Not-Your-Mama’s Green Beans (Recipe Download)

Move over, Green Bean Casserole. There’s a new girl in town, and her name isn’t French fried onion strings. It’s cheese and bacon. And she’s here to tell you how green beans are really done.

Don’t get me wrong, I love a can of cream of mushroom soup, and French fried onion strings are delish.

But let’s face it: the only people pushing that recipe are the French fried onion strings people, who see their sales spike once a year thanks to Green Bean Casseroles everywhere.

In fact, I’m pretty sure that the French fried onion strings people have this recipe for these dripping-with-cheddar, bacon-wrapped, green bean bundles, and they are actively trying to keep the word from getting out. Because if everyone knew about this recipe, well—WHO WOULD BUY THE ONION STRINGS THEN?

I can see all the French fried onion string executives, sitting around a board room. Old guys in ties. They aren’t ready for new things. And they are struggling with the threat of Food Network, constantly showing people new ways to do old things.

“Why can’t they just leave our green bean casserole alone?” they grumble. “Cheese has queso at every Mexican restaurant in the universe. It doesn’t need a holiday recipe! And bacon has breakfast, every single day of the year! Can’t they just take a back seat for THANKSGIVING? That’s all we’re asking!”

Well, French-fried onion execs, I can give you Thanksgiving. But I’m telling you: this year, ditch the tired green bean casserole recipe. Leave onion strings and cream of mushroom soup off your grocery list. Replace them with cheese and bacon, and put Not-Your-Mama’s Green Beans on your Christmas menu.

Regular old green bean casserole is never the star of the show. It’s an afterthought, an extra, a supporting character. But Not-Your-Mama’s Green Beans are anything but backseat. They are center-stage, spotlight, go-back-for-thirds-and-fourths green beans.

If you aren’t sold already, let me leave you with three little words to change your mind: CHEESE AND BACON.

Still don’t believe me? Print out the recipe card below and try it for yourself! You won’t regret it!