Greenbean Mushroom Casserole (And Tshirts!)
Did your childhood Thanksgiving come out of cans and boxes? And do you kinda sorta maybe just a little wittle bit miss it? That quivering cylinder of cranberry sauce, those salt spiked cubes of stuffing that came to life with a bit of water (or magic) and, my absolute favorite, I could eat it by the trough - the Greenbean Mushroom Casserole.
Now this was the real fake cooking, it had like three whole steps or something. Can of cream of mushroom soup, bag of frozen greenbeans, and if you could hold off on eating them, a tin of prefried onions.
There are plenty of Thanksgiving menus going around and maybe yours is already planned, but perhaps you can squeeze this baby in? It is a must for my table, all that creamy savory flavor and onion-y crunch. My version has a few real ingredients, but don’t let that fool you, it’s still as embarrassingly good as its predecessor.
Oh, and before I leave you, our Etsy shop is up and running with the comfiest tshirts in the world! New handmade aprons will be up soon, too.
Greenbean Mushroom Casserole
This recipe is pretty flexible in terms of what kind of dish to use. My favorite is this 10×10 casserole I have, but if you don’t have that size, I’ve done it in an 11×13 pan and it was fine, just a little thinner. You can also double it for deeper casseroles. You’ll see that two of the ingredients are optional. I’ve done this with nutritional yeast and broth powder, and without. Those optional ingredients definitely add flavor, but you don’t miss ‘em too much if they’re not around.
4 cups green beans (1 lb), fresh or frozen (ends chopped if fresh)
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 small onion, finely chopped
2 cups sliced mushrooms
4 cups creamy mushroom soup (one box)*
1/2 cup all purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
fresh black pepper
2 tablespoons nutritional yeast (optional)
2 tablespoons vegetable broth powder (optional, Frontier brand is my fave)
6 oz can of fried onions, divided*
Bring a pot of water to boil for the green beans. When ready, boil for about 7 minutes then drain.
Meanwhile, in a large pan over medium-high heat, saute onions in olive oil for about 2 minutes. Add mushrooms and saute for 7 minutes more.
Mix the flour into the mushroom soup until very few lumps are left. Add to the pan along with the salt, peppers, and, if using, the nutritional yeast and vegetable broth powder. Stir often for about 10 minutes, until thickened.
Preheat oven to 375. Add the green beans to the pan and use your spatula chop them up a bit into smaller pieces (roughly in half). Mix in half of the fried onions. Transfer to an oiled casserole and top with the remaining onions. Bake for 22 to 25 minutes, until browned and bubbly. For yummiest results, let cool for at least 1/2 an hour before serving.
*A few words about finding vegan ingredients. The box of creamy mushroom soup is made by Imagine, and I believe they may have more than one vegan version. I remember a non-portobello one, but this year I couldn’t find it. But this is definitely vegan, for reference. Your Whole Foods will have it, but I bet it’s in well stocked groceries as well. As for the fried onions, French’s, the most popular brand, has Propylene Glycol, which seems to be questionably vegan and is, in any case, one of the main ingredients in under arm deodorant. Does that make you hungry? Probably not. Look for organic ones in your friendly neighborhood health food store. Here’s one brand from Holland, for reference. Last year Food Fight was carrying some good ones. But I had no problem finding them at a normalish grocery store in Portland.
Edited to add: Apparently Trader Joes is a source for healthier onions, too!
November 20th, 2009 at 12:48 pm
Thanks for this!! Trader Joe’s is another good source of non-transfat fried onions with recognizable ingredients.
November 20th, 2009 at 12:49 pm
Classic love!
Thanks for the tips on the soup and onions.
November 20th, 2009 at 1:05 pm
I love those shirts! I need to get one asap.
That casserole recipe sounds really easy and delicious too, just in time for Thanksgiving!
November 20th, 2009 at 1:06 pm
Good to know, Angela! I’ve added it to the post.
November 20th, 2009 at 1:27 pm
Sweet recipe. I have that SAME casserole dish. Love the shirts, too.
November 20th, 2009 at 2:11 pm
I love the new shirts!
November 20th, 2009 at 2:24 pm
[…] Best Vegan Green Bean Casserole from Fat Free Vegan is always a hit, though I’m sure that the recipe Isa just posted today is also great, I just haven’t made […]
November 20th, 2009 at 4:12 pm
we buy jars of crispy fried red onions at the Asian market.
November 20th, 2009 at 11:09 pm
That casserole dish reminds me of my mom! I will have to make this!
November 21st, 2009 at 12:03 am
WANT t-shirt. Need more sizes though.
November 21st, 2009 at 12:45 am
[…] a craving for green bean casserole? Look no […]
November 21st, 2009 at 4:10 pm
Holy crap…and I even own that exact same casserole dishware (with the vegetable paintings on it).
November 22nd, 2009 at 3:32 pm
I plan on making this for Thanksgiving, but I have a question on the amount of creamy mushroom soup called for. Is it 4 cups or 2? A 16 oz. box is 2 cups.
November 22nd, 2009 at 5:07 pm
WOW will def try since this is somethign my mom always makes in thanksgiving at her attempt to cook an all american dish [she is a FABULOUS COOK BTW, just not american]
isa- i really want you to check out this blog i just wrote, you are so inspirational, I LOVE YOU!! keep it up!
http://according2shirley.blogspot.com/2009/11/what-is-wrong-with-you-americans.html
November 23rd, 2009 at 12:37 am
Oh thanks Tzippy! It’s 4 cups, I fixed it.
November 23rd, 2009 at 9:44 am
Thanks Isa!
November 25th, 2009 at 4:19 pm
Could I sub whole wheat flour?
November 25th, 2009 at 9:01 pm
I just made this tonight for Thanksgiving dinner tomorrow… it’s so, so good (I couldn’t resist sneaking little forkfuls from around the edges). Thanks so much for posting this recipe!
November 26th, 2009 at 12:56 am
stardog, I think it would make it a bit healthier tasting but I don’t see why not. I’d use a few tablespoons less, too. But…if you’re subbing for health reasons I would just skip it cause…fried onions.
November 26th, 2009 at 11:08 am
i’ve used toasted julienne leeks instead of the onion rings.
November 26th, 2009 at 10:35 pm
I made this for Thanksgiving today, and it was fabulous.
November 27th, 2009 at 12:53 am
This was the best vegan version of green bean casserole I have ever tried. It was amazing. Thank you!
November 27th, 2009 at 2:05 pm
Fresh & Easy (US branch of Tesco from UK now here in NV, CA and AZ) sells the non-organic Golden Farms fried onions for $1.49 for 6 oz.
However, I got 6 cans for only $0.37 each on sale because they were exactly 4 days past their sell-by date! I just LOVE 75% off sales
November 27th, 2009 at 2:19 pm
i love to eat this kind of food…
November 28th, 2009 at 12:28 pm
Thanks for another great recipe. And, I really love your cookbooks. Keep ‘em coming!
November 29th, 2009 at 4:32 pm
Our friends brought a green bean casserole with fried onions to Thanksgiving this year … it was delicious! I’ll have to ask if they used your recipe.
December 4th, 2009 at 9:03 am
I brought this dish to Thanksgiving with omnis… there were no left-overs!! Thanks so much for this recipe.
December 8th, 2009 at 11:02 am
Sounds yummy! I just might have to try it for my Christmas dinner. I made your Eggplant Rollatini from my “Veganomicon” cookbook on Sunday night and my family and I LOVED it! I posted a link to your site on my blog www.veganfamilyadventures.com Thanks for the awesome cookbook!
December 12th, 2009 at 1:01 pm
i have that same casserole dish! so, obviously, any ppk recipe will work magically in my kitchen. love your site (and humor)
December 14th, 2009 at 6:56 pm
Funny that so many people are commenting they also have that casserole dish. I have it, too! My mom gave me the whole set of them that we used when we were little. I linked to your caesar dressing recipe today!
January 18th, 2010 at 9:18 pm
LOVE this recipe! A new favorite! I used fresh green beans but did not have nutritional yeast or veg broth powder. Also used 2 cans of fried onions just because I can them on hand. It seemed better the next day reheated and froze well except the fried onions aren’t crispy, but still tasty! Thank you so much!
February 13th, 2010 at 6:37 am
A Complete Blog about how to cook LACTO-OVO-VEGETARIAN recipes.
March 28th, 2010 at 10:51 pm
I’m going to bookmark this blogg on Mixx to get more views for you.
April 13th, 2010 at 3:21 am
OMgosh, I have the exact same casserole dish and it’s ancient. Standing the test of time ain’t it?
You all are awesome. Thanks for being public.