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First published 3/26/14.
This is one of the most unphotogenic things I have ever made.
I was getting tired of never having enough leftovers to make another meal out of, so I decided to make a huge casserole – enough to last our family of six for at least two meals. I accomplished my objective. In fact, I could barely fit everything into a 9×13 pan!
This is a filling E meal with a savory sauce, lots of protein, and slow-burning carbs in the form of brown rice and garbanzo beans. Don’t worry: I’ll tell you how to cook the brown rice in case you don’t know how. My last attempt to cook brown rice was a fiasco, but using some tips I was kindly given, this attempt turned out very edible. Thankfully.
Serve this casserole with a salad and some Oatmeal Craisin Cookies and you’re all set!
You can pin this recipe here.
You can find a similar-but-updated Chicken Broccoli Rice Casserole recipe in my cookbook, Necessary Food!
- 10 cups water
- 1½ cups brown rice
- 3 lb. chicken breast, cut into bite-sized pieces
- ½-1 lb. frozen broccoli pieces/florets
- 1-2 cups frozen peas
- 1 cup fresh mushrooms, sliced
- ½ large onion
- Dime-sized bunch of fresh cilantro
- 1 cup lowfat cottage cheese
- 1 cup unsweetened almond milk
- 1 cup canned garbanzo beans in juice
- 1 T chicken bouillon
- ½ tsp. black pepper
- 2 tsp. curry powder
- ½-1 tsp. dill weed
- ½ tsp. prepared horseradish (up this if you want an extra bite; watch ingredients if you have allergies)
- 1 T Worcestershire sauce (Lea and Perrins is friendly to most allergies, but be careful)
- ½ tsp. glucomannan
- Parmesan cheese (in the green shake container) and parsley flakes for garnish
- Get the broccoli and peas out to start thawing.
- Bring 10 cups of water to a boil in a saucepan. Add the brown rice, stirring it in. Partially cover and reduce heat to medium-low (keep it to a low boil), cooking the rice without disturbing for 30 minutes. Drain the water and put the pan back on the stove and steam the rice over low heat with the lid on for 5 minutes.
- Grease a 9x13 inch pan and preheat your oven to 350-400 degrees F.
- In the pan, put your rice on the bottom, topped by chicken, broccoli, peas, mushrooms, and any other vegetables you want to add (make sure they're THM approved).
- In a blender, blend all the sauce ingredients except for the glucomannan. Once blended, add the glucomannan and blend again.
- Pour the sauce over the top of the casserole. It's thick, and will stay on top for the time being. That's fine.
- Sprinkle a good amount of parmesan cheese over the top of the casserole. I use the parmesan cheese that comes in the green shaker container and it has only 1.5 grams of fat for a tablespoon of cheese. Keep the fat per serving under 5 grams, but you can be pretty liberal with your sprinkling. The parmesan cheese will form a nice crusty finish on the top of the casserole. Do NOT substitute another higher-fat cheese. Sprinkle the top of the casserole with parsley flakes.
- Bake at 350-400 degrees for 40-50 minutes or until the chicken is done. I can't give you an exact time because I had a time deadline when I was making this casserole and ended up jacking the temp way up in an effort to get to church on time... Next time I make the casserole I'll try to figure out a more scientific baking time. Until then, if you try this casserole, let me know how long you baked it for and at what temp.
Suggested products:
- Glucomannan
- Lea and Perrins Worcestershire Sauce is friendly to most allergies.
This is so yummy! I left out the cilantro, curry, and horseradish because we don’t like any of those ingredients. That said, it was fantastic without them. Thank you! I’ve just begun to experiment with your recipes.
Any ideas on how to sub out the cottage cheese to make this DF? Nutritional yeast plus…? Everything I can think of would be nuts and that leans toward an S—thank you!!
I’m sorry – I don’t have any great ideas off the top of my head! I would probably just leave it out and add some extra liquid and maybe some extra beans? It’s not going to be as creamy but it might still work.
Hi! I am interested in this recipe, however, cilantro tastes like soap to me. How would it change the recipe to leave it out?
It would just change the flavor a bit, but in your case it sounds like that would be a good thing. 😉
So happy I tried this; my husband said it was a “”keeper” and my daughter liked it too! I am trying to slowly start cooking healthier dishes for our health. I used shredded chicken which had been cooked and frozen previously (saves a lot of time) and I used fresh broccoli (microwaved for 2 minutes) and sautéed the mushrooms with onion in olive oil before adding. Will try freshly shredded Parmesan next time, as we like the texture better. I kept the mushrooms on one side and the broccoli on the other to accommodate everyone.
I truly enjoy reading your posts, Briana, and your blog/website are so handy! I have your Necessary Food cookbook and it’s been really helpful too. I’m a visual learner, so I’m drawn to recipes with photos and you have photos of almost every dish!
Such a blessing for me (who dislikes cooking) that you have done all this work.
Thank you!!
Hi Diane! Thanks so much for sharing your tweaks! I’m very glad y’all liked the casserole! <3
PS - For my Trim Healthy Mama readers, using olive oil and fresh parmesan cheese would probably make this a crossover due to combining carbs and fats. Still healthy! Just not as beneficial to weight loss.
Is it baked covered or uncovered?
I would bake it covered at first to speed up the baking, then remove the foil for the last 15 minutes or so to let the top crisp up. 🙂
I was a bit skeptical that the rice would turn out due to past failures, but your instructions were perfect! The rice came out beautifully; thanks so much!
Could I used precooked chicken in this and just reduce the cooking time and temp?
Yes, that should be fine. 🙂 My, this is an old recipe!
What is the suggested serving size to keep this in E mode?
This makes a 9″x13″ pan, which will probably serve 12-14. This will keep you well within THM E carb guidelines and you could even add a few more carbs on the side.
Thanks you!
Have you calculated how many carbs per serving? My husband likes to have dessert so I usually save E meals for myself in the day time to avoid a crossover or overdoing carbs with dessert at supper. I’m in a stall and looking for more E options that are satisfying but light enough to still add some desserts for him. Thank you!
Hi Stephanie! No, I don’t usually calculate nutritional info because I find it easier (and truer to the THM plan) to just separate fats and carbs. 🙂 I would keep this casserole in an E setting because of the substantial amount of carb-centered ingredients such as rice and beans.
Thank you! I don’t normally count either, I just wanted to have one of your banana bars for dessert and didnt wants to push the carbs too high. 🙂
I think that should be fine. 🙂
I used chicken thighs, because I find them to be juicier. I also replaced the broccoli with zucchini for my broccoli hating men. Cooked at 375 for 45 minutes and it was a yummy success!
Very easy to make thanks to my Ninja. I can’t wait to get my cookbook, so I don’t have to wheel my laptop into the kitchen!
Sounds great! Just keep in mind that using chicken thighs would make this a crossover for Trim Healthy Mamas since thigh meat has too much fat for an E meal. 🙂
Made this today using fish. . . I used fresh broccoli, cut up into bite-size pieces. Mixed all together and laid the fish on top, with Parmesan on top of that. Didn’t need to cook near as long. All liked! Thanks Briana for putting this together!
That is a really cool idea! I never would’ve thought of that! Thanks for sharing.
Do I have to have to have the glucomannan? Or is there a substitute? I don’t have this on hand (not really sure what it is) but it’s REALLY hard to find in a store
The glucomannan is a necessary thickening agent. You can substitute xanthan gum in a 1:1 ratio. 🙂 Xanthan gum can be found many places these days, even at Walmart with the Bob’s Red Mill products.
I am so appreciative that you share your recipes! I love everyone I’ve tried! I am really excited to find this one because chicken and rice is my 9yo DDs favorite meal! When we started THM I stopped using the canned cream of chicken soup in it and she was so upset! She likes the creamy aspect of the dish. I can’t wait to try it!
What is chicken base
Chicken base is chicken bouillon. 🙂 We buy ours at a bulk food store, but you can get it at most grocery stores, I would think.
Do you think this would work in a crockpot?
I’m sure it would. 🙂
Do you use pre-cooked chicken or raw?
I used raw chicken.
Could you do the sauce without the garbonzo beans? I am allergic 🙁 But I want to try this! Thanks!
Hi Jessica! The beans are what give the sauce body, but if you aren’t allergic to all beans, you could probably substitute a different kind, like Great Northern.
Hi Briana,
I was wondering if you know of a substitute for the chicken base? I can’t seem to find one without corn syrup or MSG in it. Any ideas? Or do you know of a kind of base that doesn’t have a bunch of junk in it? TIA.
We get our chicken base from a bulk food store, so I don’t even know what the ingredients are. I should probably check that out… If you don’t want to use chicken base, I would suggest substituting chicken broth for the cup of almond milk in the sauce.
Thanks for replying! I might try a combo of stock and almond milk.
Better Than Bullion has amazing organic broth bases (chicken, beef, veg). Their organic versions have no corn syrup and no msg etc. Costco is the best place to get it, but most grocery stores have it. They taste great too!
I made this last week and cooked it for about 45 minutes. Thanks for a great recipe!
Awesome! Thanks for telling me.
Have you ever tried making brown rice in a pressure cooker? 2:1 ratio of water to rice, and I use 15lb pressure, 17 minutes. Let cool down ten minutes and it’s done!
Nope, in fact I’m not even sure if we have a pressure cooker. Thank you for the tip. 🙂