Serve up this healthy and easy broccoli chicken casserole for dinner tonight. Spiral pasta, shredded or diced chicken, mozzarella cheese, and broccoli florets in every bite. An easy throw-together dinner kids and adults will enjoy.
No canned soup is used in this casserole. A great source of protein, vitamins, and some starches. Also, you can try out this crockpot chicken and rice, vegetable enchilada casserole, or my oven-baked omelet.
Broccoli Chicken Casserole
If you have some leftover chicken you might really enjoy using it for this recipe. Or you can buy pre-cooked chicken that is frozen and use it for a shortcut.
How To Make This Chicken Broccoli Casserole
How To Make This Chicken Broccoli Casserole Saute | Add butter in a pan over medium-high heat. Once the butter has melted you will add in your onions and cook for 2-3 minutes to help soften them up. Then add in your mushrooms and garlic and cook for another 6 minutes.
Sauce | Now you will add in your flour to work on creating the sauce. You want to cook it for a minute to help remove the flour taste to your dish. Slowly add in your chicken stock and work out all the lumps.
Add in the rest of the ingredients in the recipe card below, and allow the sauce to simmer.
Assemble and Bake | Add in all your ingredients and leave some cheese out for topping. Then bake as directed in the recipe card. Serve with your favorite sides and dive in!
What Is The Best Pasta To Use
What Is The Best Pasta To Use I used spiral pasta, but any style of medium-sized pasta will work. Rotini, elbow, shells, etc. All of these are great options for your dish. If you use a spaghetti noodle, it might not hurt to break up the noodles a bit so it mixes well in the casserole.
Since you pre-cook the pasta just follow the directions on the back of the box or package.
Fresh or Frozen Broccoli
You can use fresh or frozen broccoli for this recipe. If you use fresh, you will boil it for a minute to help soften the broccoli. If you do not boil first it will have a firmer texture since the casserole doesn’t cook for that long.
Can I Leave The Chicken Out of This Recipe
If you want to leave the chicken out, that is totally fine. If you want a vegetarian dish then swap the chicken stock with vegetable stock. You will want to assemble the casserole the same way and bake for the same amount of time.
Storing and Meal Prep
How to Store Leftovers | You will want to store your leftover chicken casserole in an airtight container in the fridge. Since there is meat in the dish you will only be able to store it for 3-4 days. In terms of freezing, I have not tried to freeze the casserole so I can’t say it would store well or not.
Meal Prep | If you are looking for easy grab and go meals, this is a wonderful recipe. Place in single-serve containers and then reheat in the microwave or even eat it cold for a simple lunch to pack or an easy dinner.
Looking for More Dinner Ideas
- Teriyaki Chicken Lettuce Wraps
- Crockpot Turkey Breast
- Grilled Lemon Pepper Chicken
- Skinny White Chicken Enchiladas
Broccoli Chicken Casserole
Serve up this healthy broccoli chicken casserole for dinner tonight. No canned soups are used in this broccoli chicken casserole recipe!
Ingredients
- 8 oz. spiral pasta, cooked
- 1 pound of broccoli florets, bite-sized and boiled for one minute
- 2 tablespoons butter
- 8 oz sliced Baby Bella mushrooms
- 1 small white onion, diced
- 2 tbsp minced garlic
- 1 cup chicken stock
- 4 tablespoons flour
- 1 ½ cups milk
- 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
- ½ teaspoon pepper
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 2 cups shredded mozzarella and parmesan cheese, mixedtogether
- 2 cups diced chicken, cooked
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Heat butter in a large pan over medium-high heat. Add onion and cook for 3 minutes stirring occasionally.
- Add garlic and mushrooms and cook for 6 more minutes, or until the mushrooms are thoroughly cooked. Sprinkle the flour evenly over the top of the ingredients in the pan and stir, cooking for one minute until combined.
- Add chicken stock and stir until lumps are mostly gone. Add mustard, milk, salt, and pepper and stir until combined.
- Turn heat down to medium and continue cooking until sauce simmers. Remove from heat and add 1 cup of mixed cheeses, stirring until melted and combined. In a large casserole dish, combine pasta, broccoli, sauce, and chicken, folding together until combined.
- Smooth in an even layer and bake uncovered for 15 minutes. Remove pan from oven and sprinkle with remaining cheeses evenly on top of casserole.
- Bake uncovered for 10 more minutes or until cheese is melted. Serve warm with extra pepper, if desired.
Nutrition Information:
Yield: 8 Serving Size: 1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 296Total Fat: 14gSaturated Fat: 6gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 6gCholesterol: 58mgSodium: 445mgCarbohydrates: 24gFiber: 3gSugar: 3gProtein: 20g
Yum! This is so good. I cook the chicken in the crockpot for a few hours then shred it up to use for this dish. I also added in zuchini for a little extra crunch. Super delicious.