Crawfish Green Bean Casserole aka the String Bean Casserole

8 servings Prep: 15 m Cook: 15 m Total: 30 m Beginner
5.0/5 (2)
Crawfish Green Bean Casserole aka the String Bean Casserole
A new take on an old holiday classic favorite - the traditional green bean casserole with crawfish tails, cream of mushroom soup, and crispy fried onions. This is just the change you are looking for. Par-boiled fresh green beans may be used. Green beans and string beans are used interchangeably in the Cajun vocabulary. Shrimp may be used in place of crawfish.

Ingredients

8 servings
  • 2 cans (12 oz) cut whole string beans drained
  • 1 can cream of mushroom fat free or golden mushroom
  • 1 tsp Cajun seasoning or more according to taste
  • 1 pound cleaned cooked crawfish tails
  • 1 medium onion sliced
  • 2 tbsp butter
  • 1 - 6oz container fried onions, divided in two parts
  • garlic powder or onion powder to taste optional

Step-by-Step Instructions

  1. A note on the crawfish: If you are using packaged crawfish from your grocer, boil in crab-boil seasoned water. Allow to stand 5 minutes to soak up seasoning. Leftover boiled crawfish from a previous boil works great as they are already seasoned. Or sauté the crawfish with the onions and add extra seasonings to the mixture.
  2. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a medium saucepan, melt butter over medium heat and sauté sliced onion until wilted, about 5-7 minutes. Combine the crawfish, beans, seasonings, soup and half of the fried onion rings; mix well. As an option, you could add 1/4 cup crawfish water to the mixture for extra flavor.
  3. Pour into a greased 8x8 casserole dish and bake uncovered 15 minutes at 350 degrees; top with remaining onion rings and bake 2-3 more minutes until onions are golden and crispy. Serve hot. This recipe easily doubles.

Common Problems and Solutions

Q: Can I use fresh green beans instead of canned?

A: Absolutely! Par-boil fresh green beans for 5-7 minutes until tender-crisp, then drain well before mixing with the other ingredients. Fresh beans will give you a better texture.

Q: My casserole came out watery - what happened?

A: Make sure to drain the canned green beans thoroughly, and don't add too much crawfish water. If you're worried about it being too wet, skip the optional crawfish water altogether.

Q: Can I make this ahead of time?

A: Yes! Assemble the casserole up to the baking step, cover and refrigerate up to 24 hours. Add 5-10 minutes to the baking time if putting it in the oven cold, and add the final onion topping in the last few minutes.

Tips and Techniques

For extra flavor, season your crawfish tails generously if they’re not already seasoned from a previous boil. Don’t skip the butter when sautéing the onions - it adds richness to the whole dish. If doubling the recipe, use a 9x13 baking dish.

Ingredient Substitutions

  • crawfish tails: shrimp or lump crab meat
  • canned green beans: 1.5 pounds fresh green beans, par-boiled
  • cream of mushroom soup: cream of celery soup
  • fried onions: crushed Ritz crackers or panko breadcrumbs mixed with melted butter

Equipment Needed

  • medium saucepan
  • 8x8 casserole dish
  • mixing bowl

Historical Context

Green bean casserole became an American holiday staple in the 1950s, but this Cajun version adds Louisiana crawfish to make it uniquely ours. It’s a perfect example of how South Louisiana cooks take classic American dishes and make them their own with local seafood.