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| Cheesy Broccoli Rice Casserole |
A warm and comforting casserole that can be a side dish or a main–just add leftover meat for a complete meal!
This is a wonderful casserole for cold winter nights! It’s full of cheese and delicious broccoli.
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| Comfort food and you can use your leftovers! |
I added some leftover chicken to the mix, but you don’t have to do that. If you leave it out, it becomes either a meatless/vegetarian main dish or a rich side dish.
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| You’ll love the buttery crunchy topping |
I used white rice in this as I was pressed for time. However, I want to try it next with brown rice. Since the rice is cooked first, the length of time for the final cooking will not be altered. Quinoa would probably be even better! So use whatever grain you want! Even leftover rice will do!
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| Creamy, cheesy and delicious |
Sure this casserole is heavy on the fat, but using brown rice or quinoa packs quite a bit of fiber–as does the broccoli.
Anyway, this is comfort food at it’s finest. Enjoy!
- 10 oz frozen broccoli florets, defrosted & drained
- 1 can (10.75 oz) cream of chicken soup
- 2 cup cooked rice
- 1½ cups shredded cheddar cheese
- ½ cup cubed Velveeta*
- ½ cup evaporated milk or cream
- 2 tbs butter
- ½ tsp pepper
- ½ tsp salt
- 2 cups cooked cubed chicken (optional)
- Topping:
- 1 cup Ritz cracker crumbs
- 2 tbs butter, melted
- *The Velveeta may be omitted. I add this as Velveeta stops any cheese sauce from separating and keeps it creamy. I happen to like it too, but if you don’t, just leave it out.
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly spray a 1.5 quart oven-proof baking dish.
- Cut broccoli florets into pieces all about the same size.
- In a large microwave-safe bowl, combine soup, evaporated milk, butter and Velveeta. Microwave on HI for about 1 minute; remove and stir. If mixture still has large chunks of the Velveeta, then microwave an additional 30 seconds on HI. Remove and stir until almost smooth.
- Add cooked rice, broccoli, shredded cheddar, salt, pepper and chicken if using, to bowl with the soup/cheese mixture. Mix well.
- Turn into prepared baking dish.
- Mix Ritz crumbs with melted butter, so all crumbs are coated. Top casserole with buttered crumbs.
- Bake 30-35 minutes or until crumbs are browned and sauce bubbles on the edges of the baking dish.
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| Piping hot from the oven |
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Yum
This casserole sounds so yummy. Broccoli and rice with some cheese should taste lovely.
This looks like the perfect meal on a chilly winter night…even my very cold 60 degrees nights!
My Mom used to make a similar dish using a jar of Cheese Wiz rather than the Velveeta. It was SO good! I have to try this version just to see how it compares.
You could use CheezWiz in this too Jeff! I put leftover chicken in this one, but you could leave that out too. You should check out my broccoli one with cheese sauce & Ritz crumbs. There's many like that floating around, but this is one my neighbor used to make and it's the best *ever*
I've been making this casserole for years but my recipe calls for an onion sautéed in a half stick of butter. I cannot imagine the taste of this casserole without the onion. I would imagine it tasting flat. My original recipe also called for cheese whiz but I have used fresh cheese as well as Velveeta and my favorite is still the Velveeta. It's just the creamiest!
I found the soup flavored it enough for me and the Velveeta is pretty zingy too. That's the beauty of dishes like this–so many things can be added, or not, depending on your taste.
Can you prepare everything ahead of time and put it into the oven later that day???
Sure can!
Can you freeze this and cook the day of Thanksgiving? At what point would you freeze?
Lisa Young recently posted…Pinwheel Meatloaf
Hi Lisa,
I’ve never frozen this so I’m not sure of the results, but if I was going to, I’d freeze it without the crumbs on top since they may get soggy. I’d use the evaporated milk too instead of the cream. If you do freeze it, please let me know the results you got because it would be very helpful to others. Happy Thanksgiving!
I want to make this for Thanksgiving. Can you clarify about the frozen broccoli? It says defrosted and drained. So do I just thaw it and drain or actually cook them and drain? This might be a stupid question. Sorry.
Just thaw it and drain it. What I do is put it in a colander and run cold water over it to remove the frost. Speeds the defrosting process up too. Happy Thanksgiving! Hope you enjoy this.