The iconic recipe was created in the test kitchen of Campbell Soup in 1955. Watch video
If you plan on eating green bean casserole this Thanksgiving, the memory of Dorcas Reilly will live on. The inventor of the iconic, easy-to-make recipe died earlier this month at the age of 92.
The day before Thanksgiving last year, Dorcas, slowed by dementia but still glued to the side of her husband and high school sweetheart Tom, spoke about her creation.
“How many ingredients are in the green bean casserole?” Tom quizzed her, sitting in the sunroom of their Haddonfield home.
“About seven,” she responded with a smile.
“It’s very tasty if it’s made the right way,” Tom said. “It’s a very simple meal. It’s comfort food. We’ve heard many people recognize it as the original comfort food.”
Dorcas, who Tom called Dotte, graduated from Drexel University’s home economics program in Philadelphia in 1947. She joined the Campbell Soup company in her native Camden shortly afterward. She was working in a test kitchen for Campbell’s in 1955 when she came up with the recipe. The goal was to create a wholesome meal out of ingredients many families already had in their kitchen.
The recipe includes a can of Campbell’s cream of mushroom soup, four cups of green beans, milk, spices and a can French’s fried onions. Prep time is 10 minutes and baking time is 30.
“For those who had the privilege of knowing Dorcas, we greatly admired her humble and unassuming nature,” Beth Jolly, a Campbell executive said. “Dorcas would often share that the first time she made her famous recipe, it did not receive the highest rating in Campbell’s internal testing. Yet, it was her persistence and creativity that led to an enduring recipe that will live on for decades to come.”
Campbell started putting Reilly’s recipe on cans of cream of mushroom soup in the 1960s.
Dorcas Reilly in the Campbell Soup test kitchen in the 1950s. “One of my fondest memories was attending her induction into the National Inventors Hall of Fame,” said Jane Freiman, director of Campbell’s consumer test kitchen. “Dorcas’s recipes have been shared by millions of American families for over 60 years, and I have no doubt her legacy will live on.”
A celebration of life will be held for Reilly on Saturday at the First Presbyterian Church in Haddonfield.
Bill Duhart may be reached at bduhart@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @bduhart. Find NJ.com on Facebook. Have a tip? Tell us. nj.com/tips 
