Creamy Chicken, Broccoli, and Rice Casserole

Ingredients

• 1½ lb / 680 g raw, or 3 cups chopped cooked Boneless chicken thighs or leftover cooked chicken
• 3 cups Cooked long-grain rice
• 3 cups Broccoli florets
• 3 Tbsp, plus 2 Tbsp for the crumbs Unsalted butter
• 1 small Yellow onion, finely diced
• 3 Tbsp All-purpose flour
• 1½ cups Whole milk
• ¾ cup Chicken broth
• 1½ cups Sharp cheddar, shredded
• 1 tsp Dijon mustard
• ½ tsp Garlic powder
• ½ tsp Kosher salt
• ¼ tsp Black pepper
• 1 cup Plain buttery crackers, crushed

Method

1. Heat the oven to 375°F / 190°C. Butter a 9-by-13-inch dish.
2. If the chicken is raw, simmer the thighs in water for about 12 minutes, until the center is no longer pink. Cool them enough to handle, then chop. Leftover roast chicken can go straight in. Steam the broccoli for 3 minutes, until it is bright and still has a bite. Drain it well.
3. Melt 3 Tbsp butter in a saucepan over medium. Cook the onion until soft, about 4 minutes. Stir in the flour and cook 1 minute. Whisk in the milk and broth. Simmer until the sauce thickens, about 4 minutes. Take it off the heat and stir in the cheddar, mustard, garlic powder, salt, and pepper.
4. Fold the chicken, rice, and broccoli into the sauce. Spread it in the dish. Stir the cracker crumbs with the remaining 2 Tbsp melted butter and scatter them over the top.
5. Bake 25–30 minutes, until the edges bubble and the crumbs are golden. Rest 5 minutes. The rice should already be cooked before it goes in. This bake heats the casserole. It does not finish raw rice.

Nutrition

Kitchen estimate only, not lab-verified. A creamy family bake. Broth, cheese, and crackers are the salty parts.

Guest diet / allergy swaps

Short kitchen notes for guests. A fuller gluten-free or dairy-free ingredient list, when we have one, is in the panels below.

• Low-sodium friendly

  Use no-salt-added broth, skip the ½ tsp salt, and go lighter on the cheese. Crackers are salty. Use half the crumb topping, or leave it off.

• Gluten-free style

  Use a cup-for-cup gluten-free flour in the sauce and skip the crackers, or use crumbs from crackers labeled gluten-free. Check the broth.

  • United States: Use a cup-for-cup blend whose bag says gluten-free. Rice flour also works in the roux and gravy notes below.
  • United Kingdom: Look for a free-from plain flour marked gluten free. Keep batters and gravies wetter than the wheat version.

• No pork

  This bake is chicken, rice, and broccoli. Do not swap in a ham or bacon topping.

• Dairy-free

  Milk, butter, and cheddar are the sauce. Plant milk and a dairy-free shred will loosen and brown differently. There is no clean match.

• No chicken

  Use 2 extra cups of broccoli and a can of drained chickpeas. It becomes a vegetable bake, and legumes join the allergen list.