I don’t know if you caught yesterday’s post for French Onion Kale Chips but they make this vegan green bean casserole!
I’ve wanted to recreate my favorite holiday casserole for some time and when I was planning out November I wrote it down.
It was time to replace some of the less than desirable ingredients. First being the favorite French’s onions and then the cream of mushroom soup that is full of so many other ingredients – let’s bring it back to mushrooms. Shall we?
First up the crunchy onion topping. I schemed for weeks on a topping to use that would perfectly substitute those naughty but delicious French’s onions (turns out they’re not as naughty as the soup).
And it hit me. Kale chips. Crunchy onion kale chips. A chip that would taste great rehydrated within the casserole and also add that perfect texture on top.
As for the crisp and crunchy topping? It worked out way better than I could have ever dreamed.
To replace the cream of mushroom soup, I first looked to my favorite soup recipe on FYS, a Foodgasmic Potato Crimini soup but decided it had too many ingredients and steps like the baked potato, but it still provided inspiration.
I wanted this side to be perfect, so I made 3 variations (each one built upon the first with little tweaks and adjustments) until it was just right.
Yes, we ate a lot of green bean casserole over a few days. 😉
The recipe starts with 8 ounces of mushrooms (you could use brown or white – I used white) that are blended with almond milk, soaked cashews, salt, garlic powder and lemon juice.
In the first 2 variations I used 1/2 an avocado instead of cashews and though it does work – avocado does turn brown, so aesthetically the casserole looked much different after a few hours even though the flavor was still good. Cashews on the other hand worked perfectly! So perfect that there wasn’t any separation of ingredients after cooking like there was with the avocado (even with tapioca starch/wheat flour).
The latest greatest version of the green bean casserole was delicious right out of the oven, later in the evening, and even as breakfast the next day.
Without further ado…
Double the Green, Vegan Green Bean Casserole
Ingredients
- 8 ounces (227g) white mushrooms (heaping 2 cups)
- 1 cup plain unsweetened almond milk
- 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
- 1/2 cup raw cashews, soaked 30 minutes to 1 hour
- 1/8 teaspoon ground black pepper
- 2 - 14.5 ounce cans cut green beans, drained
- 2 1/2 - 3 cups French Onion Kale Chips or store bought
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350F.
- To make the mushroom soup- blend mushrooms (stems and all), almond milk, soaked cashews, salt, garlic powder, and lemon juice in a blender until smooth (food processor will work too).
- Then in an 8 inch x 8 inch glass pan or 9.5 inch pie dish, mix together drained green beans, soup, pepper and half the kale chips.
- Place in the oven and bake for 35 minutes. Remove from oven, top with remaining kale chips and serve.
Tell me—what is your favorite holiday side dish? Besides green bean casserole, I love mashed potatoes. Love.
Enjoy! xo
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