Vegan Green Bean Casserole from Scratch
Fresh green beans in a creamy cashew mushroom sauce, topped with oven-crispy onions. A lighter, from-scratch vegan take on the holiday classic.
Ingredients
Crispy onions
- 1 large yellow onion very thinly sliced into rings
- 2 tbsp all-purpose or almond flour
- ½ cup panko breadcrumbs check that they are vegan
- olive oil spray
- ¼ tsp salt
Casserole
- 1½ lb fresh green beans 680 g, trimmed and halved
- ½ cup raw cashews 70 g
- 1 cup low-sodium vegetable broth 240 ml
- ½ cup unsweetened almond milk 120 ml
- 1 tbsp nutritional yeast
- 1 tbsp low-sodium soy sauce
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 8 oz cremini mushrooms 225 g, sliced
- 2 cloves garlic minced
- ½ tsp dried thyme
- salt and black pepper to taste
Instructions
- Heat the oven to 425°F (220°C). Cover the cashews with boiling water and soak for 10 minutes.
- Toss the onion rings with the flour and salt, then with the panko. Spread on a lined baking sheet, spray with olive oil and bake for 15–20 minutes, flipping once, until golden and crisp. Lower the oven to 375°F (190°C).
- Meanwhile, boil the green beans in salted water for 4 minutes, then drain and plunge them into ice water. Drain well.
- Drain the cashews and blend them with the broth, almond milk, nutritional yeast and soy sauce until completely smooth.
- Heat the olive oil in a large skillet and cook the mushrooms for 6–7 minutes until browned. Add the garlic and thyme for 30 seconds, then pour in the cashew sauce and simmer for 2 minutes until slightly thickened. Season with salt and pepper.
- Stir the green beans into the sauce and transfer to a 2-quart baking dish. Bake for 15 minutes.
- Top with the crispy onions and bake for 5–10 more minutes, until bubbling. Serve hot.
Notes
For a nut-free sauce, use ½ cup raw sunflower seeds or ¾ cup silken tofu instead of cashews. Frozen green beans work too; thaw them and skip the blanching. Nutrition values are estimates.