This Creole Smothered Green Beans is the one you’ll always see on our holiday table. It’s simply green beans straight out of a can, but it’s uncanny how these green beans–sautéed up in smoky bacon grease, smothered down in spicy andouille, and spiked with Cajun seasonings–will bring “thanks” to your Thanksgiving table.
Green beans, smoky bacon, and spicy andouille sausage, this Creole Smothered Green Beans recipe is the perfect holiday side dish. (All photos credit: George Graham)
This Creole Smothered Green Beans side dish is down-home fare often seen on a meat-and-three plate most anywhere in Acadiana. In fact, it was a Creole cook at a steamtable lunchroom in rural Evangeline Parish that spilled the beans on the list of ingredients in this casserole combination. You might think that fresh green beans would enhance this recipe, but I promise you it won’t. Using canned green beans has both taste and texture that define this dish. But there is one essential step: you must drain off all the canning liquid.
So why agonize over Thanksgiving dinner and belabor what could be a simple process? The answer: green beans out of a can. It’s easy. It’s quick. It’s inexpensive. It’s Creole Smothered Green Beans.
- 8 strips smoked bacon, chopped
- 1 cup loosely packed sliced andouille sausage or smoked pork sausage
- ½ cup diced yellow onion
- ¼ cup diced celery
- 2 tablespoons diced red bell pepper
- 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
- ½ cup vegetable stock or chicken stock
- 1 (28-ounce) can cut Italian green beans, drained
- 1 teaspoon white pepper
- 1 teaspoon granulated garlic
- 1 teaspoon black pepper
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 2 tablespoons heavy whipping cream
- In a heavy skillet over medium heat, add the bacon and fry until browned and crisp. Remove the bacon pieces and drain on paper towel.
- In the same skillet, add the andouille, onion, celery, and red bell pepper to the remaining grease, and cook until the sausage browns on both sides. Sprinkle the flour over the pan and stir it into the remaining grease to make a roux. Stir the flour until it begins to turn a beige color. Add the stock, stir until it thickens, and add the green beans. Stir to combine and season with white pepper, granulated garlic, black pepper, and salt. Stir in the heavy cream and combine. Lower the heat and let simmer and thicken for 5 minutes. Turn off the heat and keep warm.
- Just before serving, sprinkle the top of the green beans with the crisp bacon pieces.
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I’ve had a similar recipe from my college days at Tulane. Our fraternity house mom used to make it kinda like this as I recall. Added some things from your recipe and made it even better this year. Merci!
Hey Mike – Thanks for sharing your food memories; you can’t go wrong with this Green Bean recipe, and I am glad it turned out great. All the best.
Frankly, I’ve never gone wrong with one of your recipes, George! I have no idea how many years I’ve been following you, but you have never EVER led me down a wrong path. So… thank you for all of the years you’ve provided sage guidance in preparing foods endemic to Louisiana. I think -in the beginning- there was just “The Cajun Creole Dictionary which evolved into this website. Of course, at MY advanced age, I could very well have it all wrong, but you’ve been my go-to-guy for a long time, so, Thanks Again and again and again….
Regards,
-Richard Rowe
Jacksonville, Illinois
Hey Ric – Thanks for the beautiful words, and it is my pleasure–no, my passion–to write about our treasured South Louisiana foodways. Cajun and Creole cooking is rooted in the people that have carefully crafted these dishes, and it is an honor for me to share them with you. Thanks and keep the comments coming. All the best.
Great!!
Making this right now. Incredibly excited. I doubled the recipe.
Looks good!
what happened to the bacon?
Hey Archie- I ate it! No, just kidding. Check out the last instruction in the recipe: “Just before serving, sprinkle the top of the green beans with the crisp bacon pieces.” All the best.
Hello! Could I use fresh green beans?
Hey Kayla – Yes, fresh green beans will be fine, however, you will need to cook them longer until tender. Happy Thanksgiving!
George, I might make this recipe, but no way will I use canned green beans. I feel that canned green beans were and are a form of child and elder abuse. Otherwise, I like the look of this recipe.
Hey Greg – Not sure I am ready to write off canned vegetables, but you sound resolute on this issue. Happy Cooking!
I made these and received rave reviews…best green beans they have ever eaten! It was incredibly easy and fast to make. I shared the recipe with several people already and will definitely make it for Christmas dinner. Thanks so much. Five stars!!
Hey Karen – What a glowing review, and I appreciate it immensely. Have a very Merry Christmas!