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Hello!

I got tons of responses, many of which had the same suggestion.  What I 
can not locate in my area is the Progresso Creamy Mushroom soup.  I 
have e-Mailed the General Mills folks and ask if anyone stocks it 
around here.  There were also a bunch of other great ideas below.

~~~~~

My original post was:

Last year about this time, someone asked the list if they had found a
GF substitution for the french fried onions that you use in green bean
casseroles and the like.  If there was a summary, I missed it or didn't
save it.  Has anyone came up with a substitute?  The only thing I can
think of is to cut onions incredibly thin, GF batter them and fry them
to a crisp without burning them.  Has anyone tried this and did it
work?  Please help!  Thanksgiving dinner is at MY house this year so I
can make it totally gluten-free and I won't get any cross-contamination
at my in-laws' house.

~~~~~

Here is the summary:

18 people mentioned Frito Lay Funyuns.  Other ideas follow.

I've not tried this but I grew up with the green bean casserole too.  
Please post a summary, I'm curious.  I like your idea of slicing thin 
onions but maybe to make it simple just lightly sautee them mix with 
the green beans, soup and then for the crunch use some GF corn flakes 
(break up a little though). 

I crumble up Wise potato chips and sprinkle on top. A slightly different
taste, but still delicious.

I saw a recipe somewhere that wasn't gf (I think it may have been on 
Food TV on a low cal cooking show), but they coated fresh onion rings 
in bread crumbs, sprayed them with cooking spray, and baked them.  It 
looked very elegant and delicious.

After watching the low carb cook on FoodNetwork use soy flour to fry 
something I decided to try it with onion rings. I did not cut them very 
thin as you said, but just usual thickness. Then dipped them in 
buttermilk, dredged them in the soy flour, and into the grease.
 
I found that they cooked so fast that I could only do a few at the 
time. They were not like onion rings with wheat flour, but what is? 
They were the first onion rings I had since I became celiac and I was 
very happy with them.

I vaguely remember that someone mentioned a Frito-Lay product which I 
believe is "Funyions". What are you going to use for the cream of 
mushroom soup? I know that Progresso makes a GF onion soup and was 
wondering if it comes out the same.

Try tossing sliced onions in oil salt and pepper and roasting on a 
sheet pan at 300 Deg. for 20 to 30 min. You'll need to toss them about 
every 10 min. so they brown evenly, dark for flavor but not burned.

Although not as desirable, you can substitute French's Potato Sticks 
for the french fried onions.  Crumbled potato chips work too.

you can make your own.  slice onion thickly, then dip in an egg/milk 
mixture and dip into fine cornmeal or cornstarch.  Then deep fry...if 
you want a fluffy batter, add a teas or two of baking powder to the 
cornmeal. and have all ingrediients as cold as possible before 
frying...this is an old tempura trick

Frito Lay Funyums is a great substitute for these and they are GF.  
Frito Lay does have the cross contamination statement on their stuff, 
but we have not had any problems using them.

I haven't tried the onion trick, but it sure sounds good. Don't see why 
that wouldn't work. Toasted almond slivers (perhaps tossed in some  
melted butter, onion powder and dried GF onions before you toast them) 
might also work and be a bit less trouble.

Here is a great recipe in the Delphi CD Forum:
http://forums.delphiforums.com/celiac/messages?msg=48445.1
 
I don't make a green bean casserole (my husband would probably turn up 
his nose at it, altho' I always enjoy it at potlucks!), but I suggest 
doing what I make for burgers. I slice onions very thin and saute them 
in butter until they are golden brown and crispy.  These mimic those 
"onion threads" you sometimes find on sandwiches at restaurants.  I'd 
think they do just fine on your casserole and be a lot easier to make 
than something breaded.

I used the Onion Ring recipe from "The Gluten-Free Kitchen" by Roben
Ryberg.  I used this for a stuffed shells recipe I had converted.  The
batter is similar in texture to tempura and the rings tasted good on
their own.  Once I baked them they got a little soggy.  I think the
challenge is to not only get the onion sliced thin, but to keep the
batter thin as well.  This batter thickened as it sat.

Well, I have to say that I'm not a fan of the casserole you mention, 
but I
do know that lots of other people are. So I'd suggest (but haven't 
tried)
substituting broken-up pieces of Sour Cream and Onion Doritos or 
Tostitos
(or something along those lines that's GF).


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* Please remember some posters may be WHEAT-FREE, but not GLUTEN-FREE *