Name: Cheesy Chicken Broccoli and Rice Casserole
Prep time: 15 min
Cook time: 1 h 10 min
Total time: 1 h 25 min
Cuisine: American
Ingredients: 1/2 onion, diced (may substitute with 1 teaspoon onion powder); 3 cloves garlic, minced (may substitute with 1 teaspoon garlic powder); 3 tablespoons salted butter or ghee; 3 tablespoons flour (we used this one for gluten-free); 2 1/2 teaspoons coarse salt; 1/4 teaspoon black pepper; 1 teaspoon dried thyme; 3 cups chicken broth; 2 cups milk or full-fat coconut milk; 1 1/2 cups white rice; 1 1/2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken breast, cut into 1-inch cubes; 3/4 pound broccoli florets (about 5 cups); 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese

This cheesy chicken broccoli and rice casserole is the ultimate comfort food! We've replaced the traditional canned condensed soup with a simple homemade cream sauce for a healthier take, and there's no need to pre-cook the rice, broccoli, or chicken – simply dump it all into a casserole dish and bake.

Here at Fed and Fit, we love a good casserole. Typically, they're easy to make, a great candidate for hiding veggies, and they can feed an army. This cheesy chicken broccoli and rice casserole is no exception. In fact, it's probably one of the easiest and tastiest casseroles you'll ever make because it doesn't require any cooking ahead of time. Instead, you'll simply mix up the raw ingredients, dump them into a casserole dish, and bake. The resulting dish is creamy, flavorful, and perfectly balanced. Your whole family will love this one!

How to Make Homemade Cream of Chicken Soup

If you ever look at the recipes for the casseroles you ate growing up, you'll probably notice that cream of chicken or mushroom soup was included in the recipe. We wanted to make this chicken broccoli rice casserole a bit healthier, so we decided to skip the traditional gloppy, flavorless, filled-with-odd-ingredients canned soup in favor of a homemade version. Don't be intimidated though – it only takes a few steps and the homemade cream of chicken soup will give this casserole tons of flavor!

Saute onion and garlic. The first step for the soup is to saute half a diced onion and 3 cloves of garlic until they are just lightly browned. If you're short on time, you can skip this step and add in 1 teaspoon each of onion and garlic powder instead!
Whisk in 2 tablespoons flour. Next, you'll sprinkle the flour over the onions and garlic and whisk to combine it with the butter in the pan. This recipe works great with a gluten-free flour like this one as well!
Whisk in the broth and milk. Finally, you'll pour in the chicken broth, whisking constantly, until there are no lumps, then pour in the milk. For a dairy-free version, we recommend substituting full-fat coconut milk.

While making the homemade cream of chicken soup is super easy, you can still rely on canned if you need to! This gluten-free, organic version from Pacific Foods is our go-to. Just use two boxes plus one cup of broth in place of the broth, milk, and flour in the recipe.

Do you have to cook the rice before putting it in the casserole?

Nope! Once you've made the sauce, all you have to do is chop up the raw chicken and broccoli, then combine it with the rice and sauce. Then, you'll place it all in the casserole dish, cover with a tight-fitting lid or aluminum foil, and cook for 45 minutes. After 45 minutes, you'll remove the lid from the pot and sprinkle the cheese over, then bake for another 15 minutes to let it melt.

Can I freeze chicken broccoli rice casserole?

Yes! This casserole freezes like a dream. You can either freeze a fully-baked casserole whole then reheat it in a 350 F oven for 1 hour, or you can freeze individual portions and reheat them by microwaving for 3-4 minutes or by baking in a 350 F oven for 15-20 minutes.

Here are the most common questions we've gotten about this Chicken Broccoli Rice Casserole

Can I use frozen broccoli?

Yes! You can use 3/4 pound frozen broccoli florets in place of fresh for this recipe.

Can I substitute cauliflower rice or brown rice for white rice?

Unfortunately, you can't substitute cauliflower rice for white rice. The liquid in this recipe is absorbed by the rice, so substituting cauliflower rice would result in a very soupy texture. BUT the good news is that we've already got a Paleo cheesy broccoli casserole. If you want to make it a full meal, we recommend adding about 4 cups shredded chicken to the broccoli and cauliflower mixture before baking.

We haven't tested substituting brown rice for white rice in this recipe yet. Typically, brown rice requires more liquid to cook than white rice, so we'd recommend adding an extra cup of broth to the recipe.

Can I make this chicken broccoli rice casserole in the Instant Pot?

We tested this casserole in the Instant Pot but found that the Instant Pot failed to come to pressure and the casserole routinely burned the bottom of the pot – so we can only recommend the oven method for now!

Can I make it without chicken?

Many of you have asked about making this casserole without the chicken so you can make it as a side dish for Thanksgiving. You can absolutely leave the chicken out and it will still bake up perfectly.

We hope you love this easy chicken broccoli and rice casserole as much as we do!