Broccoli Rice Casserole from Scratch
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This Broccoli Rice Casserole is made from scratch (and contains no condensed soup). Fresh crisp broccoli and fluffy rice come together in a creamy cheesy homemade sauce to create a family favorite side dish!
If you’re looking for a side dish your whole family is going to love, this is it!
So many broccoli rice casserole recipes contain condensed soup (like cream of mushroom) however this casserole is made without soup. Instead, broccoli and rice are combined with a quick, easy and extra cheesy homemade sauce (Yes, I did say quick and easy).
Don’t let the homemade sauce scare you away from giving this recipe a try, this from scratch cheese sauce tastes amazing (much better than just adding in a can of soup)!
While you most likely have most of the ingredients for this recipe on hand already, it is very versatile! Out of cheddar? Use swiss!… Use cauliflower or add ham or chicken or whatever other veggies you have on hand to turn it from a side into a whole meal!
To lighten this up a little bit you can use light cheese and lowfat milk with great results. Brown rice works really well in this recipe too!
This is one of those dishes that my whole family loves, it’s comforting and delicious and packed with flavor.
Broccoli Rice Casserole from Scratch
This Broccoli Rice Casserole is made from scratch (and contains no condensed soup). Fresh crisp broccoli and fluffy rice come together in a creamy cheesy homemade sauce to create a family favorite side dish!
Ingredients:
- 6 cups fresh broccoli cut into bite sized pieces
- 2 cups cooked white rice
Sauce
- 3 tablespoons butter
- 3/4 cup onion , diced (about 1 small)
- 3 tablespoons flour
- 2 cups milk
- 1/4 teaspoon each garlic & black pepper
- 1/2 teaspoon dry mustard powder
- 1/2 teaspoon paprika
- salt to taste
- 3 tablespoons cream cheese
- 2 cups shredded cheddar cheese , divided
Directions:
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- Cook onion and butter on medium-low heat until softened and translucent. Stir in flour, garlic powder and pepper. Cook an additional 2 minutes.
- Gradually pour in milk while whisking. Continue whisking over medium heat until thick and bubbly. Remove from heat and add dry mustard, paprika, cream cheese and 1 1/2 cups cheddar cheese. Stir until melted.
-
Place broccoli in boiling water for about 2 minutes. You still want it slightly crisp as it cooks more in the oven.
-
Stir together rice, broccoli and cheese sauce. Place in a greased 2 qt casserole dish. Top with remaining cheese and bake 35 minutes or until bubbly and cheese lightly browned.
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Holly Nilsson
Holly is a wine and cheese lover, recipe creator, shopping enthusiast and self appointed foodie. Her greatest passion is creating in the kitchen and making deliciously comforting recipes for the everyday home cook!
The versatility of a great white sauce is endless! Everyone should learn how to make the base for so many great sauces and casseroles. I bet the whole “Cream of” soup business would crumble! How much healthier is it to add fresh green beans and mushrooms to a well seasoned white sauce to make the traditional holiday casserole? Add cheeses of many flavors to top veggies and meats. Make the base of great soups. I should start a class about what butter, flour and milk can really achieve!
Had anyone tried to make this totally diary and wheat free?
I have made scratch cheese sauce with gf flour in the past with no problem. And I will be doing this recipe for tday tomorrow
You can substitute cornstarch for the flour to make it gluten-free.
I love this idea! That would work for me… :-)
This looks SO good! Thanks so much for sharing. I have all of these ingredients on hand.
Pinning and making SOON!
Congratulations!
Your recipe is featured on Full Plate Thursday this week. Hope you have a great week and enjoy your new Red Plate!
Miz Helen
Thank you for featuring my Broccoli Rice Casserole Miz Helen!! :)
ummm, this really looks so good. I love this dish.
Here from MiZ Helens
Thank you BJ!
Wow a little different from the one I make but this really sounds good I’m trying this
So do you cook the rice first?
Yes, the rice is cooked.
How much rice do you use?
Approximately 2/3 uncooked white rice makes 2 cups cooked.
Can white rice be subbed out for whole wheat brown rice without changing other ingredients??
Yes, that would work just fine!
Thanks for the recipe!! Its in the oven now ill let you know how it turned out!!(:
Uh oh, forgot to cook rice first. Anything I can do now? I turned down the temp to a lower temperature and covered with aluminum foil to try and keep the cheese from burning, as the rice will take a while longer to cook. Any suggestions? Yikes!
That’s disappointing! I would just suggest keeping an eye on the liquid so it doesn’t dry out to much. :/ Hopefully it’s still ok.
Adding some chicken broth to the dish to help the rice cook by absorbing the liquid would help and of course, covering the dish with foil is a great idea.
can I use “minute” white rice?
I haven’t made it that way but I’m sure it will work. You may need to adjust your cooking time.
Can anyone suggest amount of chicken that I would place in this dish and if I should cook it before putting it in the casserole to cook for the 35 minutes with the rest of the dish.
What a great idea adding chicken to this! I like to buy the already cooked roasted white chicken meat at my local Cost Co. I usually divide it up and freeze for quick meals. I have some in my freezer right now. I would think like 2 cups of shredded meat would make this a full meal depending on your family size.
Yum! Made this tonight and it turned out great! I used 2 bags of uncle bens ready rice in bags, and heated them separately for 90 sec each in the microwave. I also added the breast meat from one rotisseri chicken. The only thing I did wrong was didn’t salt the dish, it still was great but could have used a little salt.
Can this be frozen as in a make ahead freezer meal?
I have not tried freezing this recipe.
Just made this and it’s fabulous! Used ready made dijon mustard instead of dry, fresh garlic instead of powder and added mushrooms…going into my recipe box! Thanks! :-)
I added a Ritz cracker topping! By melting 3 tbs of butter and adding that toba sleeve of crushed Ritz crackers! I still added the 1/2 cup of cheese but it gave it the missing peice! It was amazing!
So glad you loved it. Your topping sounds delicious, thank you for sharing!
I’ve always steered clear of white sauce because any time I use flour, I get lumps. Any tips to avoid this? I’d love to try this recipe!
Be sure your roux (butter/flour) is HOT and your milk is COLD when you’re adding it, this will eliminate lumps. Be sure to whisk while adding the milk.
Wooden spoon is the best way to stir and not have lumps!
Great recipe. The only thing I would add would be salt. After I added salt it was awesome! Great recipe.
I doubled this recipe for Thanksgiving. I used a full 8oz brick of cream cheese and grated the onion. Wow, so glad there was no cream of anything soup. It was wonderful from scratch. It was gone in minutes at 2 different places I took it to. So rich, creamy, and delicious. Will make this again.
This sounds wonderful. Will serve it Christmas Eve and report back.
How much salt do you usually use? When things say salt to taste I end up using too much or not enough
I would say about 1/2 teaspoon should be plenty.
You don’t specify what type of milk, can you be skim, low fat, almond?
I use low fat (approx. 2%)
Could you use frozen broccoli and just steam it first?
I’m sure that would work however I do find frozen broccoli to be much softer. I’d suggest you don’t steam it too long so it doesn’t get mushy.
Okay, this was really fiddly, BUT, it tastes amazing!! Thank you!!
I forgot to add that I topped it with buttered Ritz cracker crumbs.
Yummy addition!! Thank you for sharing!
Could you cook the broccoli in the skillet with the sauce instead of boiling it separately? Or would that not work?
If the broccoli is fresh it would likely not soften enough cooked in the sauce as you don’t really want to boil the sauce, just thicken it.
Can I make this a day ahead and bake it the next day.
Yes that should work just fine. You may need to add 15 minutes or so to the cook time if it is cold from the fridge.
Thank You.
I was looking for something that used fresh broccoli and did NOT use canned soup. I made this yesterday for Easter dinner with the extended family. It turned out great. Will definitely make it again.
I’m so glad you and your family enjoyed it Ann!!
This looks familiar Ive been making asimilar dish for 30 years or so. I fry chicken livers battered in dry bread crumbs(lemon pepper and garlic for spices) cook a pot of white rice pour in three cans cream of broccoli soup mix it up…layer half the rice in a baking dish then the fried livers next the rest of the soup and rice on top then shred some mozzarella cheese on top melt it in the oven for a couple of minutes…Yum. But the homemade version sounds like it may be an Upgrade. Guess I’ll have to try it.
Really love your Extra Creamy One Pot Mac n Cheese recipe. Totally delicious!
Thanks for coming back to let me know that you loved it! It is one of my favorites!
I made this casserole tonight. The kids, even the picky eater, loved it. It was easy to make and nicely served. Thank you.
I’m so glad your family loved this Lynn! :)
How refreshing to find a recipe that doesn’t rely on condensed soup. This is a beautiful dish and I bet it tastes as yummy as it looks!
Thank you Amanda!
Your dish is right up my comfort food ally! Looks delish.
Thank you!
Oh yum, now that looks great. I make broccoli cheese (like cauliflower cheese) but haven’t tried adding rice before now – looks like a great way to round this out to a proper meal. A proper cheesy one ;) Will give this one a try!
Enjoy Jo, my family LOVES this one!
This looks like it is will be filling and cheap too
Anything that has got lots of cheese in it is good with me. This looks like a good way to get fussy eaters to eat more veggies.
I’m with you Dannii! Cheese in everything!
You say the sauce is easy, but it requires a lot of preparation, and a person who doesn’t cook much wouldn’t have all those spices handy. Using the creamed soups and cheese whiz makes it just as good with a lot less prep time.
Do we measure out 2 cups of rice after it is cooked which is essentially one cup of uncooked rice or is that 2 cups of raw rice then cooked ?
The rice is measured after it is cooked.
Hi Holly, can you use frozen broccoli in this recipe? It looks delicious. Thanks.
You can use frozen broccoli in this recipe. It will change the texture slightly but the dish will still be delicious.
Holly I just wanted to let you know I’ve used this recipe as a staple in my menu planning since I first came across your recipe. I’ve used it as is for side dish and as a base for many other recipes I’ve come with. Thank you so much for sharing this and all your other recipes with us.
I’m so glad you loved this recipe Kris, it’s a favorite in my family too!
I tried this this recipe yesterday for my family and they LOVED it!! It was really comfort food at its best….thank you so much.
I’m so glad your family loved this recipe!
Wow, looks DELICIOUS! I will be trying this (doubled) for Thanksgiving.
Thank you Malea. :) Happy Thanksgiving!
We are making it now, can’t wait to try it! All your recipes are about to be made in my house THANKS
How many does this feed?
This recipe serves 8 as a side dish.
Love your recipes. Plz keep posting. Thank you.
Thank you Denise.
Will try. Looks good
can this recipe be made in a crockpot instead of a casserole? I would love to do as a crockpot meal but don’t know if anything would have to be changed??
I haven’t tried this recipe in a slow cooker. Please let us know how it works out for you if you try it!
Made this for holiday dinner. It was amazing!
I’m so glad you loved it!
These casserole dishes looks extremely awesome!! I really like broccoli and macaroni casseroles!!! These are very simple to make and to prepare for a family!
It’s definitely delicious !!
Woohoo! Happy to hear it!
Trying this tonight. Seeing how my picky eaters, including my husband, will like it.
This was delicious! I added rotisserie chicken & doubled the recipe!! It’s a keeper!
Awesome! We’re happy to hear that you loved it so much!
Sounds good…and, for a change, no pre-packaged/canned items! Also, for those who are gluten intolerant, you can use corn starch instead. 1 1/2 T. in place of the flour. Thanks for a complete, from scratch recipe!
I don’t have mustard powder, what other spice would be yummy?
You could add a pinch of cayenne pepper or even a little dash of dijon mustard.
2 cups rice measured when uncooked or cooked?
The rice is measured after cooking.
Do you have any nutritional information for this recipe? I don’t think i overlooked it but maybe I did. Thanks!
Can I make this the day ahead and bake it when ready the next day? If so is the baking time different?
You can absolutely make this ahead of time Mary! The cooking time will be the same, but make sure to set your casserole dish out earlier if it is glass to avoid shattering in the oven!
Thank you for the share of Chicken rice casserole. It has been ages since I made one.
I like the idea of the onion soup mix… This will be supper tonight ( with just a little southern addition. I’ll add little cajun spice to it. ) Thanks, again.. brought back memories of the days when I had two small kids and a very limited budget…. those were the days.
That is awesome! Enjoy!
Any recommendation if you don’t have cream cheese?
I have only made this as written so I can’t say for sure.
So, I can’t see where you say to put the broccoli in raw or cooked. I’m assuming raw, guess I’ll try it. Usually the broccoli is cooked a little.
I apologize for the confusion, part of the recipe wasn’t displaying properly. I’ve updated and it should be ok now!
I absolutely LOVE this recipe! Have made it a handful of times and there are never any leftovers. Great accompaniment to fish and meat dishes but I’m vegetarian so I just have it as is. My number one comfort food!!
I’m so glad you loved it Allie!
Thank you for a from scratch broccoli and rice casserole!!! Looking forward to trying this tonight!
Thanks! :) Let us know how it turned out!