Vegan Green Bean Casserole

I haven't had green bean casserole in a long time. When I used to eat dairy, I had a tasty homemade version, which was of course full of heavy cream. For Thanksgiving this year, I decided to try to veganize my original recipe. I am sure most chefs would advise to always do a test run before the big day...but I didn't have the time to do that! Luckily, my attempts were successful and it turned out amazing! If I do say so myself (*pat on back :)!

The great thing about this recipe is that it can be made a few days ahead and stored in the refrigerator. Just prepare the topping and filling, but don't put into the oven until ready to serve.   

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Vegan Green Bean Casserole Recipe
vegan, plant-based, refined-sugar free

Ingredients:
Topping:

• 1 onion, sliced
• 1 cup almond milk 
• 1 tsp apple cider vinegar
• 3 Tbsp whole wheat flour
• 2 slices of MS friendly bread (no added oils or sugars)
• 1 Tbsp nutritional yeast
• 2 Tbsp almonds
• 1/4 tsp salt
• pinch of pepper

Filling:

• 1 lb frozen green beans
• 8 oz mushrooms, sliced
• 2 cloves of garlic, minced
• 1 Tbsp soy sauce
• 2 Tbsp whole wheat flour
• 3/4 cup MS friendly vegetable broth (no added sugar)
• 1/4 cup dry white wine
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 1/4 cup almonds
• 1 1/4 cup water

Instructions:
Topping:

1. Mix together the almond milk and apple cider vinegar, add onion and soak for 1 hour (but can go overnight in refrigerator if necessary). *
2. Prepare bread crumb topping by blending together bread, nutritional yeast, salt, pepper, and almonds.**
3. Remove onions from soaking liquid (save the soaking liquid), add to a large bowl, and coat with flour.
4. Add 2-3 Tbsp of the soaking liquid to the onions.
5. Add the prepared bread crumb mixture to the bowl and mix. You might need to add a little more of the soaking liquid to make a sticky mixture.***
6. Heat oven to 450°F.
7. Spread breaded onions on a baking sheet and bake for 25 min, flipping them half way through. 

Filling:

1. Add frozen green beans to salted boiling water and boil for 5 min.
2. Drain water and place cook green beans in an ice bath to stop the cooking.
3. Add sliced mushrooms and minced garlic to a skillet at medium heat, add a little of the broth to keep from sticking.
4. Add the soy sauce and cook for 5-10 min.
5. Add the flour to coat the mushrooms and stir for about a minute.
6. Then whisk in the white wine, veggie broth, and salt.
7. Let the mixture reduce for about another 10 min.
8. In a blender add the almonds and water and blend well to make the almond cream.
9. Add the almond cream to the mushroom mixture and heat through, then remove from heat.
10. Add cooked and cooled green beans and 1/4 of the onion mixture to the creamy mushroom sauce.
11. Place in an oven safe dish and top with the remaining onion mixture (you can also grind up one more slice of bread and coat with a little more bread crumbs).
12. At this point you can either cover and save to bake till later or bake immediately.
13. When ready to serve, bake 15-20 min at 450°F till nice and bubbly. 

Notes:
*This step helps the bread crumbs stick better to the onions and reduces the pungency of the onions, but if you don't have time you can just quickly soak the onions, and you won't need as much almond milk in that case.

**You don't need to worry about toasting the bread, it will get all toasty in the oven. You also don't need to worry about using old or stale bread, fresh bread will also work.

***I didn't have the patience to individually coat the onion slices, and it was just fine mixing the onions with the prepared bread crumbs in a bowl after soaking. But you can of course hand batter each onion slice if you prefer.