The best, easy vegan green bean casserole recipe from scratch, made with healthy creamy cashew mushroom gravy, fresh green beans and wild chanterelles with just a touch of nutritional yeast.
The Mushrooms:
Wild chanterelles and shiitakes are absolutely my favorites with the chanterelles coming it at #1 forever and ever.
You should be able to find them all over your local farmers markets this time of the year, and If you have a Costco store close by they always bring them in for Thanksgiving and Christmas.
The Green Beans:
Please use fresh or frozen beans here. It only takes a few minutes to steam them to a perfect al dente texture and the flavor is undeniable. Forget overcooked canned green beans at least for Thanksgiving dinner, you’ll be happy you did.
The Creamy Mushroom Sauce:
- It’s so amazing you could eat it with a spoon when nobody’s watching. You’ll notice in my photos that the sauce looks different when made with wild mushrooms versus the brown button mushrooms below.
- So if you want a light creamy sauce use light colored mushrooms like the chanterelles and shiitakes or the white baby bellas. If using brown mushrooms and/or adding paprika your gravy will become dark brown.
Can Green Bean Casserole Be Made Ahead of Time?
Simply The Best Vegan Green Bean Casserole:
Healthy & Protein Loaded
Lusciously Creamy
Comforting
No Oil, Fat & Dairy Free
Perfect for Thanksgiving & Christmas
Easy to Make
Savory Crunchy Onion Topping
From Scratch.
What Goes with this Vegan Green Bean Casserole:
P.S. As always, If you make this green bean casserole recipe please come back here to rate it, snap a photo and hashtag it with #VeggieSociety on Instagram. It would totally make my day!
Easy Vegan Green Bean Casserole
Ingredients
- 1 lb green beans (cut into bite size pieces)
- 1 lb wild chanterelles, shiitakes or baby bella mushrooms - sliced or chopped
- 1 yellow onion - chopped
- 8 sprigs thyme - leaves only
- 6 sprigs fresh marjoram or oregano - leaves only
- 2 cups almond or cashew milk ( plain, your favorite kind )
- 1/2 tsp garlic powder
- 2 tsp onion powder
- 1 pinch red pepper flakes
- 1 tbsp nutritional yeast
- 1/3 cup dry white wine
- 1/2 tsp sea salt - or to taste
- 2.5 tbsp whole wheat pastry flour (or all purpose flour)
- 1/2 cup crispy fried onions or Panko bread crumbs (OPTIONAL)
Instructions
- Prepare a double boiler with a couple of inches of water and bring to a simmer. Add the fresh green beans to the top basket making sure it doesn’t touch the water below it. Cover with lid and steam for about 10 minutes until the beans are tender to your liking. Make sure not to overcook them, you want a nice al dente texture not puree. Check after 5 minutes and keep a close eye on them.
Make the Mushroom Gravy:
- Heat a large skillet over medium low flame. Add a drizzle of olive oil (or a splash of water or veggie stock for WFPB Plantricious diets) then add the onion and a tiny pinch of sea salt. Saute for a few minutes until the onion is wilted and translucent, about 5 minutes.
- Stir in the mushrooms, thyme and marjoram leaves and cook another 5 minutes or so until they have wilted. Add the white wine and let everything simmer until the wine has evaporated almost completely.
- In a separate bowl whisk together the cashew milk with the flour, onion and garlic powders, nutritional yeast and sea salt. Add the mixture to the skillet with the mushrooms.
- Bring the gravy to a gentle simmer and cook for a couple of minutes until thickened up to your liking. Adjust seasonings.
- Add the steamed green beans to the mushroom gravy and toss to combine well. Serve hot!
Optional:
- At this point you can transfer the beans to a broiler proof dish, sprinkle with panko bread crumbs or store bought crispy onions and broil for a few minutes until golden on top.
Alternately preheat your oven to 400 “F. Top the green bean casserole with the panko or the onions and bake for 15 minutes until golden brown on top to your liking.
Notes
- You can add 2 teaspoons of sweet or smoked paprika to the gravy if desired. However, I only recommend doing this if using brown baby bella mushrooms. When using wild chanterelles or shiitakes please omit as it would overpower their beautiful delicate flavors.
- You can use any plant milk you choose, cashew, almond, oat, just make sure it is plain and unsweetened.
- To keep the recipe WFPB oil free and Plantricious compliant make sure to saute in water , wine or veggie broth and use whole wheat pastry flour instead of all purpose flour.
Nutrition
Go Vegan:
Best Minestrone Soup
Easy Crusty Bread
Vegan Carnitas
So delicious, I love green beans and steaming them is by far the best idea. Can’t wait to make them again next week for Christmas dinner. Thank you for the recipe.
Best green beans I’ve ever made, all gone and I usually have so many leftovers. Now I won’t wait till the holidays to make green beans, absolutely delicious.
I am gathering my ingredients and I can’t wait to try your recipe! How much white wine do I need for the gravy?
Hey donna, you’ll need 1/3 cup of dry white wine 🙂
I am gluten free can this recipe be made with either almond, Coconut or tapioca flour?
I have not tested it gluten free, my go to gluten free flours would be rice flour or almond flour, if using coconut flour the ratio would be totally different so definitely need some experimenting around with you. I’ll update the recipe card once i figure it out.