A made-from-scratch Vegan Green Bean Casserole with tender green beans baked up in a deliciously creamy mushroom sauce and topped with crispy, golden, buttery breadcrumbs and tangles of caramelized onions. This really is the ultimate way to eat green beans!
Plain ol' green beans are all well and good, but how awesome is it to eat them in creamy, casserole form? Especially when they are topped with a crispy, golden, buttery, oniony breadcrumby topping! This vegan green bean casserole is comforting, cozy, delicious and should absolutely be a part of your holiday dinners!
We're talking perfectly cooked green beans doused in just the right amount of creamy, mushroomy, perfectly seasoned sauce, with a delicious tangle of golden, buttery, crispy crumbs and sweet, sweet, fragrant onion on top.
That creamy green bean goodness and that buttery, golden, oniony topping are absolute magic together and along with my Green Bean Potato Salad will become the best-loved side on your Thanksgiving table.
You won't find any cans of mushroom soup hidden here. We are making our casserole from scratch, which means it involves a little more work and a few steps, but it's all easy and comes together quickly. And your tastebuds will thank you. Promise.
Ingredients
Here are the ingredients you need to make Vegan Green Bean Casserole:
And a few ingredient notes:
- Green beans - I recommend fresh green beans rather than frozen ones. It's nice for the green beans to retain a little bite. Frozen ones get too soft.
- Vegan butter - Best for great flavour but you can use olive oil instead if you prefer.
- Stale bread - Stale bread works best for making breadcrumbs. If you only have fresh bread leave slices out on the counter overnight to dry out or toast it in the toaster first.
- Nutritional yeast - We're putting some in the breadcrumb topping and we're also putting it in the sauce. This is for umami flavour. Don't worry, nothing tastes "cheesy".
How To Make Vegan Green Bean Casserole
Here's how you make Vegan Green Bean Casserole:
- Sauté the onions in a skillet until perfectly sweet and golden.
- Whiz up the super yum bread crumb topping ingredients in a food processor or a blender then stir through the sautéed onions.
- Sauté the mushrooms then make the easy sauce.
- Mix the green beans into the sauce.
- Sprinkle the oniony breadcrumb topping all over those saucy, creamy green beans then bake until golden.
Serving Suggestions
Vegan Green Bean Casserole will make a fantastic side with your Thanksgiving meal or your Christmas dinner. It's a great dish to serve alongside your vegan sweet potato casserole and works really well with any of the following:
It is also great as a meal in itself. Either on its own or with some vegan mashed potatoes.
Storing Leftovers
This is one of those recipes that is best eaten on the day it's baked. The topping can get a little soggy when you reheat leftovers. Having said that though, I still enjoy it warmed up the next day.
Store leftovers in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 2 days. You can pop them in a covered dish and bake in the oven on 350°F (175 °C) until piping hot, or microwave for a couple of minutes.
Recipe FAQs
You can prepare the individual components of this recipe in advance, and you can mix the green beans into the mushroomy sauce and have them ready and waiting, covered, in the skillet or any other ovenproof dish in the fridge. Just leave the filling separate from the oniony breadcrumb topping until you are about to bake it so that it doesn't get soggy. Store the topping in an airtight container, and keep it in the fridge until needed. Green beans do tend to spoil pretty quickly, so I wouldn't make it up any more than the day before you are going to bake it just to be safe.
Omit the butter from the breadcrumb topping and use a few drops of water for sauteing.
Use cornstarch instead of flour in the sauce and gluten-free bread to make the crumb topping.
Any unsweetened and unflavoured plant milk is fine to use but I think soy milk, cashew milk, or oat milk is best for savoury recipes. Always be sure to check the ingredients list if it's a brand you aren't familiar with, looking for any added sugar or vanilla.
If you try this recipe, let me know how you like it by leaving a comment and rating below! And be sure to join my mailing list for more deliciousness!
Recipe Video
Recipe
Vegan Green Bean Casserole
Author:Ingredients
- 1lb (16 oz) fresh green beans , ends trimmed
- 3 tablespoons vegan butter , or olive oil
- 1 large onion , peeled & cut into thin half moon slices
- 5 oz (140 grams) slices of stale bread (about 3 thick slices)
- 3 cloves garlic , divided - 1 clove left whole, the other 2 chopped finely
- 6 tablespoons nutritional yeast , divided
- 6 oz (170 grams) cremini (brown) mushrooms , about 2 heaping cups
- 4 sprigs fresh thyme
- 2 tablespoons all purpose flour , plain flour in the UK
- ¾ cup (180 ml) vegetable stock
- ½ cup (120 mls) unsweetened plant milk
- ½ teaspoon fine sea salt , divided - plus more to taste
- ¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper , divided - plus more to taste
RECOMMENDED EQUIPMENT
INSTRUCTIONS
- Fill a kettle and boil. Put the trimmed green beans into a large saucepan and pour over the boiling water. Turn the heat to high and wait for them to come to a rolling boil then turn off the heat, drain them in a colander, and immediately rinse them with cold water. Leave to drain.
- In a medium skillet over a MEDIUM heat, add 1 tablespoon of the butter. Once melted and the pan hot, add the onion and cook, stirring frequently for about 15 minutes, until really golden brown. Remove from the heat and set aside while you prepare the breadcrumbs.
- Break the slices of bread into smaller pieces with your hands and add to the bowl of a food processor along with 1 tablespoon of butter, 1 whole clove of garlic, and 2 tablespoons of nutritional yeast. Process until fine crumbs. Remove the blade and stir through the sautéed onions. Set aside.
- Preheat the oven to 400 °F (200 °C).
- Warm the same skillet you cooked the onions in over medium heat and add the last tablespoon of butter or oil. Add the sliced mushrooms, the sprigs of thyme, and a generous pinch of salt and pepper. Sauté until the mushrooms are golden.
- Add the garlic, cook for a minute more, then turn the heat down to low, remove the thyme sprigs and discard, then add the flour. Stir to coat the mushrooms and continue to cook for 1 minute to remove the raw flour taste.
- Pour in about half a cup of the vegetable broth, stirring well as you go to work out any lumps, then add the remaining ¼ cup, stir again then add the plant milk, the remaining 4 tablespoons of nutritional yeast, and the remaining salt and pepper. Keep stirring until it starts to thicken. Turn off the heat, taste, and add more seasoning if necessary, then add the green beans to the sauce and stir to coat them.
- If you want to bake it right there in the skillet, flatten the beans down as best you can, then spoon over the oniony breadcrumb mixture. Don't compact it. Just leave it loose and rough looking. Or transfer the saucy green beans to an ovenproof dish, then add the breadcrumb topping to the top.
- Bake for 25 minutes or until the bread crumbs are golden and the sauce is bubbling around the edges.
NOTES
NUTRITION
This recipe was originally published on November 20th 2018. I've updated the post and now I am republishing it for you. The actual recipe remains the same. I hope you enjoy it. Thank you for following A Virtual Vegan!
Glory Butler says
I made these beans for my vegan daughter, and I will never go back to using the traditional green bean casserole recipe. So, so much better.
Melanie McDonald says
Love that Glory! I'm so pleased you enjoyed it. Thank you for leaving a review. It's much appreciated!
Keith G says
Well, I made it! For the flavor alone – even though I kind of messed up part of it – I have to give it 5 stars. I made a different recipe last year or the year before; it was pretty awful. This is one that I would definitely want to make again. The thing is, I began preparing this immediately after getting your lentil mushroom loaf with cranberries into the oven. And… I don’t have a food processor.
I swear, I was “this close” to chucking the whole thing and going to the diner on the corner for a hot open turkey sandwich! The amount of chopping and prepping, particularly for the loaf, is truly astonishing, and without a food processor it can be a bit demoralizing. But I have no doubt that with the right tools, it would be a whole different ballgame. Both recipes were totally delicious. I had wanted to make your gravy too, but… a package mix had to suffice! I made my own smashed multivariety potatoes as well, and it was a great meal. Thanks for assembling these wonderful flavor profiles, and I’ll revisit them, AFTER I once again have a food processor! :)
Marie says
My not-a-vegan husband said it was the STAR DISH of Thanksgiving (and he roasted a turkey for himself!) and gave it an A+, requesting I make it again for Christmas. Big Win.
A Virtual Vegan says
Wow that's great Marie! Thank you for letting me know. That's a vegan win for sure!
Maureen Cram says
Made this for our South African TG celebration (my husband is American and we spend half the year here and the other in the US) and he asked if this was the same recipe I had used before as it was really very nice and tasted far better than previous years. So... I will always be making this version from now on! Thanks so much for all the care you put into your recipes to make sure they are always amazing.
A Virtual Vegan says
You're welcome and thank you Maureen! I'm really pleased your husband enjoyed it.
Kaitlyn says
Total hit at Thanksgiving. We loved the freshness and the little crunch the green beans had to offer. This was a wonderful recipe!
A Virtual Vegan says
Thank you Kaitlyn. I'm really pleased you enjoyed it!
SaSally IG says
Absolutely love this recipe. A regular firm favourite of all the family.
Thank you so much for sharing so many great recipes.
A Virtual Vegan says
I'm really pleased you're enjoying it!
Kim Arsenault says
Didn't love this recipe. Mine turned out mushy and looked pretty messy. I also didn't think it tasted great. My daughter liked it though. Might try it again and see if I can do it better.
Susan says
Could this be prepared 2 weeks ahead and frozen?
thank you.
Sandy says
I made this recipe for my (early) Christmas dinner and it was fantastic. I made it ahead of time as the Notes described and it worked out wonderfully. It was crispy on top which we loved. I did it without oil and since most breads have oil in them, I used rice cakes and blended that up to make the bread crumbs and that was perfect. Will be making again.