Vegan Green Bean Casserole
By the Gracious Vegan
I set out to do what I thought was the impossible: make a green bean casserole as good as any I’d tasted, but eliminate all animal-based and oil-based ingredients. So the fried onions had to go, as did, of course, the Campbell’s Cream of Mushroom soup. With a few clever tricks, I did it! I think many people will prefer this version to Campbell’s. I hope you’ll give it a try.
Makes about 8 side-dish servings
Preheat the oven to 400°F.
Green beans. Cook the green beans in a pot of boiling water until tender (I boil them for 4-5 minutes). Drain well and set aside.
1.75 pounds fresh (or frozen) green beans, trimmed and cut into 1”-2” pieces (if you want to use canned green beans, then I’d say 4 cans, drained and rinsed and do not cook)
Mushrooms. Separately, water-sauté or microwave the mushrooms until soft and all the water has evaporated. Set aside. (What is water-sauté?)
2 cups chopped or sliced fresh mushrooms (about 5 ounces) (if you want to use canned, then 2 small cans and you don’t need to cook them)
Sauce. Soak cashews in cold water at least 2 hours, or pour boiling water over them, cover, and let them soak 20 minutes. (You can skip this step if you have a high-speed blender.)
1/3 cup raw cashews
Put cashews in a blender, add these ingredients, then blend until cashews are completely smooth.
1.5 cups water
1/4 cup any kind of tofu
2 Tablespoons any kind of flour (I use whole wheat)
2 Tablespoons nutritional yeast (What is Nutritional Yeast?)
1 teaspoon onion powder
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/4 teaspoon Dijon mustard
Freshly ground black pepper
Cook the mixture over the stove in a saucepan over medium heat, uncovered and stirring constantly, until the sauce is thickened, about 5 minutes.
In a large bowl, gently stir together the green beans, mushrooms, and sauce. Spoon the mixture into a low casserole dish (I use an 8” x 10.5” casserole dish).
Cover with foil or other top and bake for 30 minutes, until you see and hear energetic boiling along the sides of the dish.
While the beans are baking, make the topping. Fork-whisk together the following ingredients in a small bowl.
1 Tablespoon water
1 teaspoon tahini
Pinch of salt
Mix in the onion and bread crumbs until they are well coated and you have a streusel-type texture.
3 Tablespoons dried chopped onion (the kind you buy in the spice aisle)
3 Tablespoons dried bread crumbs (I use whole wheat)
After the 30 minutes of baking, take the foil off, drop small dollops of the onion-bread crumb mixture onto the beans, and bake uncovered until the whole thing is bubbly and the top is golden brown, about 10 minutes longer.
Timing: About 75 minutes
Gluten-free if you used gluten-free flour in the sauce and gluten-free bread crumbs in the topping