Traditional Green Bean Casserole requires a complete makeover job to make it paleo-friendly… or rather, human-being-friendly.
After all, there are very few items of actual, recognizable, pronounceable foods in the popular Campbell’s Mushroom Soup and French’s French Fried Onions. Take a look:
Cream of Mushroom Soup contains Mushrooms, Vegetable Oil (Corn, Cottonseed, Canola, and/or Soybean), Modified Food Starch, Wheat Flour, Contains Less than 2% of: Salt, Cream (Milk), Whey (Dehydrated), Soy Protein Concentrate, Monosodium Glutamate, Yeast Extract, Flavoring, Garlic (Dehydrated).
French Fried Onions contains Onions, Palm Oil, Wheat Flour, Caramelized Onion Seasoning (Sugar, Salt, Yeast Extract, Natural Flavors (Including Extractives of Onion), Maltodextrin, Citric Acid, Malic Acid, Disodium Inosinate and Disodium Guanylate, Canola Oil (as a Processing Aid), Tapioca Dextrin, Gum Arabic, Calcium Silicate and Silicon Dioxide) and Dextrose.
If you don’t recognize an ingredient, your body won’t either. Do you recognize soy protein concentrate, disodium inosinate, or calcium silicate?
My Paleo Green Bean Casserole, conversely, contains only human-being-friendly food: vegetables, herbs, coconut milk, ghee, broth, hazelnuts.
About the Ingredients in Paleo Green Bean Casserole
Homemade Cream of Mushroom Soup is a recipe I designed for the specific purpose of green bean casserole. It owes a rich, silky texture to plenty of mushrooms and a bit of coconut milk.
Shallot + Hazelnut Topping takes the place of processed fried onions. I call the topping for this casserole “veggie crack” – it makes any vegetable dish addicting.
- One batch of my Paleo Cream of Mushroom Soup,recipe here
- 2 lbs. green beans, trimmed and halved
- 1 cup hazelnuts
- 1 Tbs. ghee or coconut oil
- 2 large shallots, diced
- Salt, to taste
- Pepper
- Fresh thyme
- Prepare the Cream of Mushroom Soup and keep warm set aside. Or, make it a few days ahead and reheat before preparing the casserole.
- Bring a pot of water to a boil and add a big pinch of salt. Boil the green beans until tender, about 5 minutes. They should still be green, and not mushy. Drain and set aside.
- Meanwhile, toast the hazelnuts. Place the hazelnuts in a saute pan over medium heat for a few minutes. You'll start to smell them and see the skins crack. At that point, transfer them to a kitchen towel. Wrap them in the towel and rub vigorously to remove most of the skins. Remove the toasted nuts and chop them.
- In another saute pan, heat the ghee over medium heat. Cook the shallots, stirring frequently, until soft and golden (about 7 minutes). Add a pinch of salt and pepper, the chopped hazelnuts, and about a teaspoon of fresh thyme. Set aside.
- Combine the green beans and soup with salt, to taste. Keep warm in the oven until ready to serve and top with the hazelnut mixture right before serving.
Mu husband hates mushrooms and anything made with them – any alternative ideas
Sandy, you could probably just make the soup without the mushrooms in it.
Wow I definitely want to make this one for Thanksgiving! This will be my first Paleo Thanksgiving and I’m searching for great recipes. Thanks for this one! Feel free to check out thenaturalwaytowellness.com
This looks amazing! I have been a huge fan of green bean casserole since I was a little girl. Thank you Lauren for this recipe and for sharing your wisdom! I can’t begin to explain how much of a blessing Empowered Sustenance has been for me. I cannot ever thank you enough Lauren! You are my hero!
My son loves the traditional casserole,but he can’t have any nuts.we love the crunch though.what can I use in place of them?
Perhaps take some paleo bread and make croutons?
I made this for thanksgiving today it was awesome I not a fan of green bean casserole but wanted to make this so I can enjoy some food for dinner.every one loved it. Thanks for recipe not that difficult to make.
Thank you for this recipe, Lauren! It was delicious addition to our Thanksgiving meal. I made the soup the night before and prepped the green beans. The nuts caused some problems for removing the skins as I wasn’t sure how long to keep them in the skilllet. They were turning charcoal, so I figured although I didn’t hear them crackling, I should remove and roll in the clean kitchen towel. Do you have an approximate window of time to keep the nuts in the skillet for? I know I’ll be making these again! Thanks again!
It takes about 5 minutes in a hot skillet for me. When the skins turn a deeper color and start to smell toasty, that’s when they’re ready. Not all the skins will come off. I’m glad you enjoyed the recipe but sorry to hear that my instructions weren’t detailed enough for preparing the hazelnuts!
Hi Lauren!
Love reading your blog!, I like the recipe, simple and really healthy. I want to try making it. Well I hope it turn out ok. I am not a fan of green bean, but will give this a try. How much did this cost for the recipe?
Thanks for sharing
This looks so yummy! Thanks for sharing your recipe. I’m actually reading a lot of recipes these days because I’m doing a vegan book and I’m just so happy that I came across your post and saw that your ingredients are purely vegetables. By the way, can I use olive oil instead of ghee for the cream of mushroom? Will there be a big difference in taste?
Glad this recipe is helpful to you! Yes, you can absolutely use olive oil instead of ghee for the soup.
What a perfect combination of my two favorite vegetables. Mushroom and green beans. Thank you for sharing this recipe with us. I would love to try this later tonight. My family will surely enjoy this. I have always been a fan of creamy dishes and it’s great that I learned another creamy recipe today. I am just wondering if I can add milk into this recipe? Will it be okay?
This looks delcious! And you know me I’m ALL about the fresh produce!!