Vegan Squash Casserole
Squash Casserole
Goes Vegan
One of my favorite dishes is Squash Casserole. It’s traditionally made with canned cream of mushroom soup and baked with a buttery cracker crust. These flavors are very comforting and the smooth, creamy texture is broken up with meaty bites of my favorite fresh, autumnal vegetable. I wanted to take this recipe and add my own personal twist while also making it vegan-friendly.
Ingredients
2 lbs Squash, sliced
1 Onion, Medium, sliced
1/2 lb Mushrooms, sliced, rinsed
1/2 c. Flour, all-purpose
1/2 c. vegan butter (plus more for sautéing)
3 c. Almond/Cashew milk
2 T Bragg’s Liquid Amino Acids (soy sauce alternative)
1 T Apple Cider Vinegar
2 cloves of garlic
3/4 c. Nutritional Yeast
2 c. Herbed stuffing mix, divided
salt & pepper to taste
Vegan Shredded Cheese, optional
Notes
I use a mandoline to thinly slice the onions and squash to about 3/16”.
I buy my mushrooms already sliced, but you could also rough chop them. I prefer creminis (or baby bellas) and I rinse them right before adding them to the skillet.
I’ve fallen in love with squeeze garlic. It’s a fun shortcut if you don’t mind Vitamin C as a preservative. Otherwise, smash your cloves with the flat side of a chef’s knife to make the skins come off easier. Just don’t cut yourself. You like your palm.
I use three burners on my stove while cooking this dish. That’s two pots and one large skillet. Sorry about the dishes.
You’ll also need a casserole dish. #LifeHack: Own a casserole dish.
Directions
Mise-en-place
Wash the squash, trim the ends, and slice into thin slices. Set aside. Cut off the root and stem from the onion. Thinly slice. Set aside.
Set aside the sliced mushrooms.
Have your other ingredients readily available. Separately.
Cook
In a large skillet, sauté the onions with a tablespoon of butter over medium heat. Stir the onions occasionally to make sure they cook evenly. Cook until they start to turn translucent, then add the mushrooms and continue to sauté until they are about the same color.
While the onions are sautéing, you can start the sauce in a medium pot. Over medium heat, add the 1/2 cup of butter. Let it melt. Then add the flour and stir with a whisk. Congratulations, you’re making a roux. Let that continue to cook for a few minutes.
This is a good time to remember that you also have onions that you should have been stirring. This is called multi-tasking! You’ll want to keep the roux moving in one pot, while the onions caramelize in the skillet. Make sure you’ve added the mushrooms to the onions.
In a large pot, add a tablespoon of butter over medium heat. Toss in your sliced squash. Stir occasionally until soft.
You’re now multitasking the squash, the roux, and the skillet. Awesome job. Preheat your oven to 375 °F.
Slowly add the milk to the roux while whisking. You don’t want lumps. Let that mixture come to a slow boil. You’re making a sauce here—making it with love so you may even want to lower the burner’s heat a little. Stir this occasionally so that nothing sticks to the bottom of the pot.
To the sauce, add the Bragg’s, vinegar, garlic, and pepper to taste.
Keep everything moving until your onions have caramelized.
Add the caramelized onions and sautéed mushrooms to the sauce. Stir.
Stir the squash. You haven’t forgotten about them have you?
In your casserole dish, add half of the stuffing mixture. That would be 1 cup. Because that’s half of 2 cups. Spread evenly. This is a crust.
Is the squash ready?
You want all the slices to be flexible but not scrambled. You'll see that the white part of the fruit has started to become transparent.
Spoon the squash into the casserole dish evenly.
Add the nutritional yeast to your sauce. Whisk until it's dissolved into the sauce. Give the sauce a final stir, and gently pour it over the squash.
Finally, top the casserole with the remainder of your stuffing mixture.
Looks great!
Optional: Top with your vegan shredded cheese.
Now we are going to loosely cover the casserole with aluminum foil so the stuffing cooks but doesn’t burn on top.
Bake casserole in the oven for 30 minutes with the foil on. Remove foil and bake another 15 minutes.
The edges and top of the dish should be browning, and bubbling all around.
Let cool for at least ten minutes. The wait will be worth it because it will be easier to cut into portions. Plus, you don’t want to burn your tastebuds. And you have dishes to wash in the meantime.
Serve & Enjoy!
I hope you enjoy the rich, creamy flavors as much as I do. The meatiness of the mushrooms and squash really shines in this dish. This could be the main dish or a side.