Green Beans and Mushrooms with Crispy Shallots Recipe

I don’t particularly like green bean casserole (aside from my homemade casserole without canned soup!) and it’s never something I consider to be essential to a Thanksgiving table (unlike cranberry sauce – whether it be traditional or made from craisins -, roasted butternut squash, sweet potatoes or apple pie, which I love!).

However, I do love the majority of the components of the dish and that’s why I developed this delicious green beans and mushrooms with crispy shallots recipe.

Autumn is the time when wild mushrooms are prevalent and I wanted to come up with a dish that highlighted them. Though this can be made with any kind of mushrooms, I highly recommend using some wild mushrooms if you can get your hands on them.

I tried to make this dish as simple as possible in order to really highlight the ingredients. This means that there aren’t a whole lot of ingredients and you can make this dish, from start to finish, in a bit over 30 minutes.

There are also some steps that can be done ahead of time if desired. It’s also made on the stove, freeing up valuable oven space!

How to Make Green Beans and Mushrooms with Crispy Shallots

The first step in this recipe is to make your crispy shallots. These can be made up to a few days ahead of time and keep just fine in an airtight container at room temperature. Just keep in mind that they are incredibly delicious and addictive so beware if you’re a snacker!

Making crispy shallots is super easy, but it’s good to be set up for success before you get started.

So before you start frying, set a fine mesh sieve over a heatproof bowl and then line a large plate or sheet tray with a few layers of paper towels. Set these aside for when we are finishing up the shallots.

Onto the shallots, you need to peel and thinly slice them. You can use a mandolin for this task if you have one, but I don’t (or didn’t at the time of developing this recipe!) and have no problem using a sharp chef’s knife.

Add your sliced shallots to a medium, heavy-bottomed saucepan and pour enough neutral oil over them to completely submerge the shallots.

Set the pan over medium-high heat and begin to fry, stirring very frequently to encourage the layers to separate.

You will notice the oil begin to bubble and, not long after, the shallots will begin to brown. It’s important to stir them frequently to avoid any hotspots and to make sure all of your shallots get evenly browned.

As soon as you see them being to turn a golden colour, turn off the heat and very carefully pour the shallots into your prepared sieve.

It is really easy to burn these so make sure to work quickly here. It will take about 10-15 minutes to reach this stage.

Scatter the drained shallots over the paper towels and season with salt. Set aside to use for later.

Make sure not to discard the frying oil, either, because it’s now infused with shallot flavour and we’ll be using it to cook the rest of our dish! You can also use it in many other applications.

Crispy shallots are great to use for all kinds of things, as well, from salads to Asian dishes like pad thai so it can be a good idea to make a large batch of them.

Now, moving on, add a few tablespoons of your shallot oil to a large skillet and set over high heat. Heat the oil until it’s shimmering and add your mushrooms.

Sprinkle the mushrooms with a bit of salt and cook, stirring frequently, until they have released a bunch of their moisture and they turn a deep, golden brown – this will take about 10 minutes. I go into detail about how to do this in my mushroom sauce recipe and also my mushroom bucatini recipe.

Then, crush in a few cloves of garlic and cook until just fragrant. Add your green beans and toss to combine.

Cook the beans until they turn a bright green colour, only another 30 seconds or so.

Now, deglaze the pan with a bit of dry white wine. You can use any sort of dry white wine you’d like here – just make sure it’s something that you would drink yourself. In fact, go ahead and pour yourself a glass while you’re cooking!

Cook just until the wine has mostly evaporated and the alcohol smell has all but cooked off about five minutes.

Then, squeeze with lemon juice, season with salt and pepper, and toss in about half of your crispy shallots.

Transfer to a serving dish and top with more crispy shallots. Then serve and enjoy! This goes great alongside my maple-miso brussels sprouts or my green bean & broccoli salad if you’re looking for another delicious veggie side!

These green beans with mushrooms and shallots are an excellent side dish to any main meal. They’re easy to make and are absolutely delicious every time.

Are you looking for a great green bean recipe? Have any questions? Let me know in the comments!