pound cremini mushrooms and a handful of dried shitakes, reconstituted. Very very good, thanks for this.

Posted by: Andrea Kearney on December 8, 2011 4:58 AM

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