This delicious easy Vegan Green Bean Casserole features fresh green beans cooked in a creamy, savoury, rustic mushroom sauce, and topped with a crispy, golden, crumbly, nutty, herby and cheesy topping. This classic veggie green bean casserole is tasty for everyday meals but is especially ideal for a special dinner side such as Thanksgiving, Christmas or Easter.
2tablespoonplain flourall-purpose flour or use a gluten-free plain flour
½vegetable stock or bouillon cubeor a teaspoon of vegan stock powder or paste
450millilitreplant-based milk
Topping:
100gramsfresh breadcrumbsuse a food processer to whizz up dry bread into crumbs, or freeze the bread slices and then grate into crumbs. Use gluten-free crumbs if necessary.
1tablespoondried mixed herbs
45gramscashewsrough chopped, alternatively use walnuts, chopped mixed nuts, or sunflower, pumpkin seeds
40gramsvegan cheeseshredded, or replace with 25 grams (about 6 tablespoons) nutritional yeast flakes
Instructions
Preheat the oven to 180 Fan / 200 Celsius/ 392 Fahrenheit / Gas 6.
Par-boil the green beans:
Cook the green beans in gently boiling water for 5 minutes. Drain the cooking liquid and place the green beans into a casserole dish that has been greased with some vegan margarine or butter.
400 grams green beans
Prepare the mushroom sauce:
Melt the vegan margarine or butter in a pan over a medium heat.Add the diced mushrooms, garlic and onion powder and cook for 8 minutes.
Mix through the flour and add the crumbled stock or bouillon cube. Slowly pour in the plant-based milk, whisking with a hand whisk utensil to avoid lumps.
2 tablespoon plain flour, ½ vegetable stock or bouillon cube, 450 millilitre plant-based milk
Bring the sauce to a simmer and cook over a low heat for 2 minutes, stir frequently to avoid the sauce sticking to the pan.
Season with salt and pepper.
Pour the thick mushroom sauce over the green beans in the casserole dish, spreading the sauce out to cover the beans.
Prepare the topping:
Mix the breadcrumbs, half of the vegan cheese, the cashews and dried herbs together. Season with a pinch of salt and pepper.
Add the rest of the grated vegan cheese over the breadcrumb topping.
Bake:
Bake on the middle shelf for 25 minutes until the top is golden and crisp and the filling is hot and bubbling.
Notes
Nutritional information is provided for guidance only and is not a strict calculation as ingredients vary.
This casserole is at its best when eaten after its baked. However, leftovers can be stored in the fridge for 3-4 days within a covered container, or within the casserole dish well wrapped.
Freeze for 2-3 months.
For a gluten-free green bean casserole ensure that you use gluten-free breadcrumbs, gluten-free vegetable broth, gluten-free flour. I like to use the Doves Farm gluten-free plain flour blend.
For a lower-fat and low-calorie casserole use veggie broth to sauté the mushrooms.
To create a less rustic coloured mushroom sauce simply slice the mushrooms or chop into larger pieces rather than fine dice.
Fine dicing the mushrooms in a food processor or by hand is a great way to encourage less enthusiastic mushroom eaters to enjoy mushrooms! It worked with my kids.
Feeding a crowd? Simply double or triple the ingredients or prepare several smaller casseroles.