Recipe updated: April 16th, 2024
We are going to spice up two cans of plain green beans with our favorite hot and spicy green bean casserole recipe. Green bean casserole is a delicious side dish you can add to just about any meal. The crispy fried onions baked on top give this dish extra flavor with a little bit of crunch in every bite.
It’s a quick and simple green bean casserole made in one baking dish. It can be served any time of year, but it is especially popular during Thanksgiving dinner and Christmas dinner when served alongside roasted turkey breast, Southern cornbread dressing, mashed potatoes, and gravy.
Our green bean casserole recipe is a spin-off of the Campbell’s® version of green bean casserole. However, our recipe adds a few extra seasonings to spice it up. For example, we add cayenne pepper, bold creole seasoning, and Worcestershire sauce, which makes it extra hot and deliciously spicy!
If you want more hot flavor, you can add more than 1/4 of a teaspoon of cayenne pepper that this recipe calls for. But for those of you who don’t like hot flavored food, add less cayenne pepper, or none at all. When my son-in-law makes this classic green bean casserole side dish, he makes two pans, one hot and spicy, and one not.
🍴 Key Ingredients
- 2 cans of green beans – 14.5 ounces each
- 1 can of cream of mushroom soup
- 1 cup of 1% milk – or 2%, fat free, or whole milk
- 1/3 cup of French’s Original Crispy Fried Onions
- 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
- 1/4 teaspoon of cayenne pepper
- 1/4 teaspoon of bold creole seasoning
👩🍳 How to Make Spicy Green Bean Casserol
These step-by-step instructions are accompanied by detailed photos for enhanced clarity and guidance.
Step 1. Preheat the Oven
Preheat your oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Due to the fact that all ovens can vary in temperature, please keep an eye on this green bean casserole while it is baking in your oven.
Step 2. Prepare the Cream Sauce
In a loaf pan (or a small casserole dish of the same size), stir 1 cup of milk together with 1 can of cream of mushroom soup until well blended into a cream sauce.
Note: If you prefer, you can mix the milk and can of cream of mushroom soup in a separate bowl, then transfer it to a loaf pan.
Step 3. Add the Seasonings
Then, add 1/4 teaspoon of cayenne pepper, 1/4 teaspoon of bold creole seasoning, and 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce together with the cream sauce mixture (the milk and cream of mushroom soup). Stir until well blended.
Tip: Cayenne pepper is hot, so if you like really hot, add more cayenne pepper at this time, and if you like a little less hot, add less, and if you don’t like hot at all, don’t add any cayenne pepper.
Step 4. Add the Green Beans And Fried Onions
Drain the liquid from the 2 cans of green beans. Then add the green beans together with the cream sauce and the seasonings we just added to the loaf pan. After that, give the green bean mixture a good stir.
Step 5. Add a Few Crispy Fried Onions then Bake
Add 1/3 cup of crispy fried onions together with the green beans and cream sauce mixture. Stir the mixture together, then put the loaf pan in the oven using a pair of heat-resistant oven mitts. Bake at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for 25 minutes.
Step 6. Bake for 5 More Minutes
After 25 minutes of baking, remove the loaf pan from the oven using the heat-resistant oven mitts. Then, scatter more crispy fried onions on the top of the green bean mixture to make an even layer on top. Do not stir. After that, put the loaf pan back into the oven using the heat-resistant oven mitts, and bake for an additional 5 minutes.
After 5 minutes, remove the green bean casserole from the oven with the heat-resistant oven mitts. The crispy onions on top will be a golden brown color.
⭐️ Recipe Variations
- Add any of your favorite seasonings, spices, or herbs to this classic dish, for example, ground black pepper, smoked paprika, garlic powder, or cut up garlic cloves.
- Sprinkle some red pepper flakes on your serving, but easy does it because they are super hot.
- Toss on some bacon bits during the last five minutes of baking time.
- You can use fresh green beans, but the baking time will need to be increased in order for the fresh beans to become tender green beans. Or you can steam them first on the stove to tender them up.
- Add a few fresh mushrooms to the mix before baking.
☝️ FAQs
Put the leftover spicy green bean casserole in an airtight container or put plastic wrap over the cooled loaf pan and place it in the refrigerator. The next day we reheat the leftovers in the microwave, oven, or toaster oven.
This spicy green bean casserole can last in the refrigerator for about three or four days. After that, it will start to lose it quality, texture, and become slightly runny. Eat it up before that happens.
✏️ Final Thoughts
This recipe has been a family tradition of ours for many years now. We make it every holiday season for Thanksgiving and Christmas. This homemade green bean casserole, with its layers of flavor and delicious sauce, tastes as good as it looks, and we cannot make it through the winter holidays without it!
We especially love the creamy green beans that are smothered in the great flavor of the spices. The fried onions baked on top make it all the more crispy, crunchy, and extra tasty!
📝 Recipe Card
Spicy Green Bean Casserole
🫕 Equipment
🧂 Ingredients
- 2 cans cut green beans (14.5 ounces each)
- 1 can cream of mushroom soup
- 1 cup milk
- 1/3 cup French's crispy fried onions
- 1 tsp Worcestershire sauce
- 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
- 1/4 tsp bold creole seasoning
👩🍳 Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
- In a loaf pan, mix the milk and cream of mushroom soup.
- Mix the cayenne pepper, bold creole seasoning, and Worcestershire sauce with the milk and cream of mushroom soup.
- Add the green beans to the milk and soup mixture.
- Mix part of the fried onions to the green bean mixture in the loaf pan. Stir. Bake at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for 25 minutes.
- After 25 minutes of baking, take the green bean casserole out of the oven and sprinkle a few more fried onions on top of the green bean mixture. Bake for another 5 minutes.
*️⃣ Recipe Notes
- Cayenne pepper is hot, so if you like really hot food, add more cayenne pepper to this recipe, and if you don’t like hot at all, don’t add any cayenne pepper.
💗 More Recipes You Will Love
Our family loves side dishes that go well with main entrées. Here are a few we would like to share with you, and we hope you enjoy them as much as we do.
- One of our favorite side dishes are these boiled baby potatoes. They are super easy to make and taste so delicious!
- Who doesn’t love mac and cheese? This is another one of our favorites made with shredded extra-sharp cheddar cheese, shredded sharp white cheddar cheese, and shredded Parmesan cheese.
- Buttered cauliflower – Only three ingredients to make this delicious side dish – cauliflower, unsalted butter, and ground black pepper.
A wife, a mother to a son and a daughter, and a grandmother to three granddaughters. Flo loves sharing recipes passed down from her own mother, her mother-in-law, and her grandmother as well as new recipes created with her daughter, Tamara Ray.
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