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This light and creamy chicken and broccoli casserole is the perfect all-in-one meal. It’s made with tender chicken, broccoli, tasty quinoa, and melty cheeses, all baked in a creamy, flavorful sauce.
This sensational chicken and broccoli casserole combines the perfect medley of tastes and textures, from tender chunks of juicy chicken to crunchy, vitamin-rich broccoli to chewy, nutty quinoa to not one but two delectable cheeses! The best part is that this delicious hodge-podge of wonderful ingredients is combined with a smooth and flavorful creamy sauce. The whole meal is baked into a savory, cheesy casserole that is sure to have you coming back for seconds and thirds. Whether you’re looking for a comforting family dinner or a dish to impress your guests, this casserole will surely be a hit.
Why I Love This Chicken Broccoli Casserole
- Nutritious. Packed with protein and minerals, this easy casserole is a wonderfully well-rounded meal.
- Flavor Combo. Savor the combination of cheese, broccoli, and quinoa, enriched with a creamy garlic sauce and a touch of spice.
- Textures. Enjoy quinoa’s chewiness, tender chicken, crunchy broccoli, and melted cheese for a delicious mix of textures.
- Quick and Easy. With just about 20 minutes of active time and a few simple steps, you’ll soon pop this casserole in the oven.
What You’ll Need
To make this flavorful broccoli chicken casserole, grab some boneless chicken, nutritious quinoa, and broccoli florets. This hearty, balanced dish comes together with a creamy, seasoned sauce, and is topped off with melted cheddar and parmesan for a cheesy finish. Perfect for a wholesome family meal!
- Quinoa: Rinse the quinoa in a fine mesh strainer until the water runs clear to remove some bitterness.
- Frozen broccoli florets: If using fresh broccoli, I suggest you first blanch them for a couple of minutes.
- Olive oil: Used for browning the chicken pieces. You can use any cooking oil that you prefer.
- Boneless skinless chicken breasts: Boneless skinless thighs will work as well.
- Chicken broth: To make the sauce, I like to use low sodium chicken broth, but you can also try it with chicken stock or vegetable broth.
- All purpose flour: The flour is used for thickening the sauce that will combine all the ingredients.
- 1% milk: Feel free to use 2% or whole milk.
- Seasonings & Spices: garlic powder, cayenne pepper, chili powder, salt, and pepper.
- Reduced-fat shredded cheddar cheese: Full-fat will do just fine if you’d like. You could also use shredded pepper jack or mozzarella instead.
- Shredded parmesan cheese: If you want a slightly sharper flavor, try shredded pecorino cheese instead.
How To Make Chicken And Broccoli Casserole
From browning the chicken to whisking up a flavorful sauce, follow the steps below for a quick breakdown of how to bring this easy casserole together!
- Prep. Preheat oven to 375˚F and grease a casserole dish with cooking spray.
- Start layering. Spread the quinoa in the bottom of the casserole dish and top with broccoli.
- Brown the chicken. Saute the chicken in olive oil over medium-high heat until browned on all sides. Spread the chicken over the broccoli.
- Make the sauce. Add the chicken stock to a saucepan over high heat, whisk in the flour, and cook until smooth. Whisk in the milk, garlic powder, cayenne pepper, chili powder, salt, and pepper. Cook until thickened.
- Put it all together. Pour sauce into the casserole dish and mix to coat all of the ingredients. Sprinkle the cheeses.
- Bake. Cover the chicken broccoli casserole with foil and bake it for 35 to 40 minutes.
Recipe Tips
- Quinoa Prep: Rinse the quinoa under cold water in a fine-mesh strainer for 2 minutes to remove bitterness and ensure even cooking.
- Brown the Chicken: Cook the chicken before adding it to the casserole for enhanced flavor.
- Sauce: Allow the sauce to thicken on the stovetop before adding it to the casserole to avoid a runny texture.
- Continuous Whisking: Whisk the sauce constantly while cooking to prevent burning and ensure even thickening.
- Broccoli Tip: Use frozen or steamed rather than fresh broccoli to ensure it cooks through in the oven, like in this broccoli cheese casserole.
- Rice vs. Quinoa: Precook the rice separately, as it absorbs liquid differently and has varying cooking times compared to quinoa.
Serving Suggestions
This broccoli chicken casserole is a complete meal, but that doesn’t mean you can’t serve it with a green goddess salad or a very berry avocado salad. Crusty bread is the perfect match for this, so make my no knead skillet bread or my low carb keto garlic breadsticks.
I also love this casserole with easy oven roasted vegetables, these roasted brussels sprouts and carrots, and our air fryer carrots. These crispy smashed potatoes in the air fryer or my air fryer baked potatoes would make a delicious and hearty addition to this flavorful dinner.
How to Store & Reheat Leftovers
- Cool the casserole completely before placing it in an airtight container, and storing it in the fridge for 3 to 4 days or freezing it up for up to 3 months. Allow the casserole to thaw in the fridge before reheating.
- To reheat, transfer the casserole to an oven-safe dish, cover it with aluminum foil, and bake for 20 minutes at 350˚F or until heated through.
More Easy Casserole Recipes
- King Ranch Chicken Casserole
- Buffalo Chicken and Rice Casserole
- Beef Zucchini Casserole
- Cheesy Chicken Zucchini Casserole
- Salsa Verde Chicken and Rice Casserole
- Cheesy Ground Beef and Cauliflower Rice Casserole
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Chicken and Broccoli Casserole
Ingredients
- 1 cup uncooked quinoa, rinsed
- 16 ounces frozen broccoli florets
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 2 to 3 boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into 1-inch cubes
- salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
- 1 cup chicken broth
- ½ cup all purpose flour
- 2 cups 1% milk
- ½ teaspoon garlic powder
- ¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper, or to taste
- ¼ teaspoon chili powder, or to taste
- salt and fresh ground black pepper, to taste
- ½ cup reduced fat shredded cheddar cheese
- ¼ cup shredded parmesan cheese
- freshly chopped parsley, for garnish
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375˚F.
- Grease a casserole dish with cooking spray and layer the quinoa on the bottom of the casserole dish. Top with the frozen broccoli and set aside.
- Heat the olive oil in a frying pan. Add the chicken pieces to the pan and cook for 2 minutes or until browned on all sides. Transfer the browned chicken to the casserole dish. Set aside.
- Place a saucepan over high heat; add chicken broth and flour and whisk and cook until smooth, about 1 minute.
- Whisk in the milk, garlic powder, cayenne pepper, chili powder, salt, and pepper; continue to cook for 3 to 4 minutes or until thickened.
- Pour the sauce over the chicken mixture in the casserole dish; mix and stir to combine.
- Sprinkle the shredded cheeses over the top and cover the casserole dish with foil.
- Bake for 35 to 40 minutes or until the casserole is bubbly and the quinoa is thoroughly cooked.
- Remove from oven and let stand for 7 to 8 minutes.
- Garnish with parsley and serve.
Notes
- Wash the quinoa under cold water for 2 minutes in a fine mesh strainer. It gets rid of any bitterness and helps it cook evenly.
- Brown the chicken first. It makes the casserole taste better, so don’t miss this part.
- Broccoli: Frozen broccoli works like a charm here. If you have to use fresh broccoli, I suggest blanching them for about 2 minutes before adding them to the casserole.
- Rice vs. Quinoa: Rice will absorb different amounts of liquid than quinoa, and the cooking time will be different, so best to cook the rice and drain it before using it in this casserole.
- Cheese choices: I suggest using reduced-fat shredded cheddar, but full-fat works too. You can also use shredded pepper jack cheese or mozzarella or whatever shredded cheeses you have on hand.
- Be patient with the sauce. Let it thicken on the stovetop, or you might have a watery mess. Keep whisking that sauce while it cooks; it’ll stop it from burning, and make sure it thickens up just right.
- Storing Leftovers: Transfer leftovers to a sealed container and keep them in the fridge for about 3 days. To freeze it, place the casserole in a freezer-safe container, and keep it in the freezer for up to 3 months.
Nutrition
Nutritional info is an estimate and provided as courtesy. Values may vary according to the ingredients and tools used. Please use your preferred nutritional calculator for more detailed info.
Hello! I made this recipe last night and it turned out great – lots of flavor. I used uncooked quinoa from Costco and it cooked well. This makes me think maybe the reason it didn’t work for other readers is because they may not of a) soaked the quinoa (which I did while making everything else) b) rinsed the quinoa (which I also did).
Hope that is helpful!
HI Melissa!!
I think you figured it out! THANK YOU!! I truly appreciate your input, and I will make a note in the recipe. I completely forgot to mention rinsing the quinoa!
I made this tonight-Amazing! Somehow I had forgotten to get broccoli while shopping today, subed it with a zucchini and summer squash from my garden….worked well! No one will mind eating the leftovers from this one. Thanks for sharing your recipe ๐
SO glad you enjoyed it! Thank you! ๐
If I use fresh broccoli will it still turn out. I’m new to cooking.
Hi Christina! Yep, fresh broccoli works just as well. Let me know how it was! ๐
Hi Katerina – should the chicken be fully cooked when you put it into the oven? Thanks!
Hi Katie!! Yes, it should be fully cooked. When it’s cut into little cubes, it shouldn’t take more than a couple of minutes to be done.
Have a great weekend!
I made this last night & I was really hoping for a better turnout ๐ my quinoa didn’t cook either (I don’t know what kind it is, I believe I got it at Costco) but the crunchiness of it wasn’t unbearable so it’s going to get eaten. It was SUPER runny though too… Not sure what happened but I will have to re-make this again but with pre-cooking the quinoa & maybe not as much chicken broth.
Thanks for the recipe!!
Hi Chelsea! Thanks so much for weighing in. I will make a note in the recipe box to precook the quinoa. I’ve made this a few times and the quinoa was cooked, but maybe it’s in the brand… who knows!
In as far as the sauce, that should be cooked until it has thickened. Do you think maybe it wasn’t thick enough when you removed it from the heat?
I made this tonight, and it ended up in the trash. I’m so sad, because the flavor was delicious, but the quinoa didn’t even begin to cook. It looked exactly like it did in the bag. I will definitely make this again, but I will pre-cook the quinoa. Thanks so much for sharing this easy recipe!
He Keisha!! So it didn’t cook? Did you try it? Was it crunchy?? I wonder why it didn’t cook… ๐ Let me know if you can, was it red qinuoa? I’ve made this many times, at least 5 times in the past 2 months, and it always works out, but I didn’t try it with red quinoa, only with regular. Just wondering if something like that might be an issue. Let me know if you have a chance. Thank YOU for chiming in!
Um, THANK YOU!! This worked beautifully, hubby said it’s one of the best dinners I ever made! Love that you don’t need to pre-cook the quinoa, and I used rotisserie chicken from the store so it was ridiculously easy (I am really lazy!) This one goes into regular rotation – thanks for sharing!
Hi Rebecca! I’m so happy you enjoyed it! THANK YOU! AND? YAY for rotisserie chicken! I loooove me a shortcut! ๐
Love that this is a quick one pan dish and the quinoa cooks in the oven!
My husband had all the doors and windows off the Jeep this weekend – it barely got over 40 degrees. We’re SO ready for summer. Also, I have a huge bag of quinoa that needs to be used before we move so I’m definitely making this. Like, tomorrow.
Thanks for sharing the recipe! It looks great for a wonderful family dinner!