Everyone loves a good casserole and they are such an easy meal idea. Everything goes into one pan and gets put in the oven, making serving a breeze. Casseroles are frequently great options for batch cooking and freezing too.
This recipe is made easiest with pre-cooked chicken (I frequently cook extra chicken on weekends or when I’m cooking some for another recipe so that I have some ready to go when I’m short on time) and frozen veggies, but you could start with raw chicken and fresh vegetables if you have a bit more time. Here’s my healthy take on a family favorite.
Tip to Include the Kids:
I love to let my kids help cook whenever possible. Letting the kids help cook is one of the ways I help them learn to love a wide variety of foods and avoid picky eaters. We have the crinkle cutter with the wooden handle from this set and I love to let the children help chop the cooked chicken and grate the cheese if I use it.
Now that they are older, my kids are actually a tremendous help many nights. The time I spent letting them “help” when they were younger has paid dividends (though I still have a two-year old to create the obligatory messes and spills while she helps).
Chicken Broccoli Casserole Recipe
Ingredients
- 4 chicken breasts (cooked)
- 4 TBSP butter (cubed)
- 1 bag frozen broccoli (or 1 head fresh)
- 1 bag frozen cauliflower (or 1 head fresh)
- 1 onion (diced)
- 2 cups cheddar cheese (shredded, optional)
- 2/3 cup sour cream (optional)
- ¼ cup water
- 1 tsp basil
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tsp pepper
- ¼ cup Parmesan cheese (optional)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375°F.
- If not using pre-cooked chicken, bake chicken until cooked or dice and sauté in a pan.
- Place butter in the bottom of a 9x13 baking dish.
- Add broccoli, cauliflower, and diced onion.
- Put in oven about 20-25 minutes or until heated and mostly cooked.
- While vegetables are heating, chop chicken into bite sized pieces and grate cheddar cheese if necessary.
- Remove vegetables from oven.
- Add chopped chicken, cheddar cheese, sour cream, spices, and ¼ cup water and mix well.
- Top with Parmesan if desired and put back in oven until everything is warm and cheese is melted.
Notes
Nutrition
Like this recipe? Check out my new cookbook, or get all my recipes (over 500!) in a personalized weekly meal planner here!
What’s your favorite casserole? Share below!
Gluten Free Pizza (Meatza)
I don’t eat dairy so I made this recipe without sour cream or cheese and used fresh veggies, not frozen. Based on a previous comment, I microwaved the veggies for 5 minutes first. This strategy worked and they were not crispy. However, I must say that without the cheeses and sour cream, this recipe was a little dry.
Is there anything to hold this together if you don’t use cheese or sour cream? It says the dairy is optional, and we are dairy free.
Just made this and added 1 cup of quinoa cooked with chicken broth instead of water. Delicious protein dinner! Going to try freezing a pan too. Thanks!
What cheese do you use when you say “cheese”? Sorry for the silly question but I really want to make it right and I am sure that I could easily choose the wrong cheese lol
I use grass-fed white cheddar, but it’s really a matter of personal preference…
Thank you so much for clarifying that! Bc I am a procrastinator and asked you this 5 mins before I made dinner I used all Parmesan cheese, though it was still AMAZING thanks to your recipe I will definitely be trying it with white cheddar next time! Thanks again so much and God Bless you for all you do!
Thank you for this recipe! I am very bad at following recipes exactly, but this one really inspired me and added an easy, delicious, healthy dish to our rotation! I always have onion, garlic, and butter..but I make this dish when I have (now I try to have all of these on hand):
1. cooked chicken, or breasts that are defrosted and easy to cook
2. sour cream and/or cream cheese and some sort of other cheese
3. frozen veggies of just about any sort (have tried broccoli, cauliflower, green bean, artichoke, carrot)
What I learned from your recipe is that I can dump those frozen veggies into a baking dish (I don’t add butter or onion at this stage) and stick them in the oven while I sauté up some onions and garlic (I also add herbs and other fresh veggies here like mushrooms). Once they are done sautéing I mix them with the sour cream, chicken and cheese and finish off in the oven. Delicious! Everyone loves it.
Thank you Katie! 🙂
I used 1/4 cup of bone broth instead of water. Yum!