If you want to make guilt-free green bean casserole, this healthy green bean casserole recipe is it! It’s dairy free and vegan-friendly, made with mushrooms and a creamy, garlic cauliflower sauce. Topped with crispy onions, this dish is sure to please!
Ohhhh boy oh boy, this healthy green bean casserole is out of this world! No seriously, it’s going to rock your Thanksgiving because it’s vegan-friendly but SO flavorful. After all, Thanksgiving is a time to be with family, and just as importantly, a time to stuff our faces with mass amounts of food.
One of the many reasons I started liking Miguel way back in the day is because he is so different from me. Not just who he is as a person, but where he came from. I’m from a small suburban town in Ohio where we ate “typical” Thanksgiving food like turkey, mashed potatoes and pumpkin pie, whereas he’s from Washington DC, and his family’s version of Thanksgiving food is very different from mine. If I can recall, last year we ate rice, chicken and crab legs, among other things, and I loved it. I loved it because it was different from my normal, and because it was good.
Though this healthy green bean casserole is slightly different than traditional green bean casserole, it’s super tasty and a way to sneak extra veggies into this infamous Thanksgiving side dish.
WHY THIS HEALTHY GREEN BEAN CASSEROLE IS THE BEST
- It’s made with a creamy cauliflower sauce, which is the BEST way to squeeze in more veggies
- It’s topped with homemade crispy onions
- This recipe is dairy free and vegan-friendly, so everyone can eat it!
HOW TO MAKE HEALTHY GREEN BEAN CASSEROLE
Cook the green beans in a pot over the stovetop. Once they’re cooked, set them aside, but while they’re cooking you can move on to the next step.
While the beans are cooking, you’ll cook the onions, and then the mushrooms until they’re soft. Next, make the cauliflower sauce by adding the cooked cauliflower, garlic and milk to a blender and pulsing until the mixture is smooth. I have this blender and it works really well!
In a large skillet, combine the cauliflower sauce, mushrooms, broth, milk, and flour and stir until the sauce thickens. At this point, you can add the cooked green beans to the skillet and then stir so that they’re coated in the sauce.
Pour the entire green bean mixture into a casserole dish, then top it off with the cooked, breaded onions. Bake the casserole for 25-30 minutes, and if you want the onions to be super crispy, you can broil the casserole for 5 minutes, which should do the trick.
HOW IS HEALTHY GREEN BEAN CASSEROLE DIFFERENT FROM TRADITIONAL GREEN BEAN CASSEROLE?
TRADITIONAL GREEN BEAN CASSEROLE USES: canned green beans, canned cream of mushroom soup (super salty!), deep fried onions, and some recipes use cheese as well
HEALTHY GREEN BEAN CASSEROLE USES: fresh green beans, cauliflower sauce and fresh mushrooms, homemade cooked onions
OTHER THANKSGIVING RECIPES
- Everything Bagel Mashed Potatoes
- Chicken Sausage Leek Cornbread Stuffing
- Vegan Pumpkin Pie
- Chocolate Chip Pecan Pie
Healthy Green Bean Casserole with Cauliflower Sauce
Ingredients
for the crispy onions:
- 3 yellow onions sliced
- 3 tbsp butter**
- 1/2 cup plain breadcrumbs
for the cauliflower sauce:
- 2 cups cooked cauliflower
- 1/4 cup almond milk or any kind of milk
- 1 garlic clove
- Salt and pepper to taste
for the casserole:
- 24 oz. green beans fresh or frozen
- 8 oz. baby bella mushrooms
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 1/2 cup vegetable broth***
- 1/4 cup almond milk or any kind of milk
- 3 tbsp whole wheat flour
Instructions
- Preheat oven 375ยฐ.
- Cook green beans in a pot over stovetop; once cooked, set aside.
- While beans are cooking, heat butter in large skillet and add onions; stir. Once onions start to turn golden in color, add breadcrumbs and stir well. Cook for an additional 3-5 minutes and then set onions aside.
- In the same skillet you used to cook the onions, heat olive oil and cook mushrooms.
- While mushrooms are cooking, make cauliflower sauce.
- To make the sauce: place cooked cauliflower, milk and garlic in a blender and pulse until smooth; add salt and pepper to taste.
- Pour cauliflower sauce into skillet with mushrooms; stir in the broth, additional almond milk and flour and stir on low-medium heat until sauce becomes thicker. At this point, pour green beans into skillet and mix everything together so that beans are coated with sauce and mushrooms.
- Grease a casserole dish with nonstick spray or coconut oil and add beans; pour onions overtop and bake for approximately 25-30 minutes.
- If you want the onions extra crispy, turn broiler on high and broil for 3-5 minutes before removing dish from the oven.
- Enjoy!
Notes
This looks really delicious! I’m soooo tired of cooking green beans the same way, so I’m definitely going to give this a try!
Im very excited to try this recipe out!! Thank you. Do you chicken would work instead of mushrooms? A couple ppl in my family don’t like mushrooms. Also did you make the bread crumbs? (Silly question, new to cooking fun dishes)
I imagine chicken would work, yes, as long as it’s cooked beforehand in a skillet and THEN placed in the casserole dish (similar to the mushrooms). And I didn’t make the bread crumbs–I just used store-bought plain bread crumbs.
I used to adore green bean casserole, but gave it up long ago because it contains things I can no longer eat. This is such a great alternative! And those crispy onions on top just bring it all together.
that cauliflower sauce instead of cream of mushroom soup is genius!
We must be channeling each other during recipe development because I made a green bean casserole that’s almost identical to this…except mine is made with vegan “cream” of mushroom soup. Yours is so much prettier though! I fried shallots without any breading and they look like burnt crap in the pictures, lol.
Anyways, I love what you wrote about Miguel and his family…I think it is awesome that you are open minded enough to appreciate a different culture and to love it as much as your own. They are going to love this casserole!! ๐
giiiiiirrrrrrrl! this has my name all over it. That sauce. so genius. Save me a plate, ok?
This is genius!! Cauliflower is the best because it’s just so dang versatile. I haven’t planned my part of the Thanksgiving menu, but this looks like it could please everyone!
Erin I simply love this gluten/dairy free green bean casserole with a hefty dose of cauliflower! Hey it would be perfect with rice, chicken and crab legs, if Miguel’s family goes that route again!
You know I love my green bean casserole. Totes making this for my fam’s thanksgiving.
omg she actually made it! I concur that we both inspired this recipe. :p
Yum!! Love that this uses cauliflower – honestly my favorite veggie swap for anything. Nate and I will be on the East Coast for thanksgiving as well with his family. I’m flying into DC next week before Thanksgiving and I’m looking forward to catching up with some of my best friends while I lived there.
Looks yummy! I’m from DC, a great place to spend the holiday! I hope you have fun and enjoy all that non-traditional food=)
I love the cauli-sauce! Yum! I’ve never even had green bean casserole ๐