This Broccoli Rice Casserole recipe is made from scratch with no condensed soup! Fresh broccoli cooked until tender crisp and fluffy rice come together in a creamy cheesy homemade sauce to create a family favorite side dish!
This cheesy broccoli rice casserole is great served alongside our Crispy Baked Chicken with a tossed salad for the perfect easy meal!
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If you’re looking for a side dish your whole family is going to love, this broccoli rice casserole is the answer! I’ve combined my favorite velvety cheese sauce with a combination of broccoli & rice and baked it until bubbly. The result is a side (or a quick meatless meal that my whole family loves)!
How Do You Make Broccoli Rice Casserole?
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)!
- The sauce for this recipe starts with a roux (which is just butter and flour cooked and milk added). Let the butter and flour cook for a few minutes before adding milk for the best flavor.
- Slowly stir in milk a bit at a time while whisking and cook until thick and bubbly. Add cheeses and stir until melted and creamy.
- Toss cheese sauce with broccoli and rice and bake in a casserole dish.
Variations on Broccoli Rice Casserole
- Lighten it up: To lighten this up a little bit you can use light cheese and lowfat milk with great results. We’ve also subbed in brown rice or quinoa (or even Cauliflower Rice) with amazing results.
- Add protein: We very often add in chicken to make a chicken and rice casserole (the perfect way to enjoy your leftover baked chicken breasts). Turkey or ham work great too.
- Swap the Cheeses: Out of cheddar? Use swiss, monterey jack or whatever you have on hand.
- Add veggies: Add in cauliflower or whatever other veggies you have on hand to turn it from a side into a whole meal!
Serving Suggestions
Broccoli Rice Casserole is great as an entrée for vegetarians, but if you are a meat-eater, it goes perfectly with any kind of protein! It’s a perfect complement to roasted chicken, pork chops, or even a beef roast!
Add a crunchy, cold salad, some dinner rolls with butter!
Cheesy Dishes You’ll Love
- Broccoli Cheese Soup – ready in 20 mins!
- Cheesy Broccoli Cauliflower Casserole – made without condensed soup
- Cheese Grits – deliciously creamy side dish!
- Broccoli Cheese Casserole with Ham – quick & easy cheese sauce!
- Homemade Mac and Cheese Casserole – rich, creamy casserole
Equipment
Ingredients
- 6 cups broccoli florets cut into bite sized pieces
- 2 cups cooked white rice
For the Sauce
- 1 small onion diced
- 3 tablespoons butter
- 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
- ¾ teaspoon garlic powder
- ½ teaspoon black pepper
- 2 cups milk
- ½ teaspoon dry mustard powder
- ½ teaspoon paprika
- ½ teaspoon salt more to taste
- 3 tablespoons cream cheese
- 2 cups shredded sharp cheddar cheese divided
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Bring a large pot of water to a boil.
- In a medium saucepan, cook onion and butter on medium-low heat until softened and translucent. Stir in flour, garlic powder, and pepper, and cook for 2 minutes more.
- Gradually pour in milk while whisking. Continue whisking over medium heat until thick and bubbly.
- Remove the sauce from the heat and add dry mustard, paprika, cream cheese, and 1 ½ cups of cheddar cheese. Stir until melted. Taste, and season the sauce with additional salt and pepper if needed.
- Place broccoli in boiling water for 1-2 minutes, until bright green, but still crisp. Drain well.
- Stir together cooked rice, broccoli, and cheese sauce. Place in a greased 2-quart casserole dish. Top with the remaining cheese and bake for 35 minutes. or until cheese is bubbly and lightly browned.
Video
Notes
Nutrition Information
Nutrition information provided is an estimate and will vary based on cooking methods and brands of ingredients used.
Course Side Dish
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Can you make the broccoli rice casserole the day or the morning before?
Yes, you can make this ahead of time Bev. I hope you enjoy the casserole!
Excellent comfort food! I loved the sauce and will use it making other dishes (i.e. pasta and veggies).
I added leftover rotisserie chicken and I did add about 1/4 cup chicken broth before it went into the oven. Maybe adding the chicken was why it seemed to need more liquid?
No matter – my family loved it all.
I am so glad your family liked this casserole Cheryl! I love the sauce too and think it would be wonderful with pasta! Please let me know how that works out for you when you try it!
Delicious & has become one of my go-to recipes. Love that it’s easy to make gluten free; I substitute equal amount of a GF baking mix for the flour and the sauce has worked every time. The cream cheese helps with the thickening. I add mushrooms & use brown rice. Once the rice is cooked and the broccoli cut up, goes quickly. So flexible and so far everyone likes it. Comfort food.
I am so glad you have enjoyed this recipe and been able to adapt it to be gluten free Gwendolyn!
This is the BEST Broccoli Rice Casserole I have ever made! My daughter and husband love it! So easy to get them those vegetable servings when I make this. Thank you for this recipe!
Yay, so glad your family loved it Jeanette!
I made this today but used Indian basmati rice soooooo delicious family loved it thank you for this amazing yet simple recipe
So glad you loved it Robert!
My whole family loved this!! Didn’t have dry mustard on hand, but it was still super delicious. I cooked the rice in chicken stock & boullion. Served with baked salmon. Will be making this again.
So glad you loved it Aileen! Dry mustard is a delicious addition but it’s good without too.
Sorry was wondering if anyone has tried a bread crumb on top or tips to do so?
I have only tried this recipe as written, but a bread crumb topping could be delicious. Let me know how it turns out!
Just made this yesterday and it was super delicious! I used brown rice and subbed in Dijon mustard as I didn’t have dry mustard. It still turned out perfect and I will definitely make it again.
Those sound like great additions Michelle, so glad you loved it!
This was a great addition to our Christmas meal. My daughter-in-law, who is a vegetarian, had 3 servings! The grand-kids may not have loved it, but they ate it, that’s a win! The adults asked me to keep this recipe for the future. I loved that it was truly homemade! Thank you!
Love hearing that Peggy! Thank you for sharing and I’m so glad it was loved by all!
I love your recipes! Thank you for posting them!
Thank you Julia! You’re so welcome!
You are the best Holly….i have searched forever for recipes..My searching has ended…this is the best site I have ever found..Thank you and God bless…
Aww Mary, what a wonderful compliment. So happy you found me.Thank you!
Made this today. I added 2 cups of chicken and it was a main course. I will say that for some reason it looked a little dry when I put it into the dish, so I added a few tablespoons of chicken broth to the mix. It was a hit! Grandchildren ages 5 & 7 enjoyed. I had no paprika onhand and so I substituted Cajun seasoning.
This will be served in my home ona regular basis.
Thanks!
Yummy idea with the chicken Brenda!
This was good. Next time, I’ll crumble a knorr chicken stock cube up in the cheese sauce. I think that would give it that extra bit of flavor-boost it’s missing without the soup. But even without it, it was good. I had some uncomfortable burning in the back of the throat due to the pepper amount. I would reduce that by half, especially if you’re using fresh-cracked as I did. Will make it again. Thanks for a great recipe.
You’re welcome Travis, happy to hear you enjoyed it!
Hey there, I’m planning to make this for my Christmas party at work. I need to feed around 50 people so I’m wondering how to do that with this recipe?
Donna, each recipe makes 8 servings. For 50 people as a full serving, you’d want to make about 6 recipes. If you’re making this as a potluck dish, you may want to consider if people will be adding other foods to their plate, and then make fewer recipes. Enjoy and have fun at the party!!
I made this for Thanksgiving and it wasn’t very easy and looked delicious. However, it was very bland. My family were not fans of this one. Will not be making this again.
Do you think I could make the sauce ahead of time or even the whole casserole the might before then heat up day of? I am trying to simplify all of the things I have to make for Thanksgiving. Thanks!
Yes, this can be made ahead of time. You may need to reheat it to be able to pour or mix it (the sauce may not mix well if it is cold).
I am so glad to find this recipe. I moved and lost my whole box of special recipes. yes you got it my broccoli and rice cassarole recipe was one of them. I do not like to use canned soups, so it was nice to find this one, much like mine except I believe I used 1 beaten egg in mine. Everyone loved mine, but I am sure they will love yours. Mine did not have cream cheese, but I bet it makes it creamy. I am going to try it soon. Holidays.are coming. Thank you so much. Have good Holidayd coming up. Bonnie
I’m sad to hear that you lost your recipes Bonnie. You’ll hopefully enjoy many more of the recipes we have at Spend With Pennies :). This is definitely a family favorite!
Thank you so much for sharing :)This recipe is DELICIOUS! The only thing I did different was add some French fried onions around the edges the last 5 minutes of baking added a little crunch YUMMY !
Well THAT sounds yummy!!
Hello! Thank you so much for this “can of” free amazing casserole! I’ve been using this recipe for awile as my go-to for chicken and rice. I grew up in the 90’s so I was literally a tv dinner kid 85% of the time. Now that I have my own kids, I want none of that frozen whachamacallit in front of them at dinner time. I pretty much double the whole recipe and leave for leftovers the whole week! I do also add chicken to the saucepan raw in small pieces no bigger than 1 inch cubed because of my toddler. I use a 13×9 with about 4 cups of rice and if its too thick I add chicken stock(LS) for less salt. I bake at 350 for 25 minutes preheated. Turns out soo amazing and I feel like a chef saying I made from scratch! This is the best, thank you!!!!
PS for some people asking for a wheat free version try adding chickpea flour since its nice and dense and if the flavor is off use smoked paprika(my favorite) and more ground mustard. I honestly have not tried it this way but I think it could work!
Thank you Nathalie and you’re welcome! I’m so happy to hear that your family loves this casserole so much! And thank you also for the tips.
This recipe looks great! Do you put in the cooked chicken before baking this?
Yes, the chicken can be added before baking. Enjoy!