Green Bean Casserole is a holiday favorite, and it’s a dish that doesn’t take very long to prepare. If you Google it, recipe that appears most often is made with frozen vegetables, milk, canned cream soup, and packaged crispy onions. It was originally created in 1955 by a staff member in the Campbell’s Soup home economics department after given the instruction “to create a quick and easy recipe around two things most Americans always had on hand in the 1950s: green beans and Campbell’s Cream of Mushroom Soup.” The original recipe card is actually in the Inventors Hall of Fame in Akron, Ohio.

This dish was fun and easy to veganize. Instead of using crispy onions on top of the casserole, I added onions to the vegetable mixture. I topped the dish with panko bread crumbs to mimic the crunch of the fried onions, and I used cashew cream to mimic the cream of the soup. This version is healthier and tastier (if I do say so myself) than the “traditional” recipe.

Vegan Green Bean Casserole

Ingredients

1 cup raw cashews, soaked for 2 hours, drained and rinsed

2 tablespoon lemon juice

4 tablespoons nutritional yeast, divided

1 ½ cups plain, unsweetened non-dairy milk

1 teaspoon sea salt, divided

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 medium onion, sliced

2 garlic cloves, minced

10 ounces white button or crimini mushrooms, sliced

1 pound green beans, trimmed and cut in half

1/2 cup panko breadcrumbs

Preparation

Preheat oven to 350° and lightly oil a casserole dish.

Mix together the cashews, lemon juice, 2 tablespoons of nutritional yeast, non-dairy milk, and 1/2 teaspoon of salt in a high-speed blender or food processor until smooth and creamy. Set aside.

Heat the oil in a large pan over medium high heat. Add the onion and cook for about 10 minutes, until it begins to caramelize.

Add the garlic, mushrooms, and green beans to the pan along with the other 1/2 teaspoon of salt. Cover and let cook for about 10 to 15 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the vegetables are tender.

While the vegetables are cooking, mix together the panko breadcrumbs with the remaining 2 tablespoons of nutritional yeast. Set aside

Remove the vegetables from the heat and mix in the cashew cream.

Pour the mixture into the casserole dish and top with the breadcrumb mixture.

Bake for about 30 minutes, or until the top is golden and the casserole is bubbly.

Serve hot.

Makes 4 to 6 servings

Reprinted with permission from Dianne’s Vegan Kitchen.