This ultra creamy Vegan Green Bean Casserole is a wholesome take on the classic but is so decadent that you’ll never guess it’s dairy and gluten free!
I love Thanksgiving!!!
The food, the family…everything about it. Growing up, Thanksgiving was about eating three servings of Aunt Dee’s chocolate pecan pie, endless plates of Grandma’s sweet potato casserole with toasted marshmallows, and heaps on heaps of classic green bean casserole—french fried onions and all, baby!
And guess what? It still is!
My parents always did most of the Thanksgiving cooking since I was always so busy with school and work. But now that I’m a big girl who’ll be hosting my own turkey day before I know it, I decided it was time to buckle down and conquer the casserole.
‘Tis a very important casserole! Some people loathe it…but I’m obsessed.
Cream, crunchy, savory goodness. And hey, it’s a vegetable!
The magic is in the cashews!
So let’s talk about this Healthy Vegan Green Bean Casserole. The secret is the cashews!
Soaking them and then blending them with water creates this insanely thick and creamy addition that transforms the mushroom mixture into decadent heaven.
So thiccccckkkkk.
For the onion topping, I was inspired by Alton Brown’s Best Ever Green Bean Casserole. The onions are tossed with breadcrumbs and flour and baked in the oven until nice and crispy.
Layers and layers of texture, my friends.
Winner winner chickpea dinner.
Casserole, conquered.
I’m kind of sort of super duper proud of this Healthy Vegan Green Bean Casserole recipe. I hope you adore it as much as I do!
More amazing Thanksgiving recipes:
- Spinach Mushroom Herb Stuffing
- Vegan Sweet Potato Casserole
- Pumpkin Pie Bars
- Orange Bourbon Cranberry Sauce
- Maple Balsamic Brussels Sprouts with Butternut Squash, Walnuts, and Pomegranate
Healthy Green Bean Casserole
- Prep Time: 45 mins
- Cook Time: 20 mins
- Total Time: 1 hour 5 mins
- Yield: 10 1x
- Category: Side Dish
Description
This ultra creamy Vegan Green Bean Casserole is a wholesome take on the classic but is so decadent that you’ll never guess it’s dairy and gluten free!
Ingredients
- Heaping 1/2 cup raw cashews, soaked for 30 minutes or overnight
- 1/2 cup water
- 3 medium onions, divided
- 3 tbsp whole grain bread crumbs (sub certified GF bread crumbs if necessary)
- 3 tbsp flour (sub certified gluten-free flour if necessary)
- 2 1/4 tsp salt (divided)
- 2 lbs frozen cut green beans
- 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 2 (8oz) packages sliced mushrooms, chopped
- Pinch ground nutmeg (optional)
- 1 tbsp soy sauce (sub tamari for gluten-free)
- 1/4 cup dry white wine (I used chardonnay)
- Freshly ground black pepper, to taste
Instructions
- Grease a 9×13 or 3qt baking dish with cooking spray and set aside.
- Place cashews in a small bowl and cover with hot water. Set aside to soak for 30 minutes or overnight. (If you have a nutribullet or high speed blender, 10 minutes of soaking is fine.)
- Meanwhile, preheat oven to 475F and spray a baking sheet or line with parchment paper. Thinly slice two of the onions and dice one onion, setting aside the diced one for later. Combine two sliced onions with bread crumbs, flour and 3/4 tsp salt in a large bowl, tossing to combine. Be sure to separate each individual onion piece. Spread onions in an even layer on baking sheet. Bake for about 20 minutes, tossing halfway through. Watch carefully to make sure they don’t burn towards the end of cooking. Once onions are done, remove from oven and lower oven heat to 350F for casserole.
- Bring a large pot with two inches of water to a boil. Once boiling, add green beans (alternatively you can steam them in the microwave according to package directions). Bring back to a boil (this may take a while) and cook over medium heat for about 5 minutes, or until tender. Drain and run cold water over green beans to stop cooking. Set aside.
- In a large skillet, heat olive oil over medium heat. Once hot, add diced onionand cook for five minutes. Add garlic and mushrooms and for another ten minutes, stirring often. Add nutmeg, soy sauce, white wine, 1 1/2 tsp salt, and pepper. (It will taste salty, that’s ok!). Simmer for five minutes.
- Blend soaked cashews with water in a blender or food processor (I used my nutribullet) until completely smooth and creamy. Add cashew cream and 1/4 of the baked onions to vegetable mixture along with cooked green beans, stirring to combine.
- Spread mixture into prepared dish. Top with remaining baked onions. Bake at 350F for 20 minutes (if onions are on the crispier side, you can cover with foil for first half of cooking.) Serve hot!
Notes
To make this dish the day before, I make the green bean casserole portion (don’t bake) without the onion topping. The next day, I bake the onions, stir a handful into the green beans, put the rest on top, and bake for 20 minutes per the instructions.
Thanks for this recipe! I have to be at school until nine o’clock every day this week and definitely wasn’t going to leave my meals up to the cafeteria! Made this once and I’m set for dinner for the week! Awesome!!!
Totally! It’s been really helping me up my veggie intake at dinner time 🙂
Absolutely cannot wait to try this! This is going on my must-make-for-Thanksgiving recipes list. Looks delicious! 🙂
Thanks, Addie! I hope you and your family love it as much as I did!
I’ve never been a fan of green bean casserole (the canned soup creeped me out) but this version sounds delicious. Cashews are so stinkin’ versatile.
I swear you’ll totally be a fan of this one! It’s epic.
oh wow this looks so good! I think my prayers have been answered! My Favorite thanksgiving dish!
★★★★★
Enjoy my dear!
I love 365 too and I’m with you, scariest ingredients in that can and I’ve never been a fan!
It’s so nice to be able to trust a brand without spending 10 minutes scanning the ingredients, right?!
This sounds amazing, Alexis! Yay for vegan green bean casserole!
Thanks girl! I have a strong feeling that you would LOVE this!
I’m with you on the blah canned cream of mushroom soup. So gross! This dish however looks so good. I love that you used cashews as a substitute. They are so creamy and add a delicious texture to foods. I can’t wait to try this!
Cashews are seriously so amazing. They continue to amaze me!
This looks incredible! Fab job tackling a super hard recipe to make healthy. Can’t wait for Turkey day!
Thanks my dear!! It ended up being so much easier than I thought 🙂
You’re a recipe genius!! Sharing this immediately with my Facebook group! In the spirit of good health for thanksgiving – THANK YOU!!
Aww you are the sweetest!! I knew you’d appreciate it 🙂
Ugh…you genie! I’m all about eating my weight in foods over the holidays and totally don’t care so long as it’s the healthy stuff. My family always did the mushroom soup green bean casserole, so I’m proposing we make your ninja version this year!
My fam STILL does that darn version! I mean, who doesn’t?! But hey…there’s a new casserole in town!!
YES green bean casserole. I used to hate it as a child (I was a weird child) but now it’s one of the foods I always get seconds on.
You weird child, you! JK. Now you’ll be getting thirds 🙂
GB casserole is my fav! I need to find a way to make it GF!
Me too! Simply use gluten-free bread crumbs and soy sauce and you’re good to go on the gluten front!
This looks like MY kind of green bean casserole 🙂
You’ll adore it, guaranteed!
You and I were on the same wave length this year with the healthy green bean casserole! You used cashews and I used beans. We’re so smart. 🙂 Real food Thanksgiving for the win.
How cool that you used beans! Yours will most definitely be the next version I try.
What kind of beans did you use to substitute the cashews? Although I’d love to see what the cashews taste like, I have to sub them out for someone.
Any other suggestions would be greatly appreciated!!
Thanks for the recipe- sounds delish!!
I’m assuming the person used white beans, but you could also try pumpkin seeds if the person isn’t allergic to seeds!
Green bean casserole was my favorite as a kid!y Mimi made the best ever. Yours look fabulous- I wonder if they’d know it was vegan and super healthy?
I really don’t think they’d be able to tell! The cashew cream makes it soooo creamy.
This is NOT gluten free!!! Contains soya sauce which has gluten! Sorry to comment under your pilots, but it wouldn’t let me post on my own.
Hi Nicci, I wrote “sub tamari if neccesary”–that was intended for those with gluten issues. I edited it to say “sub tamari for gluten-free.” Thanks for commenting, hope you enjoy it!
Hi Alexis,
In your post you wrote about Cream fo Mushroom, but I don’t see it in the recipe. Does the cashew sauce replace the Cream fo Mushroom? Thanks!
Hi there Christina! Thanks for that–just edited it out to remove confusion. You can find whole foods versions of the condensed soup in the natural section of the grocery store. My recipe uses fresh mushrooms and cashews for a homemade replacement 🙂
Hi Alexis!
If I use the whole foods condensed soup, what ingredients do I then leave out?
Thanks!!
actually, most soy sauce is gluten free. it is complicated but there is one a few japanese brands that contain gluten.
haven’t tried this recipe but i will this week! can imagine it is full of fibre!
★★★★★
Hope you love it!! Yes, it does have plenty of fiber 🙂
I just tried to make this, and the breading does not stick to the onions. It just fell off my onions, do you have suggestions for next time? Thanks!
★
Also it won’t let me put more stars?!?!?
There is a substitution in the recipe for the soy sauce.
You could try tamari or coconut aminos.
Do you think this could be made in the Crock-Pot?