Green bean casserole was created to promote what canned soup?

Green bean casserole was created to promote canned cream of mushroom soup.

Dorcas Reilly developed the dish in 1955 while working in Campbell Soup Company’s home economics department in Camden, New Jersey. Campbell’s wanted a quick recipe using ingredients many American households already kept on hand. The original dish, first called “Green Bean Bake,” combined green beans with the company’s condensed cream of mushroom soup and a crisp onion topping.

Cream of mushroom soup was especially useful as a casserole ingredient because condensed soup could function as a ready-made sauce or binder. Campbell’s had introduced the soup in 1934, and it was already familiar in the convenience-food cooking of the era. Printing the recipe on soup-can labels helped carry it into American kitchens.

The casserole became strongly associated with Thanksgiving, even though it was initially promoted as an everyday side dish. Modern versions may use fresh mushrooms, homemade cream sauce, or fresh green beans, but those variations do not change the dish’s marketing history. Campbell’s has estimated that a large share of its cream of mushroom soup is used in green bean casserole.