Green Bean Casserole is probably my favorite Thanksgiving dish of all time. Unfortunately, cream-of-mystery-franken-foods-soup is not healthy, nor are the deep fried onions that typically grace the top of this casserole. (Note: real onions do not turn crispy when fried by themselves… I tried… they burn)
This was one of my most requested recipes, and I’m happy to share the healthy version that I think I actually prefer to the processed version, though it has been so long, I don’t completely remember how that one tasted. Either way, this one is good! It is also free of mystery ingredients!
It is a little time intensive to make, but is worth the effort. It can be made ahead and re-heated to make prep-time faster on Thanksgiving.
A Faster Option:
Since originally writing this recipe, I discovered an easier way to make cream of mushroom soup at home and it reduces the time needed to make this recipe. If you opt for this version, just use the homemade cream of mushroom soup in place of the canned versions in whatever recipe you use (though no need to dilute half and half with water like the canned versions).
Healthy Green Bean Casserole
Yield 8 -10
A healthy real-food take on the classic... without the cream of mystery ingredients soup!
Ingredients
- Onion Topping
- 2-3 medium onions, very thinly sliced
- 2 eggs
- 3 tablespoons of heavy cream or coconut milk
- 2-3 tablespoons of coconut flour
- 1/2 cup coconut oil or tallow for frying (I use tallow)
- Healthy Cream of Mushroom Sauce
- 1/2 cup butter
- 1/2 cup cream or coconut milk
- 1/3 of onion mix above
- 8-10 mushrooms, finely diced
- 1/2 tsp garlic powder
- salt and pepper to taste
- 4-5 egg yolks (You should have these left over if you are making the Sweet Potato Casserole)
- coconut milk or water to thin
- Other
- 5 cans of cut or french style green beans (can also use fresh or 2-3 bags of frozen, or 2-3 pounds of fresh just heat first to remove extra liquid)
Instructions
- Thinly slice all the onions, separate, and put in medium bowl.
- Add the two eggs and the heavy cream and mix well until evenly incorporated.
- Add coconut flour and mix by hand until evenly coated (note:may use slightly more or less depending on your brand of coconut flour.)
- Put tallow in large skillet and turn on medium high heat.
- When hot, add the coated onions and evenly brown, turning occasionally.
- When browned, remove from heat and set aside.
- In medium sauce pan, melt butter and saute mushrooms until starting to brown, then add cream or coconut milk.
- Whisk in egg yolks and spices and about 1/3 of the onion topping mixture and continue stirring until the yolks begin to cook and the mixture thickens.
- Add extra milk or water if needed to thin (only a few tablespoons might be needed).
- Drain green beans and pour into a 9x13 baking dish.
- Pour the cream mixture over and mix well until incorporated.
- Top with onion mixture and heat at 325 in oven until topping starts to crisp (but not burn!) and green beans are heated.
- Enjoy!
Courses Side
Cuisine Thanksgiving
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How do you make green beans? What’s your favorite casserole? Share!
Cool! What a great idea and recipe! I love the healthy Thanksgiving recipes you are posting! Thank you!
This recipe looks great! We are hosting this year, and its gonna be a crowd. I’m sure this one will be a real crowd pleaser!
Is am so excited to try this. I am going to a pre-Thanksgiving dinner tonight and I know most of the stuff won’t be primal so it will be awesome to be able to bring my own primal recipe. I love eating like this. 🙂 Thanks for the post.
How many servings is this recipe? It sounds delicious
It should serve about 8-10, depending on the serving size and how many other foods there are.
Thank you for these Thanksgiving recipes. I thought I was going to have to search everywhere for my Thanksgiving recipes, but knowing I can find them all here is soooo helpful! My mom will still be making her version of things…but at least I’ll have things to eat and maybe I can convert a few family members when they give these delicious foods a taste!
about how many pounds of fresh greenbeans would you use to replace the cans? I REALLY don’t like canned greenbeans.
I’d guess about 2 pounds, though I’ve canned all the ones from our garden this year, so I haven’t used fresh in a while.
thank you!
Do you think you could prepare this the night before and then just bake it Thanksgiving day?
I would think so… the leftovers reheated great the next day, so making it ahead of time should be fine!
Hello Wellness Mama, Where can I find Tallow oil and what is the difference in that and the coconut oil? I’m trying this receipe for Thanksgiving.
Thanks
Gina
Tallow is basically just beef fat but butter or coconut oil would also work well
I made this dish for Thanksgiving but I made one crucial error; I did not temper the egg yolks with a little bit of the warm sauce from the pan before adding them and the result was more like scrambled eggs than a cream sauce – WOOPS! I’m trying again on Sunday for Christmas dinner. Wish me luck and THANK YOU for this recipe!
Oh boy. I think I just made this same mistake. But I’m sure it will still taste good!
I am a green bean casserole junkie and I am excited to give this non-processed version a try. And if I’m the only one who likes it, more for me! (Though I highly doubt I will be). Thank you so much for this recipe!!
Do you think I could use coconut oil in place of the butter in the cream of mushroom sauce? I can’t have any form of dairy, unfortunately, so I’m wondering what could be a good substitute. Would coconut oil alter the taste/texture too much???
It should be fine since not that much is used…
I cannot find coconut flour. What can I use to substitute?
Maybe try almond flour?
Roughly how long do you bake? Just to get an idea:-)
Also curious… I’m all paranoid I’m going to get sidetracked and burn it… :/
We made this for Thanksgiving, and I couldn’t believe how much it tasted like the “original” processed food version. Delicious!!!
Do you have any simple pure vegetarian recipe..that includes no egg..no animal product? which is for me 🙁
I would like to try this too for my mom..she will love it ..thanks for such a good recipe.
I would like to make this for family get-togethers, but my niece and nephew are both allergic to eggs & dairy.
What do you think would be an adequate substitute (if any exists) for the eggs in this recipe? Also instead of butter, I suppose it wouldn’t make any difference if I used margarine. I normally dislike margarine, but I have no other options when cooking for family parties because of their allergies.
Thanks so much!
Hi Katie, my husband and I are working on making the switch to healthy food with out family, and I love your blog, thanks for sharing your knowledge and insights. Where do I find Healthy Cream of Mushroom Sauce? Can I make it myself and do you have a recipe for it?
Rebecca, Im guessing that the “Healthy Cream of Mushroom Sauce” would be all the ingredients she listed under that title.
Healthy Cream of Mushroom Sauce
•½ cup butter
•½ cup cream or coconut milk
•? of onion mix above
•8-10 mushrooms, finely diced
•½ tsp garlic powder
•salt and pepper to taste
•4-5 egg yolks (You should have these left over if you are making the Sweet Potato Casserole)
•coconut milk or water to thin
Thanks Liz! I see what she did now 🙂
I made a mistake when I made this recipe, but it still turned out excellent. My husband said I need to mess it up every time. So I was making this for Thanksgiving, and making your stuffing recipe at the same time. I had mixed up the stuffing spices ahead of time, and when I got to step 8 in the beans recipe to “add spices” I threw in the stuffing spices without thinking. I went with it anyways, and the spice mixture in the green bean casserole was perfect!
Hi there, love your blog! Got a question on this one. I have a family member that cannot eat mushrooms, I found a recipe to make cream of chicken sauce. After it is made, how much of that would I add to the beans to finish the casserole? Thanks in advance!
Found a great recipe last year at The Kitchn.com for the casserole. I substituted sweet rice flour for the all purpose. Gluten Free Crisp French Fried Onion Toppibg recipe from TheCountryBasket.com.
Preparing the mushroom bechamel takes some time but well worth it!
How would a prepared soup substitute into this recipe? Just replace the whole sauce making step?
Dear Katie,
Can you tell me how do you can fresh vegetables? Is there an recipe on your blog? Can fruits also be canned? I tried to find it, but without luck…
So far, I only pasteurized fruits in glass jars, but hoping you might help so I can preserve by myself some veggies next season. I do not like the taste of them if I freeze them. After some time, they loose nice taste and I have a feeling all I can taste is ice… and would like to save up money on buying frozen ones.
Thank you in advance!
Regards!
While I agree with all the healthy substitutions, I can’t get my head wrapped around canned green beans.
Has anyone tried omitting the egg yolks?