Gluten-free Chicken Broccoli Rice Casserole
Sharing this family favorite freezer meal recipe for gluten-free chicken broccoli rice casserole. I love pulling one of these out of the freezer on a busy night! One of the best things about this recipe is that it doesn’t use any canned soups!
This gluten-free chicken broccoli rice casserole is my family’s favorite casserole. I’ve been making it for 15 years! We enjoyed it this latest time with my gluten-free cornbread muffins.
I love that it is a naturally gluten-free recipe, so I didn’t have to make changes to it when we had to go gluten-free. The best part is that this is a great gluten-free make ahead meal to put in the freezer.
There have been so many times in my life when I’ve been thankful to have this healthy chicken broccoli rice casserole stocked in my freezer.
Freezer meals were a lifesaver when I had a newborn baby, sick kids, when I was recovering from surgery or one of my children was recovering from surgery, or when I was so sick before my celiac diagnosis and couldn’t cook for my family. All of those times, I was thankful for being able to pull a meal out of the freezer to defrost, then bake for an easy dinner.
For the shredded chicken in this recipe, I usually buy a Rotisserie Chicken from Costco to shred up, or I will cook a bunch of chicken breasts in a skillet or on the grill, then shred. I personally prefer chicken breast meat, but you could definitely use thighs if you prefer.
I also love to have gluten-free freezer meals like these in the freezer so that you can give to others in need. When you have a friend or neighbor going through a tough time, it is such a blessing to be able to drop off a gluten-free chicken and rice casserole that they can bake when it is convenient for them.
Notes on Ingredients and Substitutions for this gluten-free chicken broccoli rice casserole:
- Dairy – Yes, this recipe has a LOT of dairy in it. Butter, milk and shredded cheddar cheese. I have not tried substituting these all for their dairy-free alternatives but it is definitely worth a try if you need that! I would substitute a butter alternative like Melt or Earth Balance for the butter, your favorite non-dairy milk for the milk, and use a dairy-free cheese.
- Mushrooms: You can omit these if your family is not a fan of mushrooms. You could instead include a bit of celery, chopped onions, water chestnuts or thinly sliced carrots if you’d like.
- Broccoli: You could swap out some of the broccoli for cauliflower if you like it! Fresh or frozen chopped asparagus would work well in this too.
- Chicken: I always use shredded chicken breast or shredded Rotisserie chicken meat. I think you could use leftover turkey too!
- Rice: Use your favorite. Sometimes I make it with a white basmati rice like I used here and sometimes I use brown rice to make it a chicken broccoli brown rice casserole.
As written, this recipe will make three 8″x8″ casseroles or four 8″x6″ casseroles. If you want to have a super big cooking session, you can double this recipe to yield even more!
How to make this gluten-free chicken casserole:
- First make sure you have pre-cooked chicken and pre-cooked rice ready. I think it is very important to cook your rice in chicken or vegetable broth instead of water! I count on you doing that for flavor here.
- Spray your nonstick pans with nonstick cooking spray.
- In a large stockpot, you’ll melt the butter, then add the cooked rice, mushrooms, garlic, milk and half of the shredded cheddar cheese and cook until it’s all melted.
- Next you stir in the broccoli, chicken, salt and garlic powder and cook for about 5 minutes.
- Remove from heat and divide the mixture evenly among the four 8×6″ or three 8×8″ pans you’ve chosen to use.
- Sprinkle with remaining cheese.
The reusable 8×8-inch pans that I used to use for my gluten-free casserole recipes were discontinued. Then I found these cute and practical 8.5″x6″ pans from Simply Baked (new design here if that one is unavailable). This recipe fills up four of them. One is enough for my family of four, served with hearty sides. Your family might prefer eating two of them, and freezing the other two.
These aluminum pans are a close in size alternative that just doesn’t have a cute pattern on top. Plus with 50 of them in one order, you can make all the gluten-free chicken casserole recipes you want!
You could also use the disposable foil baking pans commonly found at grocery stores.
Either bake immediately or seal, label and put in freezer for later use.
When I serve this to my family, we like to have it with gluten-free cornbread or with gluten-free biscuits. I often open up a jar of homemade applesauce for a side dish too.
Here are some other comfort food recipes to bring to a friend in need. Note: Some of these are not gluten-free recipes, but you can hopefully adapt some!
Gluten-free Sweet Chicken – I make this to deliver to friends often! It’s so easy to make, and easy to reheat!
Arroz con Pollo from my friend Amanda. She says it freezes well too!
Kick Ass Chicken Lasagna – Sugar Dish Me – Just swap the lasagna noodles for gluten-free noodles, and replace the flour with cornstarch for this recipe.
Meals to Deliver to Family and Friends – Barefeet in the Kitchen
Best Meals to Deliver to Friends – Slow Roasted Italian
Let me know what you enjoy serving with this chicken broccoli rice cheese casserole too!
Gluten-free Chicken Broccoli Rice Casserole Recipe:
Gluten-free Chicken Broccoli Rice Casserole
This hearty gluten-free casserole freezes beautifully! One pan feeds my family, so we enjoy one on the night I make this, and freeze the other two. Tip: Use masking tape or a freezer label to label these, and put the baking instructions (350° for 30 minutes) right on the label so you won't have to go find the recipe again. As written, this recipe will make three 8x8-inch casseroles or four 8"x6" casseroles. If you want to have a super big cooking session, you can double this recipe below to yield even more!
Ingredients
- 6 Tbsp. salted butter
- 6 cups cooked long grain brown rice or basmati rice (cooked in broth*)
- 2 cups sliced fresh mushrooms
- 2 tsp. minced garlic
- 1 1/2 cups milk
- 16 oz. (4 cups) cheddar cheese, shredded, divided
- 6 cups chopped fresh broccoli (about 3 heads)
- 5 cups shredded chicken
- 1 tsp. salt
- 1 tsp. garlic powder
Instructions
- Precook your rice in chicken broth instead of water to yield 6 cups of cooked rice. Precook your chicken and shred, to yield 5 cups shredded chicken.
- Spray three 8x8" oven and freezer safe baking pans (glass, aluminum, foil, or Gladware oven pans) or four 8x6" pans with non-stick cooking spray. Set aside.
- In a large stockpot, melt the butter. Once melted, add the cooked rice, sliced mushrooms, garlic, milk and half of the shredded cheddar cheese. Cook over medium heat until the cheese is all melted.
- Add the broccoli, chicken, salt and garlic powder and cook over medium heat, for about 5 minutes, stirring frequently.
- Remove from heat and divide the mixture evenly in the three baking pans. Sprinkle the remaining cheese evenly over the three pans.
- Seal the containers, label and put in the freezer, or bake immediately.
- When ready to bake, thaw completely, remove any lids, and preheat oven to 350°.
- Bake until casserole is heated throughout and broccoli is tender, about 25-30 minutes.
Notes
If you'd like, you can add 1/2 cup of diced onion when you add the broccoli.
It is important for flavor to use rice cooked in chicken broth instead of water. Just follow your rice cooking instructions, but substitute chicken or vegetable broth for the same amount of water (or use water with bouillon dissolved in it).
old pin with the old 8×8 reusable containers I used to use before they stopped making them (they all eventually warped too)
I hope you and your family enjoy this gluten-free broccoli casserole as much as my family does! Please come back and give this gf casserole a 5 star rating if you love it!
Do you have idea what the nutritional values are for this recipe? I am trying to be good and track my food. Thanks!
You didn’t answer the question about making it dairy free. Would almond milk or coconut milk work in this recipe?
I use almond milk in quite a few recipes instead of milk and they turn out fine. I haven’t made this recipe yet, but I’m sure it would be fine with almond milk (not sure about coconut milk though). I’m planning to use almond milk when I do make it. Give it a go! 🙂
I made this tonight for a potluck dinner for my daughter and a few others that were gluten free. It got high marks from everyone. My daughter is not crazy about mushrooms, but I thought it needed the added flavor so I diced them and sauted them before adding them to the casserole. I also used 2 cans of chicken stock when making my rice. Delicious!
HI, just wondering if this would be suitable to reheat in a microwave once fully defrosted??
We have made this several times now and it is excellent! However, we did use almost double the amount of milk that it called for to make sure that it was creamy and moist. I also cook my brown rice in chicken broth for extra flavor. Healthy comfort food!
Just an FYI, rotisserie chickens from Costco and other grocery stores in Ontario are NOT gluten free. Takes a time saving step away but the recipe still looks scrumptious!
I forgot to mention that i leave out the broccoli and mushrooms most times and it still turns out great!
I love this recipe ive made it about 6 times now! The only thing i do differently is do a 2/3rds batch so it fits in a 9×13. Im allergic to gluten so it was awesome finding a recipe thats naturally gf and isnt too futsy. Thank you so much for posting this!
I just made this but substituted cashews for mushrooms. It was delicious! Thank you for the great recipe.
Would you happen to know the nutritional contents such as calories per serving ?
This was amazing. So good I halved the recipe and kicked myself in the butt for it! The more, the better!!
Haha. Well that will teach you, won’t it?! Glad you liked it! Now you’ll know to make the whole batch next time!
Making 3 pans of this! One for dinner this week, one for our freezer and one for my sister in laws freezer when they welcome baby #2 next week.
Great idea!! Hope everyone enjoyed it!
Thank you for sharing this. I tried it today for dinner and my friends loved it. I will definitely be making more!
Janet,
So glad that you and your friends loved it! It is always nice to have another favorite recipe to add to your recipe book!
This dish was terrible, no flavor, very dry. My boyfriend and I threw it all in the garbage. Maybe if there was a different sauce it could be okay.
I’m really sorry that you didn’t enjoy this one.
I was wondering about all the garlic. I plan on making this for a girl at my church who is recovering from surgery who is gf and then myself at a later time because I am also gf. Would it work to change the garlic powder to onion powder? Then maybe adding black pepper? Or using an already seasoned rotisserie chicken in order to add flavor?
So…I read you comment before making this recipe. It would be very dry as written. I cooked my rice in chicken broth. I used frozen broccoli, rotisserie chicken, sliced mushrooms in the jar. I added pepper and substituted buttermilk for the milk. I ended up using 2 1/4 cups or a little more of the buttermilk. I just kept adding until it looked wet enough. It turned out flavorful and very moist. Try it this way. I think you will like it.
Taking this to gluten free neighbor recovering from surgery. Thanks for the recipe!
Hope your neighbor enjoyed it. So sweet of you to make it!
Looks great, thank you for ALL you do. Where do you get these black containers?
Any recommendations for a subsitute for the mushrooms? We have an allergy in our house, and I know I could just leave them out, but I like the idea of having a few different veggies in there.
Great post!
JD,
I was drawing a blank, but asked a few friends for suggestions and here’s what we came up with: artichoke hearts, water chestnuts, cashews, eggplant or olives. I think any of those things would work in this recipe, though not all together! 🙂
I miss my cakes and home made pies are there any good pie crust recipies out there. My grandaughert will be 4 this August AND HAS NEVER had a real birthday cake. This angel needs to celebrate like the rest of the kids. PLEASE HELP PLEASE !!!! I’d be ever soooooothankful God Bless
I make pie crust using gluten free pancake mix. Add a little shortening(Crisco) to pie plate then press prepared mix in pan and up sides.
@JD, i sister used a bag of mixed vegetables…….
Can one sub milk for almond milk and it still turn out good?
@Christina, use your preference of milk. It will not affect the dish.
Broccoli and cheese is a absolute favorite of mine, so I super love this casserole! Yum!
Michelle,
I am just blown away that you would take the time to do this for me, especially because I don’t really “know” you. Thank you so much for you kindness and generosity! I am truly humbled.