One of my favorite Thanksgiving side dishes (and let’s be honest, it’s all about the side dishes) is the old-school green bean casserole, with the Durkee French onions and the cream of mushroom soup. Decidedly not keto. Even if you can find a gluten-free version of the soup, it’s loaded with carbs. This recipe does a great job of nailing the flavor of the original. It’s a lot more time-consuming than dumping a can of cream of mushroom soup into some beans, but it’s worth it, I promise.

The reason it’s time-consuming is that you have to come up with a way to duplicate the French onions, and the only way I’ve managed to pull it off is to make them myself. This takes about an hour. It’s definitely something that can be done the day before Thanksgiving, though, so there’s that. You’ll need four or five large shallot bulbs for this step, plus another one later. Slice them into thin slices (about 1/8 inch), then pop the slices out into rings. You’ll end up with two cups or so of shallot rings.

Heat up a cup and a half of avocado oil, plus about six tablespoons of butter, in a medium heavy saucepan. I use a two-quart saucepan for this one. You’ll want the oil to be no hotter than 325 degrees when you put the shallot rings into it, and around 300 degrees when they’re cooking. This involves medium-low heat. To make sure I’m doing it right, I use this cool infrared thermometer. It’s great for testing the surface temperature of something, which is perfect for deep-frying things if you don’t have a deep fryer. I use it for wings all the time. So once your oil has reached the proper temperature, add your shallot rings, and the waiting game begins.

For the first thirty minutes, check them every five minutes and give them a quick stir. After that, you’ll want to watch it like a hawk, because they go from undercooked to overcooked very quickly if you’re not careful.

When they’re done, use a slotted spoon or better yet, a spider strainer to remove the shallots from the oil. Put them on a towel-lined plate to drain. When they’ve fully cooled, you can put them in a ziploc bag or airtight container and use them the next day to make the casserole.

So finally, we’ve hit Thanksgiving day and we’re ready to make that casserole. Start with another full shallot bulb, which you’ll mince finely. Put a tablespoon of butter in a nonstick skillet and begin frying the shallots over medium heat. While those are frying, mince 8 ounces of mushrooms. I start with sliced because it’s easier. White mushrooms are fine, but if you want to go fancy and use baby bellas, it’s fine by me. You’ll want these to be the texture of a nice cream of mushroom soup that you’d get in a restaurant, not that canned stuff. We’re going full on fancy, so you might as well act the part. Plus, the less chopping on Thanksgiving morning, the better.

Once you’ve finished chopping the mushrooms, throw them in the pan with the shallots, and let them cook down while you steam the green beans. I used two pounds of green beans and steamed them in two batches in the microwave. If you do this, put them in a large food storage container with two tablespoons of water, then put the lid on top upside down and microwave on high for 3-4 minutes. Since they’re going to be cooking in the oven as well, aim for crisp-tender however you steam them. When they’re done, put them in a 9×13 baking dish and toss them with a few pinches of salt and pepper to taste.

By the time you’ve finished cooking the green beans, your shallots should be soft and golden brown and your mushrooms should be about finished releasing liquid. Pour a cup and a half of heavy cream over the mushrooms and add four ounces of cream cheese, cut or torn into cubes. Keep cooking over medium heat, whisking the cream cheese into the heavy cream until the sauce is smooth. Whisk in two teaspoons of soy sauce, tamari, or coconut aminos, and a teaspoon of Worcestershire sauce, along with salt and pepper to taste. Allow to simmer for about five minutes to allow the sauce to thicken a bit and the flavors to meld, then remove it from the heat, stir in half of your crispy shallots from the day before, and pour it all over the green beans.

Toss it around to make sure everything is coated, then pop it in a 350-degree oven for 25 minutes. Once the timer goes off, remove it from the oven, top with the remaining crispy shallots, and then cook for another 5 minutes before removing it from the oven. It’ll keep in a warm oven for a while if you need, although the shallots on top will darken a bit. Enjoy your Thanksgiving dinner! Or what the heck, eat them for Christmas, too.

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Hash is one of those fun things that you can make out of almost anything you have sitting around in the fridge. This one might require a special trip to the store, though. It involves one of the most interesting potato substitutes I’ve ever seen, daikon radish.

You should be able to find daikon at your grocery store, but if you can’t, it’s worth a trip to an Asian supermarket. It’s a long white tuber that looks like a really thick parsnip. It’s much lower in carbs, though. Tastes a bit like a water chestnut with a slight radish flavor. With the proper preparation…well, let’s not kid ourselves. You’ll never mistake this for potato. But it provides a really flavorful addition to your standard hash. If you have some non-keto folks eating this, it’s really easy to make some frozen cubed hash browns with this and mix in the veggies separately for their servings.

The daikon does take a bit of preparation, but it’s worth it. In order to soften the texture, you’ll want to cook it down in some liquid. I prefer chicken broth for this, as it imparts a great flavor, but if you’re vegetarian, vegetable or straight mushroom broth would be perfect. Water with a bit of soy sauce might also work, just make sure to adjust your salt accordingly. Start with 12 ounces of daikon, peeled and cubed to roughly the size of cubed hash browns. Evenly space the cubes in an enameled cast-iron skillet, then pour a cup of broth and two tablespoons of avocado oil over them, then put the burner on medium-high heat. You might want a splatter guard for your skillet to save your counters and stovetop. You’ll want to cook these, turning occasionally, until the liquid is boiled away, the daikon is softened, and only the oil remains. At that point, fry them until they’re golden, turning occasionally to make sure they crisp up, sprinkling with a pinch of salt. When they’re done, remove them from the pan and put them in a bowl.

While the daikon is cooking, you’ll want to get the rest of the ingredients ready. The next step involves an 8-ounce container of sliced mushrooms and half a cup of chopped red onion. Rinse your mushrooms if they aren’t already, then put them and the onions in the still-hot skillet. Cook until the mushrooms finish releasing all their liquid and it cooks off. Make sure the mushrooms are nice and golden brown and the onions are translucent and starting to get golden around the edges. Sprinkle them with a pinch of salt when the liquids start drying up. When they’re done, put them in the same bowl the daikon ended up in.

Your next step is the zucchini. Rinse, cut off the ends, cut it lengthwise, then cut each length down the middle again and slice into wedges that are about a half-inch thick. Add another tablespoon of olive oil to the pan, and put the zucchini in, evenly spaced. Check them after about three minutes, and when they’re nice and caramelized on the bottom, flip them over using tongs and cook them on the other side. Add the daikon and mushrooms, sprinkle with pepper, and toss until they’re well-mixed. Remove from the heat.

If you’re going to serve this immediately, you can do a standard hash and top with poached eggs, and that would be fine. But since I was doing this for meal prep, the eggs wouldn’t have reheated well, so I had to go with scrambled. This one was pretty simple. I beat together 10 eggs with 1/4 cup of sour cream, then scrambled in a non-stick skillet with 2 tablespoons of butter until soft. I added about two and a half tablespoons or so of chopped fresh dill when they were about halfway done. When they’re done, sprinkle them with kosher salt and pepper to taste. Serve the eggs on top of the hash. My only regret is that I didn’t have goat cheese to crumble on top!

Caramelized Veggie Hash with Dill Scrambled Eggs

A flavorful meal-prep breakfast.

Print Recipe Pin Recipe

Prep Time 10 mins

Cook Time 45 mins

Total Time 55 mins

Course Breakfast

Servings 5

Calories 333 kcal

Ingredients

  

• 12 ounces daikon radish chopped into cubes
• 1 cup chicken or vegetable broth
• 3 tbsp avocado oil divided
• 8 ounces mushrooms sliced
• 1/2 cup red onion chopped
• 1 medium zucchini chopped into wedges
• 2 tbsp butter
• 10 large eggs
• 1/4 cup sour cream
• 2-3 tbsp chopped fresh dill
• salt and pepper to taste

Instructions

 

• Prepare the vegetables, making sure to keep them separate. Peel the daikon and cut into small cubes. Slice the zucchini into 1/2-inch thick wedges. Slice the mushrooms and chop the onion.
• Add the daikon, broth, and 2 tablespoons of the oil to a large enameled cast-iron skillet. Heat over medium-high heat, turning occasionally, until all the liquid dries up. Continue to turn the pieces as they brown. Sprinkle with a pinch of kosher salt. Once they're golden, remove them from the pan and put into a medium mixing bowl.
• Add the onions and mushrooms and cook until the mushrooms release their liquid and it dries up. Sprinkle with a pinch of salt. Once the mushrooms are brown and the onions are golden around the edges, remove them from the pan and add to the bowl with the daikon.
• Add the other tablespoon of oil to the pan. Put the zucchini in, making sure that they're all touching the bottom of the pan. Sprinkle with a pinch of salt. Check the bottoms after about 3 minutes, and if they're golden brown, turn them and cook for another 3 minutes or so. Add the rest of the vegetables, sprinkle with pepper and more salt to taste, and turn until it's evenly mixed. Remove from heat.
• In a separate non-stick skillet, melt 2 tablespoons of butter. Beat 10 eggs and 1/4 cup sour cream together. Chop enough dill to make 2-3 tablespoons. Scramble the eggs in the butter. When they're about halfway done, add the dill. Once scrambled, add salt and pepper to taste and serve over the hash. You can add crumbled goat cheese if you'd like.
• Macros per serving: 333 calories, 8 grams net carbs, 17 grams protein, 24 grams fat.

Keyword breakfast, eggs, keto, low carb, make ahead, meal prep, vegetables, vegetarian

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