After sharing with you my recipe for Vegan Mushroom Condensed Soup I'm pretty sure you could guess that I was going to create a recipe for the most classic Thanksgiving side dish ever → Green Bean Casserole! My vegan green bean casserole is easy to make (in true It Doesn't Taste Like Chicken style), it can be prepared ahead of time and then baked fresh, it's way healthier than the traditional version. It can even be made gluten-free and oil-free if you wish! And, of course it's the absolute BEST side dish for your holiday feast.
To make my Vegan Green Bean Casserole a little healthier, I decided to bake the onions instead of frying them. You may be doubting the deliciousness of baked onions, but honestly I PREFER them to fried. The onions are coated in a flour and panko and baked until lightly golden. This results in an onion topping that is the perfect combo of tender and crisp. The only problem with preparing onions in this way is that it's difficult to resist eating all of the onions before they even make it to the casserole! And did I mention they are oil-free!? Bonus points!
Still not convinced? It's totally OK to make fried onions using my technique in this green bean recipe, or you can alternately use store-bought fried onions.
As for the green beans, I cheat and use frozen green beans (way tastier than canned!) so that I can skip the blanching steps making this casserole super easy to whip up. But if you prefer using fresh green beans check out the notes section of my recipe.
How To Make Vegan Green Bean Casserole:
To prepare the onions:
Preheat your oven to 450F (230C). Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper or lightly grease it.
Add the onions and plant-based milk to a large bowl and toss to coat. Sprinkle over the flour, panko, salt, and pepper and toss well to combine.
Spread evenly over the prepared baking sheet. Bake for about 20 minutes, stopping to toss them often, until the onions have softened and begin to get golden brown. Make sure to keep a close eye on them near the end as they can burn easily.
To prepare the green bean casserole:
Reduce the oven heat to 350F (180C).
In a 9" x 12" casserole dish (or similar size) mix together the prepared Vegan Condensed Mushroom Soup and the plant-based milk.
Add the green beans and toss to combine. Bake for about 20 minutes until hot all the way through. Spread the prepared onions overtop and then bake another 10 minutes. Serve hot.
This is the perfect side for your vegan Thanksgiving or Christmas dinner spread. This goes wonderfully with my Brown Sugar & Mustard Glazed Tofu, Vegan Stuffed Acorn Squash, or my Puff Pastry Wrapped Lentil Loaf.
Common Questions:
Can I make green bean casserole ahead?
Yes, prepare the onions according to the directions, let cool and store in an air-tight container in the fridge for up to 2 days. Mix the Vegan Mushroom Condensed Soup with the plant-based milk and green beans, cover and store separately from the onions in the fridge for up to 2 days. Bake the dish fresh.
Bon appetegan!
Sam Turnbull.
Vegan Green Bean Casserole
Ingredients
For the onions:
- 2 yellow onions, thinly sliced
- 2 tablespoons plant-based milk (such as oat or soy)
- ¼ cup all-purpose flour (gluten-free if preferred)
- ¼ cup panko bread crumbs (gluten-free if preferred)
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon black pepper
For the beans:
- 1 recipe Vegan Condensed Mushroom Soup
- ½ cup plant-based milk (such as soy or oat)
- 1 bag (500g) frozen green beans, thawed and chopped into 2" pieces
Instructions
To prepare the onions:
- Preheat your oven to 450F (230C). Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper or lightly grease it.
- Add the onions and plant-based milk to a large bowl and toss to coat. Sprinkle over the flour, panko, salt, and pepper and toss well to combine. Spread evenly over the prepared baking sheet. Bake for about 20 minutes, stopping to toss them often, until the onions have softened and begin to get golden brown. Make sure to keep a close eye on them near the end as they can burn easily.
To prepare the green bean casserole.
- Reduce the oven heat to 350F (180C).
- In a 9" x 12" casserole dish (or similar size) mix together the prepared Vegan Condensed Mushroom Soup and the plant-based milk. Add the green beans and toss to combine. Bake for about 20 minutes until hot all the way through. Spread the prepared onions overtop and then bake another 10 minutes. Serve hot.
Daveigh Jones says
Now THIS is what a green bean casserole should taste like, not that condensed glop in a can from the supermarket mixed with the over-salted twigs and stems (and the occasional bean) from the other cans!
I used almond milk, as this is what I prefer over oat or soy, and it came out just terrific - a definite hit at this old Southerner's Thanksgiving table, to be sure!
Will definitely be keeping this in the rotation. Thanks, Sam!
Sam Turnbull says
Wonderful! Thrilled you enjoyed it so much, Daveigh!
Katie says
I'm sorry but I don't understand how the crispy onions are supposed to turn out? The crumbs nor the flour stuck to the onions at all. So it ended up just being baked onions with clumps of bread crumb/flour balls. Was that the goal? Please don't take this as rude! I'm just not sure if I did something wrong?
Rochelle says
I've never had green bean casserole before, but I really enjoyed this! I made it with almond milk (the soup too) and that was a little weird. You should definitely follow the instructions and use oat or soy. The onion topping is amazing and it was hard not to eat it off the pan.
Bianca says
Hi Sam! This looks great, I'm making it right now for Thanksgiving dinner.
Just one suggestion, maybe for veggies like onions it's good to have measurement in weight too. I think my onions were too big, they've been baking for 40min now, but still far from the results you've had.
Just a thought!
Thanks for the work you do ♥️
Sam Turnbull says
Thanks for the feedback Bianca 🙂 Whenever I say "1 yellow onion" I'm always using a medium sized or average sized onion. Hope that helps! 🙂
Jennifer says
This looks great!! My spouse won’t eat mushrooms. Do you have any good ideas to sub for the cream of mushroom soup?
Thanks so much!
Sam Turnbull says
I would suggest subbing the mushrooms in the recipe for veggies that you do like, zucchini, tofu, beans, carrots, eggplant, extra onion.... 🙂