Fresh green beans, caramelized onion, mushrooms and a homemade béchamel sauce combine with a crunchy Kikkoman Panko Bread Crumb topping to create this scrumptious panko Parmesan Topped Green Bean Casserole.  A fresh take on a holiday classic.

Every year I look forward to Thanksgiving. It really is one of my favorite holidays. I love that it’s focused on family and friends, sitting around the table, sharing a good meal.  In my opinion, it’s one of the few holidays that hasn’t been overly commercialized and has remained true to its spirit.

I’ve been hosting our family’s Thanksgiving celebration for many years and I still enjoy having everyone over.  Much of the menu remains the same year after year, but every once in a while, I like to tweak a favorite recipe or come up with a new recipe altogether.  That’s the case this year with this Panko Parmesan Topped Green Bean Casserole.

 

For years, I’ve been making a relatively simple green bean dish that we all love, but I thought it was time to break out of my box and try something new.  Green bean casserole is certainly not a new thing, but I felt it was a recipe could be improved with some updating.

The first step to updating this casserole was to freshen up the ingredients with fresh green beans, caramelized onions, fresh mushrooms and homemade béchamel.  Every green bean casserole needs a crunchy topping, so I combined Kikkoman Panko Bread Crumbs, Parmesan, parsley and melted butter to get that delicious crunch.

I love using Kikkoman Panko Bread Crumbs because they’re made with custom baked bread that makes airy, crispy crumbs, and they’re toasted to a delicate crunch that won’t burn as easily.  That means my topping ended up extra crispy and delicious.  

The bread crumbs come packed in a resealable bag that helps them to stay fresh longer, which I love because that means no waste.

This casserole does involve a few steps, but the great thing is, you can do most of the preparation ahead of time.  The onion and mushrooms can be cooked up to a couple of days ahead of time and stored in the fridge.  

It’s also fine to make the béchamel sauce up to a day ahead of time and store in the fridge.  If the sauce seems a little too thick when you’re ready to assemble the casserole, just thin it out with a little bit more milk.

On the day, you’re ready to serve this Panko Parmesan Topped Green Bean Casserole, all you need to do is prepare the panko topping.  Everything else is ready to be assembled.  Once the casserole is assembled, it’s ready to bake according to the instructions.

Do you have a favorite Thanksgiving recipe that you’ve updated?  Let me know in the comments below, I’d love to here about it!

 

 

 

ENJOY!

 

 

 

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