Broccoli Quinoa Casserole
Healthy, cheesy comfort food without any of the guilt!
Jason and I have decided to have a mini getaway after his graduation in May. He’s been in architecture grad school for the last 3 years, and seeing that this is the last break he’ll ever have, we will be flying to a gorgeous resort to Cabo for 5 whole days! That being said, I have 2 months to get ready for bikini season, and since I love food too much to “diet”, I’ve lightened up a classic comfort food favorite.
This casserole is made completely from scratch with healthy ingredients – but have no fear – there’s plenty of cheese, creaminess, toasted breadcrumbs for that extra crunch, and an overall balance of veggies and quinoa for that extra protein. And if Jason, the all-time quinoa hater, devoured this without looking up, well, I’m sure your pickiest of eaters will just gobble this up too!
Broccoli Quinoa Casserole
Ingredients
- 1 cup quinoa
- 1 head broccoli, cut into florets and finely chopped
- 2 tablespoon olive oil, divided
- ⅓ cup Panko*
- 3 boneless, skinless thin-sliced chicken breasts
- Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
- 2 cups 2% milk
- 1 ½ cups shredded cheddar cheese, divided
- ⅓ cup Greek yogurt
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly oil an 9×13 baking dish or coat with nonstick spray.
- In a large saucepan of 2 cups water, cook quinoa according to package instructions. Within the last 5 minutes of cooking time, add broccoli on top and steam until cooked through.
- Heat 1 tablespoon olive in a large skillet over medium high heat. Add Panko and cook, stirring, until browned and toasted, about 3 minutes; set aside.
- Heat remaining 1 tablespoon olive oil in the skillet. Season chicken breasts with salt and pepper, to taste. Add to skillet and cook, flipping once, until cooked through, about 3-4 minutes per side. Let cool before dicing into bite-size pieces; set aside.
- Melt butter in the skillet over medium heat. Whisk in flour until lightly browned, about 1 minute. Gradually whisk in milk, and cook, whisking constantly, until slightly thickened, about 3-4 minutes. Stir in quinoa, broccoli, chicken, 1 cup cheese and Greek yogurt; season with salt and pepper, to taste.
- Spread broccoli mixture into the prepared baking dish; sprinkle with remaining 1/2 cup cheese. Place into oven and bake until cheese has melted, about 5 minutes.
- Serve immediately, sprinkled with Panko, if desired.
Notes
Did you make this recipe?
Tag @damn_delicious on Instagram and hashtag it #damndelicious!
Do you think this could be made ahead and frozen?
disregard… I see another response that indicates not to freeze
I mistakenly thought that making a casserole would save me time. I would have been better off preparing the components separately. Even with added onions, garlic, and mushrooms the dish was not very flavorful and not worth the time and effort. Sorry, I really wanted to like it!
Oh my! Absolute BEST quinoa recipe I’ve made. I actually forgot to add greek yogurt but still came out delicious. Definitely a keeper for weeknight dinner rotation. Thanks for sharing!
This recipe was wonderful. Thanks for sharing! Your directions were great and the casserole turned out perfectly. Definitely will be repeating and recommending along.
My husband and I both loved this. I did tweak it slightly to suit our tastes (slightly less cheese, added onion and garlic), but kept all the fundamental ingredients and the method intact. This is a great recipe – the panko was an especially perfect touch. Thank you!!
This is so delicious I have made it numerous times.
To save time I use previously cooked chicken – 2 to 3 cups diced.
I steam the broccoli pieces separately then cut it up finely.
I just made this, but I completely changed it up. Instead of butter, I used olive oil, instead of flour I used almond flour, instead of milk I used almond milk, and added a tbs of cornstarch and a tbs of cold water to thicken it up, and left out the cheese completely. I believe it’s gluten free this way but I could be wrong, it’s much less calorie filled though. But the flavor was left out this way, so I added some salt and mrs dash and that helped. A good week day healthy alternative!
Wow – I’m converted. Never been a huge fan of quinoa, but in this recipe I can eat it all day, any day. Absolutely delicious 🙂
This is delicious. I’ve made it twice now – the first as written (it was great!) and the second time with a little bit of chopped red onion and a clove of garlic with the chicken. I used frozen broccoli, rotisserie chicken, and one of those heat and serve bags of quinoa. It was ready really quickly and it’s so comforting. Thanks for a great recipe.
Hi,
Can I substitute risotto for the quinoa? This looks so delicious but not sure the kids (or I) will eat quinoa. 🙂
Yes, absolutely.
Damn delicious meal! Everyone loved it! Thank you 🙂
Can I make this without the chicken? Maybe up the broccoli portions?
Yes, absolutely.
Ooops! Just saw your response to the same question asked before me! Sorry for the duplicate question!!
Could u make this without the chicken? And what adjustments to the recipe would there be?
Amanda, yes, you can omit the chicken as needed, although you may have to adjust the other ingredients as needed to compensate for this.
Can’t wait to try this!!
i just made this with the help of my mother and it tasted amazing! Even though the recipe is not completely healthy, the quinoa and broccoli kind of balance everything out. I loved it, and will definitely make it again soon!
I made this for dinner tonight after seeing this recipe on Pinterest. I’m only just getting into cooking and I was really proud of how this turned out!!! So delicious and cheesy. I also added some cauliflower that was sitting in my fridge.
Thanks so much, this is great!
Michaela from Melbourne
Has anyone ever made this as a side dish by omitting the chicken?
I got your recipe from an email, Domino maybe… I forget. But so delish and easy to make. I’ll be searching your site for for more dinner ideas!
can you use a rotisserie chicken (shredded)?
Yes, but you may have to adjust the other ingredients as needed to account for this addition.
Made this for dinner tonight and everybody had second helpings so I’m thinking it was a success! I added in some red pepper flakes when mixing everything at the end for an extra kick. The greek yogurt gives it a great creaminess. Thanks for the recipe 🙂
Thank you for having a broccoli casserole recipe that doesn’t begin with one can of cream of anything. I already have the cooked quinoa in the fridge. Love that you did it all in your skillet too! I’m following suit.
I really enjoyed this recipe. I used tricolor quinoa from Trader Joe’s and cooked it with chicken broth as suggested on the package. I was feeling kind of lazy and didn’t want to cook chicken, so I left it out and cooked extra quinoa instead. I sprinkled some garlic powder, onion powder, and cayenne pepper in the sauce mixture when I added the milk. I’ve been craving comfort food, and this really hit the spot. I’ll be saving this recipe to make again.