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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.
Hi! This looks amazing…I want to make a few freezer meals and have this on my list. Have you made this ahead and froze it?
I just made this and it turned out well. I subbed out the milk and used a can of cream of celery and used two cups of chicken stock instead. I put pepper in it and didn’t mess with any other spices, mainly because I forgot, haha. My quinoa wasn’t cooked in the middle and I cooked in for another 25 minutes. It was good! I used a large 9×13 pan. I didn’t soak/wash since the quinoa I bought was pre-washed. I will make this again!
SOOOOO very good! Have to double it for the next time though! Thanks
Delicious! Thank you. I made a few substitutions. I used fresh broccoli,clean chx broth, whole wheat flour, left out the parm cheese and chili powder (personal preference) and only 1 cup of unsweetened almond milk.
Do you know approx sodium?
How do you mix flour in stock without get lumps? What size casserole?
Didn’t pre cook the quinoa and this came out great! So easy to make. Thanks for sharing!
Made this and it came out great. Only exception is that I forgot to defrost the chicken so I ended up picking up some shrimp and used Gruyere instead of cheddar.
I made this casserole and followed the directions exactly and it came out great! All the quinoa cooked with the exception of some on the edges of the dish which ended up getting toasted. This was my first ever casserole attempt and I found it easy and successful. My boyfriend loved it as well, he added some hot sauce on top. Thank you for sharing!
Iโm having issues with the flour clumping. I tried taking my time and gradually add in the water and milk but did not help. Itโs just a hot clump mess. Donโt have this issue when I do it with butter.
Hi!
Can you add more liquid? 1/2 cup of flour and 3 cups of liquid shouldn’t make the sauce clump up. It should thicken the sauce, but it should also be pourable.
Well I stuck to the recipe 100%. Once it became clumpy I could not get the clumps out so I tossed it out. I will try adding butter first with the flour and hope that helps next time. Thanks though!
I just made this for dinner tonight and it tastes great! I, too, had the same problem others did. My quinoa wasn’t cooked when I took it out of the oven at 40 minutes. I ended up stirring it and then baking it for ten more minutes and it was done! Thanks for the recipe!
This looks delicious! I was wondering if it can be prepared the night before and then put into the oven the next day?
Hi Nikki! You can definitely prep it the night before, but I would advise not to pour the sauce over the chicken and quinoa until you are ready to bake it. Also, right before you want to bake the casserole, reheat and stir the sauce just a bit so to thin in it out, add it the casserole dish, sprinkle with cheese, and bake. Hope that helps. Have a great week ahead!
Perfect! This was the question I was going to ask. I get home so late from work..that this recipe would be a struge to get through and cook in one night! Excited it can be a two day process!