![Roasted Carrots](https://static01.nyt.com/images/2023/08/16/multimedia/MRS-Roasted-Carrots-vzjq/MRS-Roasted-Carrots-vzjq-mediumThreeByTwo440.jpg?width=1280&quality=75&auto=webp)
Roasted Carrots
Martha Rose Shulman
5167 ratings with an average rating of 5 out of 5 stars
5,167
About 1 hour
Updated Nov. 1, 2023
Advertisement
Heat oven to 400 degrees. Coat a 9-by-13 baking dish with nonstick cooking spray. On a rimmed sheet pan lined with parchment paper, toss together green beans, mushrooms, sliced shallots, garlic and olive oil; season with salt and pepper to taste then spread evenly on the pan. Roast until the vegetables brown in spots and soften, about 30 minutes, tossing halfway through. (Alternatively, if you want the green beans extra soft, set them on an unlined sheet pan, add 3 tablespoons water, cover with aluminum foil, and cook until the vegetables are slightly firmer than you want in the end result, about 30 to 45 minutes.)
Meanwhile, in a large saucepan over medium-low heat, melt the butter, then add the flour. Cook for about 1 to 2 minutes, whisking constantly until it comes together and begins to turn golden in color.
Add heavy cream and whisk until it starts to thicken, 6 to 8 minutes. Add the Cajun seasoning, onion and garlic powders, chicken base, nutmeg and ½ teaspoon pepper. Whisk to combine, then add 1½ cups Parmesan until melted. Taste and adjust seasonings.
When the green beans are cooked, add them to the saucepan, and toss to coat until mixture is thoroughly heated. Transfer green bean mixture to the baking dish.
In a medium bowl, combine bread crumbs, fried shallots and the remaining ¼ cup Parmesan. Spread evenly over the top of the casserole.
Set the broiler to high, and broil until brown and bubbly (don’t walk away!), about 1 to 2 minutes. Serve hot.
I would definitely make this a day ahead except for the bread crumb/shallot topping, that I would make and add just before placing into the oven. Also, I would remove casserole from refrigerator to bring to room temperature about one to two hours prior to baking.
This recipe is delicious! Because of all the potential variables (heavy cream vs half and half, how much vegetables cook down) I recommend reserving 1/2 of the sauce before you combine with the vegetables, then add back in to the desired consistency. I wound up with a lot more sauce than vegetables.
Can I prep this the day before?
I grew up in the Midwest and thanksgiving green bean-casserole with mushroom soup was a thanksgiving staple. I was reluctant to stray from that...nostalgia...departure from the basics...but WOW. This will always be the go-to for green bean casserole for me. Roasting the veggies and then adding the cream made this dish so fresh. I added the store-bought-fried-onions in a can because I had to keep some of my roots. But this is DELICIOUS. (I added red pepper flakes instead of Cajun seasoning)
I’m a traditional green bean casserole fan but my partner is not and since this year it was just the two of us this recipe seemed like a good compromise - and indeed it was. I didn’t have any problems with this being too wet but I used heavy cream and really let it thicken up before tossing in the beans. Halved well with plenty of leftovers that later got thinned with a little white wine and stock, tossed with pasta and topped with what was left of the fried onions. Delicious!
Regarding prepping the day before - how long would you plan to cook it for on the day of serving, after bringing to room temp? It will certainly need more than two minutes of broiling to get hot.
The other reviews are correct. The sauce is runny. I did the following and the casserole turned out perfect in consistency and delicious. I made the full amount of the sauce. I poured one half of the sauce into another sauce pan before I added the beans and mushrooms. My sauce was still too soupy/ runny. So, I made a corn starch slurry (one part corn starch to one part water- you don’t need a lot of this). I slowly added in the corn starch slurry and the sauce thickened up very quickly.
Delish! I used three ponds of green beans and two pounds of mushrooms. Plenty of sauce for the extra veg. I would certainly make a day ahead and add the topping before hearing. Also, more Cajuns seasoning would add a nice kick. Awesome recipe.
Use HALF the liquid. You can always add a little more if needed, you can’t take it out. I don’t recommend heavy cream (very very heavy), I would do whole milk personally. Also I used a little extra Cajun seasoning (sauce tasted a tad flat). Otherwise AMAZING!
A little soupy. Needs more panko, perhaps 1.5 cups :)
I'm going to try 10-15 at 350. Then I'll add the breadcrumb mixture and throw it under the broiler. If anyone has a better suggestion, please let me know.
Yes, you could make everything up through Step 4, let it cool, cover, and refrigerate. Then, day of, make and add the breadcrumb topping and bake.
Great flavor! Loved the roasted veggies! But, I needed 2 sheet pans to properly roast them there was way too much sauce. It's a do again!
make this a day ahead except for the bread crumb/shallot topping, that I would make and add just before placing into the oven. Also, I would remove casserole from refrigerator to bring to room temperature about one to two hours prior to baking.
Foraging in the forest. That's the only place I know.
Yummy!
This is our go to side we take to all holidays. I make it the night before and then take out ahead of cooking. Bake at 350 for 20 minutes covered and then take off the foil and add the topping for another 10 minutes. Note: If your base is too soupy, you are not taking your heavy cream far enough. Stir over heat until the cream starts to hold the mark of the whisk. Add the parm in 1/2 cup increments making sure each 1/2 cup is fully incorporated before adding the next.
I'm sharing this baddest based on the comments below. I made this, following the recipe to the letter, and the amount of sauce was exactly the right amount and members of my family are pestering me for the recipe.
Made the casserole ahead, topping the day of Thanksgiving, and was perfect. I've tried many versions of 'green bean casserole' and this was my family's favorite...by far. It's a keeper.
I doubled this for Thanksgiving and did a LOT of freestyling by the time we got to the sauce; due to the volume of green beans & mushrooms, prep was labor-intensive, but feedback was very positive. I followed recommendations to back down on the sauce ratio, but the crowd I was cooking for actually asked for more sauce in the future. I was also using spices I already had to make the Cajun blend called for here and accidentally over-indexed on cayenne; however, folks really enjoyed it.
Delicious but incredibly rich. I made a half-recipe and the dense combination of cream and cheese was overwhelming. (I air-fried the beans and mushrooms, quicker and just as effective, and used scaled amounts of cream and half Romano, half Parm). As written, this would be great as a small timbale cut out of the cooled baking dish and served as a flavor-bomb side to a steak. Next time I'll go a little easier on the dairy; I can always add more if it looks too thin.
Delicious. I did modify the quart of cream to 1 cup chicken stock, 1 cup fat free milk, 2 cups cream. It wasn’t runny but based on other comments I did set some aside and added in increments but used it all. I also made fresh fried onions. Make sure pan is far from broiler and broil just one minute cause I charred mine a bit. LOL. Next time maybe I won’t broil. The onions were yummy enough on their own.
This was the hit of our Thanksgiving, unanimously voted as best dish of the table by my family. I held back on some of the Bechamel sauce. I used pecorino Romano cheese because it’s what I had and used a good mix of different mushrooms. Incredibly tasty and now a staple for our family dinners.
So as a French expat I usually stay away from Southern cooking because it can involve a lot of spicy or fried foods, but this one is a winner! I substituted freshly grated nutmeg & paprika for the Cajun spices, but roasting the green beans and shitake mushrooms with shallots makes the prep pretty easy. Just make a bechamel while the veggies are roasting, mix it all up and you're done. I did use all the liquid, all the cheese, and TJ fried onions. Most had seconds, even those not keen on veggies
Could buttermilk be substituted for the cream or half and half?
This was perfect. Time consuming. Does not heat up well as leftovers due to the cream sauce separating I roasted the mushrooms but used the steam method for the green beans. I used regular button brown mushrooms but using more interesting mushrooms might have been good.
Third Thanksgiving I’ve made this. I am known as the “GBC man”, everyone goes feral for this recipe. I have to explain every time I’m standing on the shoulders of Millie Peartree. Only change I do is use half-n-half instead of heavy cream. And thickening takes much longer than the recipe calls for. I was in a rush and used a corn starch slurry this year.
I replaced the parmesan with gruyere in the sauce, so good.
I replaced the parmesan with gruyere in the sauce, so good.
The roasted mushrooms were delicious - a little crispy around the edges, perfect inside. But I won’t roast the green beans again as the process just dried them out and made them chewy. I’ll go back to steaming them.
Advertisement