Made-from-scratch creamy, cheesy Chicken Broccoli Rice Casserole made in ONE POT on the stove! Tastes like risotto, but much faster to make and completely low maintenance. Loaded with tons of broccoli, this is a terrific quick dinner idea you can get on the table in less than 30 minutes.
Chicken Broccoli Rice Casserole
It never even crossed my mind to make a recipe such as this Chicken Broccoli Rice Casserole from anything but scratch. But a quick Google and I was somewhat bemused to find that there are in fact many versions of similar rice casseroles made using canned soup.
I’ve never tried this with canned soup, and I never intend to. Having tried canned soup in various forms in my time, I can say with absolute confidence that homemade from scratch is tastier, it’s better for you and it’s easy!
How to make Chicken Broccoli Rice Casserole – from scratch!
Sauté garlic and onion in butter and/or oil, then mostly cook the chicken – it finishes cooking with the rice;
Add flour, milk, broth and basic seasonings (salt, pepper, thyme), then add the rice right into the same pot. As the rice cooks, the flour thickens the liquid which makes the sauce beautifully creamy;
After 12 minutes of simmering, add the broccoli and cook for a further 3 minutes; then
Stir through cheese, top with more cheese then give it a quick broil/grill just to melt the cheese.
What this Chicken Broccoli Rice Casserole tastes like
It tastes like a creamy, cheesy risotto, it truly does. Except it’s made with normal white rice.
And being the rice snob that I am ( 🤗Asian blood), I promise you that this is as far from gluey rice as you can get. The rice is just cooked to tender al dente and it’s smothered in a creamy sauce (but no cream), as opposed to overcooked super soft rice that is gluggy with thick sauce.
Here’s close up proof – see? 🙂 If it were overcooked and gluey, the surface of the rice grains would look mushy.
I wasn’t quite sure what to call this recipe. I think of this as a rice bake which is completely illogical because it’s not cooked in the oven at all. Though someone please remind me a few months down the track to share the recipe for this that’s made entirely in the oven!
So in the end, I decided to call it a casserole, guessing that is what normal people would call this. Is that what this is?? I’m not sure. I know I’ll always think of this as a “Rice Bake”! – Nagi x
Chicken Broccoli Rice Casserole
Watch how to make it
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One Pot Broccoli, Chicken and Rice Casserole
Ingredients
- 2 tbsp (30g ) unsalted butter
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 1 onion , finely chopped
- 2 garlic cloves , minced
- 500g (1 lb) chicken thigh , cut into bite size pieces (Note 1)
- 2.5 tbsp flour (or 1 ½ tbsp. cornflour / cornstarch)
- 2 cups (500 ml) milk (any, I use low fat)
- 2 cups (500 ml) chicken broth
- 1 1/4 cups (225g) long grain white rice , uncooked (Note 2)
- 1 tsp dried thyme (or other herb of choice)
- Salt and pepper
- 1 large head of broccoli, broken / cut into small florets (~400 – 500g / 14 oz – 1 lb) (Note 3)
- 2 cups (200g) shredded mozzarella or cheddar (or other cheese of choice) (Note 4)
- Finely chopped parsley , optional garnish
Instructions
- Melt butter and heat oil in a pot over high heat. Add onion and garlic, cook for 1 minute. Add chicken and cook until it changes from pink to white. (Note 5)
- Turn stove DOWN to medium. Add flour and stir for 1 minute.
- Add half the milk, stirring as you go, and once incorporated into the flour add the rest of the milk and stir.
- Add broth, rice, thyme and a just pinch of salt and pepper.
- Stir, bring to simmer, then cover. Turn down to medium low and cook for 12 minutes.
- Remove lid – there should still be liquid on the surface. Working quickly, add broccoli, push down so it’s partly submerged, cover and cook for a further 3 minutes until broccoli is just cooked.
- Preheat grill/broiler. Remove lid and stir through half the cheese – don’t worry if it looks a bit too saucy, excess liquid gets sucked up in minutes (see video). Smooth surface, top with remaining cheese. Grill/broil until melted (or just put lid on and allow to melt with residual heat on turned off stove).
- Serve immediately, garnished with parsley if desired.
Recipe Notes:
Nutrition Information:
Chicken and Rice Casserole originally posted January 2018. Updated for housekeeping matters in January 2019 – no change to recipe, I wouldn’t dare!
More one-pot Chicken and Rice recipes
- Baked Chicken and Rice – one of my all time most popular recipes!
- One Pot Chinese Chicken and Fried Rice
- One Pot Greek Chicken and Lemon Rice – firm reader favourite!
- One Pot Chicken Shawarma and Chickpea Rice
- See all One Pot Recipes
More Chicken and Broccoli recipes
For those of you who consider these standard weekly grocery items like I do!
Life of Dozer
This is how he leaps into the water – eyes tightly closed and nose up. If he were human, he’d be holding his nose and wearing goggles. For sure.
I didn’t get this recipe in my email. I went to your Web Site to get it. I have always gotten your emails before. Did something happen to prevent me from getting it? I love your recipes and would be lost without them.
Hi Lee, could it have gotten caught in your junk mail?
Hi, Nagi,
From N. California, just wanted to let you know this is a huge hit! I sized it down for 3 people, even though I only have to cook for myself. (Leftovers, yeah!) Everything came out just like your photos, and the flavors, taste and appearance were all “On Fleek”, which in the US seems to mean “Spot On!” I had to go a bit more time on the rice, 20 mins., but that might be because I didn’t have a large dutch oven. It didn’t matter, I was very impressed a pleased with the effort and the result. I’ve said it before, but yeah…”You Rock”! Thanks for the great D-Dog snaps as well…
😂 I’m so glad it was on fleek!!
It was very tasty. Everyone loved it. I just had to cook the rice longer than it’s indicated in your recipe as after 12 min the rice was still too hard.
Hi Alina, can I ask what type of rice you used? I’m so glad it worked in the and you loved it – N x
Hi Nagi your food is wonderful .Every recipe I have cooked has been yummmmmm .Need recipes for partner going away for a week .Can most of your recipes freeze mainly your one pot meals .Thankyou Deb
Nice and easy, tastes better than you would think with the ingredient list and also healthy. Unfortunately a layer of rice burnt on the bottom, although it didn’t ruin the meal because I served it carefully without scraping the bottom.
Oh no Ben! Sounds like the temp may have been slightly too high. Glad you enjoyed it anyway! N x
I made this last night for dinner. It was quick, easy and super delicious. However, I used brown rice (as it was all I had on hand) and it failed to soak up the liquid for some reason. I had ton of liquid left. But the fact that my super picky 6 year old ate a very big helping was a definite win!
Hi C! Brown rice takes twice as long to cook and absorb liquid as white rice, please see the Rice note 🙂 I’m glad it was enjoyed though! N x
Made this tonight and added a spritz of lemon at the end. Really delicious. So nice to see a casserole dish that doesn’t use “cream of something” tinned soup. 😉
Great to hear you enjoyed this EA! N x
Can i switch out the broccoli for mushrooms? If so, is there any volume changes for the liquids I need to make?
Thanks!
Hi Lois! I would reduce the milk by 1/4 cup as the mushrooms will leech liquid 🙂
LOVE YOUR ASIAN RECIPES. KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK
Thanks Darryl! N x
I cooked this last week and it was easy and delicious! I ate it for lunch as well for the next 2 days and added baby spinach leaves when reheating for extra veg and served with a side salad. Tastes and looks like risotto without the hassle. I cooked the rice 5 mins longer based on previous comments and added less broccoli and added carrot when frying the onion and included zucchini when adding the broccoli. All worked perfectly. Will try with some corn next time too. I will try with less cheese next time as it’s tasty enough without too much. My only problem with this dish was a layer of rice stuck to the bottom of my pot (I used the same sort as you use Nagi) so maybe I had the heat too high? Despite this, it’s worth cleaning the pot to eat this again!
Made this for tea tonight so easy and tasty, have tried a lot of your recipes and they are all fantastic, keep up the good work, I love easy recipes 🙂
Just wondering what pot you used to cook this in please?
Thank you
Delicious!! My 1, 2, and 7 year old all finished there plates and my husband went back for 3rds! Great recipe. Only thing I would say is the rice needed about 5 min longer to cook but that was no big deal. Thank you for sharing!
Fantastic! So glad this was enjoyed Rhianon! N x
We all loved it! Thank you for another great recipe! Would I be able to double this recipe to get more leftovers?
Love hearing that Sandy! So pleased you enjoyed this so much 🙂 If you double it, use a very big pot and the rice will probably take an extra 3 – 5 minutes to cook. N xx
This meal was absolutely amazing.
It had so much flavour and the rice and the chicken were cooked to perfection.
My hubby said that it was in your top 10 recipes.
He just loved it and he is a rice nazi, just like you.
Thank you so much for all your wonderful recipes. They really are amazing.
Your web site is now the only one I go to for delicious family meals.
Kind regards
I love hearing that!!! Thanks so much for letting me know you both enjoyed this so much! N xx
Delicious!!! Super Cheesy & a very nice & comforting dish to eat! Thankyou x
Hi! I recently discovered your blog and I’ve been trying a lot of your recipes. I’m a beginner cook, so I follow recipes exactly. As with all your other recipes, I halved everything (cooking for one), measuring exactly (112.5gms of rice, 250gms of chicken etc). When I’d finished the step of cooking everything covered on low for 12 minutes, I uncovered it and found that all the liquid had been absorbed. There’s no way I could have cooked it for 3 more minutes without everything burning and sticking to the bottom of the pan.
The rice and chicken were cooked, and everything was coated in a nice, not thick sauce. So I took it off the heat, added the brocolli and just left it covered to steam the brocolli for 3 minutes. Did not use any cheese either, because I figured the cheese wouldn’t melt without the heat.
It was still a nice, quite tasty, barely saucy rice, chicken and vegetables dish. I enjoyed it, thank you.
That’s terrific to hear SB! Thanks for sharing your feedback! N x ❤️
Made this delicious and easy dinner last night. The family ate it up! I did; however have the same problem as another commenter: my rice wasn’t quite done. It probably needed another 5 minutes before I added the broccoli.
Looks amazing!
Thanks Crystal! N x
Made this last night with brown rice. Was so yummy!
It took about 35 minutes with ‘quick cook’ brown rice. I also replaced about half the broccoli with diced carrots for some extra colour and nutrients, just sauteed it with onions so it cooked with the rice.
You seem to have a slight technical issue. When I use the slider to adjust the servings, the amount for the rice doesn’t seem to change, everything else is fine though! I usually scale your recipes down to serve 2 or 3 as I’m only cooking for myself and the slider is super helpful! 🙂
Oh dear, I’m sorry about that Mavis! Checking into it now, thanks for letting me know! 🙂 N x