Vegan green bean casserole with cashew mushroom sauce
This vegan green bean casserole is a delicious, plant-based take on the classic holiday favorite. Made with a rich cashew mushroom sauce and topped with crispy fried onions, it delivers all the cozy, nostalgic flavor of the original. Perfect for Thanksgiving or any festive meal!
Servings: 6 people
Calories: 182kcal
Ingredients
- ¼ cup raw cashews (unroasted and unsalted), soaked if necessary*
- 2 cups water divided, plus more for steaming beans
- 16 ounces green beans fresh, trimmed and halved
- 2 teaspoons avocado oil or your preferred neutral flavored cooking oil
- 8 ounces cremini mushrooms sliced
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 Tablespoon vegan butter
- 3 garlic cloves minced
- 2 teaspoons red wine vinegar
- 2 Tablespoons all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon Better Than Bouillon, no chicken base
- black pepper freshly ground, to taste
- 1 teaspoon tamari
- 1 ⅓ cups French fried onions divided
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- Put raw cashews and a cup of water into a high-speed blender.* Blend until completely smooth. (You'll know it's done when there are no cracking sounds in the blender.) Then set aside.
- Fill a pot with steamer insert with about an inch of water. Bring to a boil. Put trimmed and halved green beans into the steamer insert and cover with a lid. Steam until the green beans are bright and tender, about 5 minutes.
- To keep their bright color and stop their cooking, pour the green beans into a colander in the sink, and run cold water over them. Turn them occasionally so that all of the green beans get cool. Once the green beans are cold, pour them onto a clean kitchen towel to dry while you continue with the rest of the recipe.
- Bring a large non-stick ceramic skillet to a medium heat, and add avocado oil. Scatter the sliced mushrooms across the skillet, and top with salt. Saute about 10 minutes, until the mushrooms are tender and have released their liquid.
- Add vegan butter and garlic. Allow the butter to melt and garlic to soften and become fragrant, about 30 seconds. Then top the mushrooms with red vinegar.
- Sprinkle flour on top of the mushrooms, and use a spatula to combine and slightly cook the flour for about a minute.
- Add 1 cup of water, Better Than Bouillon no chicken base, and pepper to the skillet. (A few twists of the pepper grinder should be just right.) Use a spatula to combine, being careful to get everything off the bottom of the skillet, while the sauce reduces and thickens.
- Once the sauce has the consistency of gravy, stir in tamari.
- Pour the reserved cashew sauce from the blender into the skillet. Bring to a simmer, then lower heat and stir frequently, until the sauce is quite thick, roughly 5 minutes. Remove from the heat.
- Stir in the green beans and ⅔ cup French fried onions.
- Transfer the green bean casserole to an 8x8 baking dish, and top evenly with the remaining ⅔ cup of French fried onions.
- Transfer to the oven. Bake until the sauce is bubbly around the edges and the onions are nicely browned, about 10 minutes.
Notes
*If you're using a high-speed blender, you don't need to soak the raw cashews before using. However, if you're using a standard blender, it may need some help to completely break down the cashews into a smooth cream. Here are possible 3 workarounds (Pick 1 of them):
- Grind the dry, raw cashews first in a coffee grinder until they become a flour, and then put them in the blender with the other ingredients. (My favorite option!)
- Soak the cashews in water overnight and drain before following the recipe.
- Cover the cashews in boiling water and let them soak 10-20 minutes before draining and using.
Nutrition
Calories: 182kcal | Carbohydrates: 16g | Protein: 4g | Fat: 12g | Saturated Fat: 4g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 3g | Trans Fat: 0.3g | Sodium: 578mg | Potassium: 376mg | Fiber: 3g | Sugar: 3g | Vitamin A: 524IU | Vitamin C: 10mg | Calcium: 43mg | Iron: 1mg
