Chicken Broccoli Cheese Rice Casserole

This simple, flavorful, and easy broccoli cheese chicken and rice casserole is an old-fashioned classic!

Course Dinner

Cuisine American, Southern

Keyword chicken and rice casserole, chicken broccoli cheese rice casserole, chicken broccoli rice casserole, Chicken Rice Casserole

Prep Time 15

Cook Time 20

Total Time 35

Servings people

Calories 482kcal

Preheat oven to 375°F. Grease a 13 x 9-inch baking dish; set aside. In a large bowl, whisk together condensed soup, mayonnaise, sour cream, garlic powder, and onion powder. Stir in the chicken, rice, broccoli florets, and celery. Taste the mixture and season with kosher salt and ground black pepper, if desired.
Transfer the chicken mixture to the prepared baking dish. Sprinkle cheddar cheese on top.
In a small bowl, stir together the breadcrumbs and melted butter. Sprinkle the buttered breadcrumbs over the top of the casserole.
Bake uncovered for 20-30 minutes, until the filling is hot and bubbly and the topping is golden brown.

You'll need cooked shredded chicken, so pickup a store-bought rotisserie chicken for a shortcut, or cook your own chicken at home. One large rotisserie chicken should yield about 3-4 cups of meat. If starting with raw chicken, boil about 1 ½ lbs. of boneless skinless chicken breasts or chicken thighs until cooked through (about 10-15 minutes). When cool enough to handle, chop or pull the chicken into bite size pieces.

If you're starting with fresh broccoli florets, you'll need to pre-cook the broccoli slightly before adding it to the casserole. This way it will be nice and tender by the time the casserole heats through. For a shortcut, I like to use thawed frozen baby broccoli florets, which are soft enough when thawed so that you don't need to steam or pre-cook them before just adding them to the dish. The baby florets are also small enough that you don't need to chop them. Just thaw, drain, and stir into the casserole!

This recipe calls for 3 cups of cooked white rice. You can boil your own rice on the stovetop, use leftovers from a previous meal, or cook parboiled rice (such as Uncle Ben's Ready Rice) in the microwave for a shortcut. If using the microwaveable rice or Minute Rice, cook the rice according to the package instructions before using it in this casserole.