Healthy Chicken Broccoli Casserole

This healthy chicken broccoli casserole is creamy, delicious, and made with a special homemade cream of mushroom soup. It’s packed with nourishing ingredients, and is loved by the entire family! Make it with rice or cauliflower rice.

This chicken broccoli casserole is the ultimate comfort food turned healthy dinner recipe. If you have nostalgic memories of eating chicken broccoli casserole as a kid, this recipe is going to bring back all the feels! It’s warm, deliciously hearty and creamy, and packed with nourishing ingredients.

While casseroles are wonderful for the holidays, I’m a huge fan of eating them year-round because they are easy to bake and make plenty of leftovers. I often rotate this recipe with my Zucchini Ground Beef Casserole for that reason!

Let’s face it—weeknight dinners are hard to come by. Because of this, I intentionally kept the prep work to a minimum. Just sauté the chicken and broccoli while cooking the sauce in a saucepan. Combine everything together in the casserole dish and bake!

This casserole dish makes a ton of food and it’s great for meal prep! Make it and eat leftovers for lunch, or double the recipe and store the extra meal in the freezer! Your entire family will LOVE this—even the picky toddlers will be asking for more (I speak from experience on this one).

Ingredient Notes

There are just a few simple ingredients you’ll need to make this recipe. Here are my notes:

• Chicken – Chicken breast or thighs work in this recipe. I prefer chicken thighs because they are moist and tender.
• Broccoli – Fresh broccoli florets work great. Just make sure to break them down into 1-inch pieces before cooking.
• Cooked rice – Any rice will work in this recipe! My favorite is white jasmine rice because it’s soft and gets nice and creamy when baked.
• Riced cauliflower – Want to use riced cauliflower? Just use a bag of frozen cauliflower rice! A 12 oz bag works best, but you can also measure out 2 ½ cups of frozen cauliflower rice for the recipe.
• Mushrooms – Get these pre-sliced to keep prep work to a minimum.
• Arrowroot flour – This thickens the sauce. It’s usually in the baking section with other flours.
• Coconut milk – I like to use canned full-fat canned coconut milk because it makes the casserole thick and creamy.
• Broth – vegetable or bone broth works!
• Nutritional yeast – This is just deactivated yeast. It’s yellow and flakey, and has a nice cheesy flavor. It’s a great source of B vitamins and trace minerals.

Substitutions

Short on ingredients? Here are some substitutions you can make in this recipe:

• Cooked rice: Use your favorite kind of rice—leftovers are great! You can also use frozen or fresh riced cauliflower. Just make sure to use 2 ½ cups of whatever you choose to use.
• Mushrooms: Button or cremini mushrooms work great in this recipe.
• Arrowroot flour: Use tapioca flour or cornstarch instead.
• Garlic cloves: Use ½ teaspoon garlic powder.
• Add cheese: Skip the nutritional yeast and add ½ cup of your favorite shredded cheese on top before baking for a nice cheesy flavor.

How to Make Healthy Chicken Broccoli Casserole

1. Prep: If using cauliflower rice, lay out the bag of frozen riced cauliflower to thaw. Preheat the oven to 400°F and generously grease a 9×13 casserole dish.
2. Sauté: Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the chicken pieces and cook for 4-5 minutes. Add broccoli florets and stir. Cook until the chicken is no longer pink and the broccoli is tender, about 5-7 minutes. Add the cooked chicken and broccoli to the prepared casserole dish.
3. Make the cream sauce: Heat the oil in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add the onions and cook until translucent, about 2 minutes. Add the mushrooms and cook until the mushrooms are soft, about 3-4 minutes. Stir in the arrowroot flour and minced garlic. Add the coconut milk and broth, whisking everything together as you stir to make sure there are no clumps. Stir in the thyme, salt, pepper, and nutritional yeast (optional). Bring the sauce to a boil, then reduce the heat to a simmer and let the sauce cook for 2-3 minutes. Remove from heat. 
4. Layer: Add rice (or cauliflower rice) to the prepared dish. Pour the mushroom sauce overtop of everything and fold everything together until well combined. Spread the casserole mixture evenly in the pan.
5. Bake: Bake the casserole for 20 minutes, or until the sides are bubbly. Let it sit for 5-10 minutes prior to serving.

Paleo Chicken Broccoli Casserole

Want to make this casserole paleo? Just use cauliflower rice! Frozen cauliflower rice is available at most grocery stores now. It typically comes in a 12 oz bag, which is about 2 ½ – 3 cups of riced cauliflower.

If you can’t find frozen cauliflower rice, you can make it from a small head of cauliflower. Simply remove the stems and break the cauliflower head into smaller, bite-sized florets. Then, working in 2-3 batches, pulse the cauliflower in a large food processor until it’s broken down into small pieces resembling grains of rice.

To save time, you can do this a day before or in the morning, and store it in an airtight container in the fridge. Using cauliflower rice will also make this a low carb.

Recipe FAQs

Cooking Tips

• Cut the chicken into 1-inch pieces so they cook up evenly.
• 1 – 1 ½ pounds of chicken works in this recipe. If you have more than a pound, use it!
• Leave out the nutritional yeast if you don’t have any on hand. It gives the dish a nice cheesy flavor, but it’s still good without it. You can always sprinkle ½ cup of your favorite shredded cheese on top before baking.
• Swap out the fresh garlic for ½ teaspoon garlic powder to make prep work easier.
• If you forgot to lay out the bag of frozen cauliflower rice, heat it up quickly in the same pan you cooked the chicken and broccoli in for 1-2 minutes.
• You can use a variety of casserole dishes for this—square, round, and rectangle. It will work in most medium to large casserole pans!

Storage, Freezing, and Reheating

TO STORE: Store any leftovers in the fridge in an airtight storage container for up to 4 days.

TO FREEZE: To freeze, let the casserole cool completely, then store individual or large portions in freezer-safe silicone storage bags. It will last in the freezer up to 3 months.

TO REHEAT: Let it thaw in the fridge and reheat it in the microwave until warm.

Casserole Dishes

Any 9×13 dish will work for this recipe. These are my favorite baking dishes. You can also double the recipe an and cook it in this 9 x 13 lasagna dish! It’s a great investment.

More Healthy Dinners

• Grilled Chicken Skewers
• Baked Lemon Pepper Chicken Wings
• Healthy Chicken Tikka Masala
• Healthy Beef and Broccoli Stir Fry
• Homemade Healthy Sloppy Joes