Gimme that creamy, mushroom goodness, without the dairy puh-lease! Remake this American all time favorite with fashionable MCTs and zero lactose.
If you need a simple side dish that is crispy, creamy, and good for you, you need to make this green bean casserole. Especially if you need another dish for Thanksgiving.
Thanksgiving Favorites
This recipe is part of a series of vegan dishes to indulge in on Thanksgiving including:
Easy Vegan Wild Rice Fried Rice with just 7 ingredients
Twice Baked Honeynut Squash with Vegan Wild Rice Stuffing
Fall Vegan Menu Paired with 2016 Napa Merlots
What is a green bean casserole?
Casseroles are a southern dream. They need to be creamy underneath, crunchy on top, and made with a whole lot of love.
This particular casserole has been gracing American holiday tables since the 1950s.
Dorcas Reilly, a home economist for Campbell’s Soup Company, created the recipe in 1955 using 3 simple ingredients:
- Frozen Green Beans
- Cream of Mushroom Soup
- French Fried Onions
She intended to make a holiday dish with minimal ingredients that could easily be made ahead of time.
In that spirit of the original recipe, this version with coconut milk uses as few ingredients as possible and can also be made ahead of time.
Just 7 Ingredients
- Green Beans – Fresh is nice! But the canned green beans in a jam could do too.
- Coconut milk – One can does the trick. I didn’t want to use a different plant based milk that would require thickening.
- French Fried Onions – While preferable to make these yourself by coating sliced onions in flour or cornstarch and deep frying them, I take the shortcut once a year for Thanksgiving and just buy them. They don’t have additives or junk except palm oil (which is not my favorite oil, but this is a once a year dish).
- Mushrooms – Buy the presliced package if you can, so you don’t have to slice them yourself.
- Onion – Raw onion to flavor our “cream of mushroom” soup made with coconut milk
- Tamari or Soy Sauce – Instead of salt, season with this umami booster.
- Oil – your cooking oil of choice
Food Fail: How NOT to make Vegan Green Bean Casserole
Don’t say I didn’t try. But I did make 3 unsuccessful attempts to veganize this iconic dish:
- Using roasted fresh onions instead of fried onion. The thought was nice, but it didn’t look so hot. Maybe this is a version you stay at home to eat rather than taking it to a party.
- Vegan cheddar cheese that didn’t melt. Is there a vegan cheese that melts? I haven’t met one yet that does, and that’s ok. Not all cheese has to be like the Wicked Witch of the West, but it just didn’t work too well in my casserole.
- Using cornstarch to thicken the coconut milk. No….thanks. I’ve never seen an Asian recipe where cornstarch is used to thicken coconut milk, so I really should have known better. But I spilled the milk anyway.
The Process
Time needed: 40 minutes
- Prep green beans
Bring a large pot of water to boil. While it comes to a boil, you can prep your green beans by trimming off the stem and cutting in half. Drop in boiling water with some salt if you like. Cook until tender, then shock in ice cold water.
- Make cream of mushroom soup
Heat a pan to medium heat. Saute the onions until soft and translucent. Add the mushrooms and soy sauce and cook until mushrooms are soft. Add coconut milk.
- Reduce coconut milk
Bring the coconut milk to a boil then reduce to a gentle simmer. Cook while stirring until the coconut milk has reduced by half and is nice and creamy. Add cooked green beans.
- Bake or set aside if making ahead
Mix in the green beans. Let cool and store in the fridge if making ahead. If eating right away, bake in a 350 degree oven for 10-15 minutes until beans are heated through.
- Top with french fried onions
Serve hot.
Helpful Tips
- Instead of fresh green beans, you could use canned or frozen green beans that have been defrosted.
- You could shortcut reducing coconut milk in the pan by using coconut cream.
- Make the casserole ahead of time the night before or up to 3 days for maximum freshness.
- I wouldn’t freeze this ahead of time, since it will change the texture of the green beans too much and the water from coconut milk will separate out.
- You could make your own fried onions or fried shallots just by coating thin slices of onion/shallot in flour or cornstarch and deep frying at 350 degrees F until golden brown.
More Vegan Green Bean Recipes
Easy Roasted Garlic Green Beans with Walnuts (as a vegan main dish)
Blistered & Blackened Green Beans
Vegan Green Bean Casserole with Coconut Milk
Ingredients
- 1 lb green beans stems trimmed and cut in half
- 2 tsp oil
- 1/2 ea onion small diced
- 8 oz mushrooms, sliced white button or crimini mushrooms
- 14 oz coconut milk 1 can
- 2 tsp soy sauce
- 1 c french fried onions
Instructions
- Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Add a 1 tsp of salt (optional) and green beans. Bring back to a boil and cook for 3-5 minutes until beans are tender.
- Drain and shock with cold water or ice water to stop cooking. Put into a baking dish.
- You can reuse the same pot you used for the beans. Heat to medium heat. Add oil and onions. Cook while stirring for 3-5 minutes until onions are soft and translucent.
- Add mushrooms and soy sauce to the pan and cook for 2-3 minutes until cooked through.
- Add coconut milk. Bring to a boil then reduce heat to a simmer. Cook until the liquid is reduced by half and the mixture is thick. This will take about 5-10 minutes, depending on how high your heat is.
- Pour on top of green beans and gently mix. At this point, you can cool and refrigerate to cook later. Or put in the oven for 10 minutes at 350 degrees F to heat through.
- Remove from oven and top with fried onions before serving.
Notes
- Instead of fresh green beans, you could use canned or frozen green beans that have been defrosted.
- You could shortcut reducing coconut milk in the pan by using coconut cream.
- Make the casserole ahead of time the night before or up to 3 days for maximum freshness.
- I wouldn’t freeze this ahead of time, since it will change the texture of the green beans too much and the water from coconut milk will separate out.
- You could make your own fried onions or fried shallots just by coating thin slices of onion/shallot in flour or cornstarch and deep frying at 350 degrees F until golden brown.
Nutrition
Wine Pairing: Cremant
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