Green Bean Casserole (Healthier & Dairy-Free)
This lightened up, healthier version of a Green Bean Casserole is sure to be a crowd pleaser this holiday season! It’s dairy-free, made without any soup mix, and EASY to make. It’s a fabulous and hearty holiday side dish topped with the most perfect crispy fried onions!
Healthier Green Bean Casserole (Dairy-Free)
I didn’t grow up with a green bean casserole during the holidays and now that I’ve had it (and a version that is cleaned up), I will absolutely be making it year after year!
This side dish is:
- Creamy, without any of the cream!
- Flavorful with aromatic veggies and herbs.
- Tender, cooked just right green beans in bite-size pieces.
- Topped with perfect crispy fried onions (no white flour here!)
How do you make french fried onions healthier?
- Use avocado oil instead of canola oil
- Use arrowroot flour instead of white flour
Try these other Thanksgiving Side Dish Recipes:
- Cranberry Relish
- Scalloped Potatoes
- Gluten-Free Stuffing
- Roasted Veggies
- Cranberry Walnut Roasted Acorn Squash
Watch the video:
Green Bean Casserole
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons grass-fed butter or oil of choice for dairy-free
- 1 1/2 pounds green beans, trimmed and cut into pieces
- 2 cups mushrooms, sliced thin
- 1 onion, sliced thin
- 2 garlic cloves, minced
- 1 teaspoon coconut aminos
- 1/2 cup cashew cream
- 1 cup vegetable broth
- 1/2 teaspoon sea salt, more to taste
- 1/2 teaspoon black pepper, more to taste
- Optional: 4 strips bacon, cooked crispy and broken into pieces
- 1 onion, sliced into thin rings
- 1 egg
- 2 tablespoons arrowroot flour
Crispy onions
Directions
- Pre-heat the oven to 350 °F. Grease a 9 x 9 inch baking dish with butter and set aside.
- In a small skillet, heat avocado oil until hot. While waiting for the oil to heat up, whisk the egg and arrowroot together in a medium mixing bowl. Working in batches, dip the onion into the egg/arrowroot mixture and then place into the hot oil. Cook for about 2-3 minutes on each side, or until a dark brown. Set aside on a plate lined with paper towels.
- Bring a gallon of water and 2 tablespoons of salt to a boil in an 8-quart saucepan. Add the green beans and blanch for 5 minutes. Drain in a colander and immediately plunge the beans into a large bowl of ice water to stop the cooking. Drain and set aside.*See notes for recipe steps if you would rather roast the green beans.
- Melt the butter in a 12-inch cast iron skillet set over medium-high heat. Add the mushrooms, 1 teaspoon salt and pepper and cook, stirring occasionally, until the mushrooms begin to give up some of their liquid, approximately 4 to 5 minutes. Add the onion, garlic and coconut aminos and continue to cook for another 1 to 2 minutes. Add the cashew cream and mix well. Add the broth and simmer for 1 minute. Decrease the heat to medium-low and add salt, pepper, onion powder, and garlic powder. Cook over low heat until the mixture thickens, stirring occasionally, approximately 6 to 8 minutes.
- Season green beans with salt and pepper. Add green beans to skillet with the sauce and mix until the green beans are well covered. Taste and adjust seasoning as needed. *do not salt the green beans if you roasted them.
- Pour the green beans and sauce into the 9 x 9 baking dish. Bake for 30 minutes. Remove from the oven and top with crispy shallot and bacon. Bake for an addition 15-20 minutes, or until green beans are tender and bubbly.
- Serve warm!
Recipe Notes
- See post: How to Make Cashew Cream
Nutrition
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36 Responses
Wow! It looks so delicious and yummy. Amazing Lexi I will definitely try your recipe and thanks for sharing such amazing and wonderful recipes 🙂
Can’t wait to hear how you like!
Awesome Lexi! Il can’t believe this is dairy-free!
It’s SO creamy, too!!
I didn’t grow up with green bean casserole, either. And I’ve had a hard time getting behind the traditional versions with all the soup mix, etc. But I’m TOTALLY down for this lightened up dish! I need to try it ASAP! Also, I just want to pick off all those crispy onions!
Coming to a dinner table near me…ASAP!
Perfect side for turkey day!
One of my favourite blogs! Thanks you!
Thank YOU!
Butter grass fed not is still concentrated cow breast milk and not dairy free in any term. Omit butter
Per the ingredients, use oil instead of butter for dairy-free 🙂
Am I reading the instructions correctly?— use one onion to make the crispy topping and another onion gets cooked into the sauce?
Correct- adjust as you’d like, though 🙂
So excited to make this! Do you think I can prepare everything other than the Green Beans tonight (night before) and then in the am roast the green beans and mix with the sauce before cooking? Thank you!!
YAY. I think YES!
This looks amazing! Can’t wait to make it. Is it possible to use GF flour instead of arrowroot?
That, or tapioca will probably work!
It looks so good and so easy to make! Definitely will give it a try soon 🙂
This looks amazing!! One question when you go to make the cashew cream..do the cashews have to be raw or roasted?
Thanks!
Hi
This looks great. But it says to mix onions with garlic and coconut aminos. Then later it says to top with crispy shallots. I don’t see shallots listed in ingredients. Are onions used twice?
Is there an easier replacement for Cashew Cream?
Can’t wait to try it! We’re having a Lexi’s Clean Kitchen Thanksgiving!
Thank you!
YAY. You probably can, but this is the way we’ve made this dish and haven’t tested it other ways!
Can you use roasted cashews instead of raw ones for the sauce?
If they’re salted just be careful not to add too much additional salt.
I was raised with some sort of green bean casserole so it’s a must at my Thanksgiving table! I just wanted to say that I tried this recipe last week to give it a test run, and let me tell you, this recipe is AWESOME!!! Everyone at my table raved over it and wanted seconds and thirds. And the recipe! Lexi, thank you for such delicious recipes to make our Paleo journey that much better!!! You’re one of my all time favorites!!!!!
Thanks. i love your blog. Thank you for all the great ideas!
These look great! I was reading the recipe and it says to review the notes for roasting the beans instead of blanching them but there wasn’t anything in the notes for roasting. Do you have tips for roasting them? Thanks!
OOPS! I find it easier to blanch here, but you can roast with some oil + s&p on 375 for 20-30 minutes or so!
Is there a substitute for cashew cream?
Not a fan of mushrooms….can I just leave them out? Maybe do more green beans??
Yes!
I love it! Thanks for the share, keep up the posts!
Recommendations for substituting the cashew cream if someone has a nut allergy? Could I just use a gluten free cream of mushrooms soup instead (albeit not as healthy…haha)?
Hi Lindsay! Some options might be to use heavy cream and/or possible cream cheese? Obviously that’s if you can tolerate dairy. We haven’t tried the substitutes but just trying to help you troubleshoot what could work!
Which would be better: frozen green beans or fresh?
Fresh for this!