Now is the time to ditch grandma’s Green Bean Casserole recipe and her canned mushroom soup and instead make a green bean casserole from scratch.

I came up with this clean Green Bean Casserole recipe for the Thanksgiving feature article of Natural Health magazine a few years back.

I was asked to develop recipes for a “whole foods” Thanksgiving feast using ten of Dr. Oz’s favorite superfoods. The superfood in this dish is pumpkin seeds.

Enjoying Healthy Green Bean Casserole All Year Long…

Our children love green beans – whether fresh from the garden or inside a casserole. So, don’t limit your green bean casserole to just the fall and winter seasons — but add it throughout the year. In fact, green beans reach their peak season from early summer through mid-fall.

You can test the freshness of a green bean simply by bending it; if it is dull in color, rubbery and limp then you know it is past its prime. You want a lively bright green bean that bends a bit and then snaps right in half, that’s how you know it is fresh.

If you are going to the effort to make green bean casserole from scratch, you might as well look for organic green beans too. That’s because along with strawberries and peppers, green beans are one of the most heavily sprayed crops in conventional agriculture.

Apparently they are as attractive to insects and diseases as they are to us! Organic growers have a variety of “clean” methods for keeping insect pests under control and it really does make a difference in health and taste to go the extra organic mile when buying green beans.

A Cleaner Green Bean Casserole from Scratch

As for green bean casserole, although it has always been a hit in our family, I realize there are two types of people; those who love green bean casserole, and those who don’t.

Even before I became enthused with clean eating, I was never a particularly big fan of mushroom soup dumped on top of green beans (the sort of “Green Bean Casserole” made famous in the 50’s by Campbell’s soup). However, I have always loved a good home-spun green bean casserole.

For the longest time I made the recipe printed in our Fitter, Firmer, Faster book. But, after getting the assignment from Natural Health magazine this updated one is definitely my new go-to and my family’s new favorite.

Not only is this revised green bean casserole considerably healthier than your traditional recipe (it’s even healthier than the version in my own book!) it also sneaks in a superfood…

Sneaking In a Superfood

The pumpkin seeds I use for the crumbly topping add just as much in nutrition as they do in taste.

Pumpkin seeds are loaded with fiber, protein, omega fats and magnesium. They are also rich in the amino acid tryptophan—richer in fact than turkey (by the way, tryptophan increases the brain’s levels of mood-improving serotonin.)

When processed in a food processor and mixed with gluten free panko crumbs (our favorite is by Ian’s) the subtly sweet flavor and chewy texture of pumpkin seeds makes them perfect for a crumbly casserole topping. In fact, the crumbly topping is my favorite part of the whole dish. I promise you won’t miss the greasy French fried onions one bit.

If you don’t want to use Ian’s, you can make the crumbly topping by putting gluten free bread in a blender and then toasting the crumbs at 400 for about 10 minutes.

As a side note, you might want to double the recipe for the crumbly topping and use it for baked fish, as a topping for salads or even on top of tomato soup.

Pin this graphic for later!

One Last Tip…

Finally, be sure to resist the urge to chop the mushrooms into military uniformity—breaking them up by hand keeps them from assuming that dreadful canned texture.