Green Bean and Mushroom Casserole
The classic green bean casserole is canned soup, fried onions from a can, and a lot of sodium. Rebuilt from scratch it keeps everything that made it a holiday fixture and drops what did not. The cream is blended white beans and soy milk thickened with browned mushrooms, no condensed soup in sight, and the crunchy topping is just a second onion sliced thin and crisped in the oven's dry heat. Dry-searing the mushrooms hard is the step that makes it taste deep instead of bland, and shocking the green beans cold keeps their snap through the bake. It is a side built for a crowd, and it reheats well the next day.
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 lb Green beans, trimmed
- 12 oz Cremini mushrooms, sliced
- 1 cup Cannellini beans, cooked or canned, drained
- 1 cup Unsweetened soy milk
- 2 wholes Yellow onions, one diced, one thinly sliced
- 3 cloves Garlic, minced
- 1 tsp Dried thyme
- 2 tbsp Nutritional yeast
- 1 tbsp Low-sodium tamari
- 1/2 tsp Black peppercorns, freshly ground
Method
- Blanch the trimmed green beans in boiling water for 4 minutes, then plunge them into cold water. Shocking them cold stops the cooking and locks in a bright, crisp-tender bite, so they hold their snap under the sauce instead of going gray and limp in the oven.
- Dry-sear the sliced mushrooms in a hot pan without crowding until browned and their water has cooked off, about 8 minutes. Driving out the moisture and browning the mushrooms is what builds the deep, savory flavor the canned-soup version never has.
- Add the diced onion and garlic to the mushrooms with a splash of water and cook until soft. Meanwhile blend the cannellini beans with the soy milk, nutritional yeast, tamari, thyme, and pepper until smooth. The blended white beans thicken the sauce into a cream with no flour, butter, or canned soup.
- Fold the beans and mushrooms into the cream, spread it in a baking dish, and scatter the thinly sliced second onion over the top. Baking the raw onion slices on top crisps and browns them into the crunchy topping the fried can once provided, without the oil.
- Bake at 400°F (205°C) for 20 to 25 minutes until bubbling and the onions on top are deep golden and crisp. The high heat sets the cream and dries the onions to a frizzle, so the casserole comes out with the same creamy-crunchy contrast as the original.
Nutrition
Estimated per serving: 150 calories, 9 g protein, 6 g fiber, 140 mg sodium. Computed from USDA FoodData Central reference values for the main ingredients. This is an approximation, not a laboratory measurement. How these are computed.
Cost per serving is estimated from US national-average retail prices for cheap staple forms, using BLS dried-bean prices and USDA produce prices. Prices vary by store and season, so treat it as a guide, not a receipt. How this is computed.
