Dairy-Free Chicken & Rice Casserole
This delicious Dairy-Free Chicken & Rice Casserole is the perfect main dish for busy weeknights. It’s full of healthy and satisfying ingredients, and topped with a rich cashew cheese sauce. This recipe is gluten-free and dairy-free.
Even when I haven’t been grocery shopping in awhile, I almost always have chicken and broccoli ready to cook. Are you like that too? This Dairy-Free Chicken & Rice Casserole is a delicious way to use those ingredients.
I hope your family enjoys this dish as much as mine does.
Recipe Highlights
- This healthy casserole makes six servings. It’s perfect for a family, or for meal prepping for two people.
- This chicken and rice recipe is entirely dairy-free and gluten-free. A homemade simple cashew cheese sauce makes it luscious and creamy.
Recipe Steps
Step One
Preheat your oven to 400°F and spray a casserole dish with nonstick cooking spray. Then, add the broth, rinsed rice, and broccoli and/or cauliflower.
Please see the printable recipe card at end of this post for the exact ingredients and measurements.
Step Two
In a large skillet, heat the olive oil over medium heat. Add the onion, garlic, and chicken, and sauté for 5-7 minutes, or until the outside of the chicken starts to cook.
Step Three
Pour the chicken and onion mixture into the baking dish. Cover the dish with aluminum foil and bake for 30 minutes.
Step Four
While the casserole is baking, make the cheese sauce. In the pitcher of a high-speed blender, combine the soaked and drained cashew nuts, sea salt, nutritional yeast, garlic powder, and water.
Blend on high for about 30 seconds, or until the sauce is smooth and creamy.
Step Five
After the casserole has cooked for 30 minutes, carefully remove it from the oven and take off the foil. Pour the cashew sauce over the top. Then, place the casserole back in the oven (uncovered) to cook for an additional 20 minutes.
Step Six
When the casserole is done baking, remove it from the oven and let it cool for 5-7 minutes before serving.
FAQs
I think it is. The casserole has a nice balance of protein and carbs, plus fat from the cashews that makes it satisfying. White rice is also easier to digest than brown rice, so it is considered paleo-friendly by many experts.
And, of course, broccoli is one of the healthiest foods you can eat. Broccoli is rich is sulforaphane which has been proven to help fight cancer.
Yes, you can substitute the same amount of thighs for the cutlets in this recipe.
Other Healthy Chicken Recipes You Might Like
- Chicken Meatloaf
- Crockpot Chicken Thighs with Green Chiles
- Grilled Honey Garlic Chicken with Carrot Slaw
- Instant Pot Lemon Chicken Soup with Rice
- 5-Ingredient Chicken Salad (Dairy-Free)
I hope you make this recipe! If you do, please leave a comment and a starred review below.
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Print
Dairy-Free Chicken & Rice Casserole
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 50 minutes
- Total Time: 75 minutes
- Yield: 6 1x
- Diet: Gluten Free
Description
This delicious Dairy-Free Chicken & Rice Casserole is the perfect main dish for busy weeknights. It’s full of healthy and satisfying ingredients, and topped with a rich cashew cheese sauce. This recipe is gluten-free and dairy-free.
Ingredients
- Nonstick cooking spray
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1/2 onion, chopped
- 2 garlic cloves, minced
- 1.25 pounds boneless, skinless chicken cutlets or thighs, cut into 1-inch chunks
- 2 cups reduced-sodium chicken broth
- ¾ cup uncooked long-grain white rice, rinsed and drained
- 2 cups fresh broccoli florets or cauliflower florets (or a mix of the two)
- 3/4 cup raw cashews (soaked for 15 minutes in very hot water, then drained)
- 1 teaspoon sea salt
- 1/4 cup nutritional yeast
- 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1/2 cup water
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 400°F. Spray a 9 x 13-inch (or medium-sized) casserole dish with nonstick cooking spray and set aside.
- In a large skillet, heat the olive oil over medium heat. Add the onion, garlic, and chicken and sauté for 5-7 minutes. Stir occasionally while the outside of the chicken starts to cook and turn white.
- While the onion and chicken are cooking, pour in the broth into the baking dish. Add the rinsed rice and the broccoli or cauliflower florets.
- Pour the chicken and onion mixture into the baking dish. Cover the dish with aluminum foil and bake for 30 minutes.
- While the casserole is baking, make the cheese sauce. In the pitcher of a high-speed blender, combine the soaked and drained cashew nuts, sea salt, nutritional yeast, garlic powder, and water. Blend on high for about 30 seconds, or until the sauce is smooth and creamy.
- After the casserole has cooked for 30 minutes, carefully remove it from the oven and take off the foil. Pour the cashew sauce over the top. Then, place the casserole back in the oven (uncovered) to cook for an additional 20 minutes.
- When the casserole is done baking, remove it from the oven and let it cool for 5-7 minutes before serving.
Notes
- Store any leftovers in a covered container in the refrigerator for up to 4 days. Reheat before serving.
- Category: Main dish
- Method: Oven
- Cuisine: Healthy
Keywords: broccoli casserole, healthy chicken casserole, chicken and rice recipe
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My sister loves chicken a lot and she will love this low-carb version a lot more. Thanks for the recipe.
★★★★★
Is it possible to use frozen broccoli florets?
I have not tried it that way, but I think frozen broccoli florets should work just fine. Let me know if you try it!
Hi there, do you think this would work with rotisserie chicken and brown rice? Sounds delicious!! 🙂
Hi Melanie, great question! I’m afraid your chicken might get overcooked if you try and cook it with the rice.
I used already cooked chicken breast cut into chunks and it came out good. I think the sauce/broth kept it moist. And also added mushrooms.
★★★★★
I’m so happy to hear that, Katherine! I love the addition of mushrooms.
One of my favorite meal prep recipes. So easy and it tastes great too!
★★★★★
Could you use and non-dairy milk?
Yes, but I haven’t tested.
I’ve been looking for a chicken and rice recipe which was gluten and dairy free made with coconut milk and chicken broth. I made it in August 2020 and I can no longer find it on your site. It was a recipe that could be made ahead, refrigerated and cooked later. The one that is now posted is totally different. I was wondering if you could send me that recipe, as I make it for a friend of mine who has very limited eating Restrictions and this recipe agreed very well with her.
Thank you for your response
Hi Judi, I did a re-vamp of the recipe recently. I will paste the old one here.
Nonstick cooking spray
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 onion, chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced
½ cup full-fat coconut milk
1 ¾ cup reduced-sodium chicken broth
1 lemon, juiced
½ teaspoon dried thyme
½ teaspoon sea salt
¼ teaspoon black pepper
2 cups fresh broccoli florets
¾ cup uncooked long-grain white rice, rinsed and drained
1 pound boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into 1-inch chunks
Preheat your oven to 350F. Spray a 9 x 13-inch casserole dish with nonstick cooking spray and set aside.
In a large skillet, heat the olive oil over medium heat. Add the onion and garlic and sauté for 3 minutes. Add the coconut milk, broth, lemon juice, thyme, salt, and pepper. Let the mixture come to a simmer before turning off the heat.
Transfer the onion and broth mixture to the casserole dish. Add the broccoli, rice, and chicken and stir to combine.
Cover the baking dish with foil and bake for 35 minutes. Remove the foil and bake for an additional 10 minutes.
Let the casserole cool for 5 minutes before serving.
You can prep this casserole up to 3 days in advance of baking it. Cover it with plastic wrap or a lid and store it in the refrigerator until you’re ready to bake it.
6 servings
This was so good!! My husband kept telling me how good it was and my 2 year old ate it all up. Definitely a recipe worth making on a regular basis.
★★★★★
I want to try the dairy free chicken broccoli casserole. What can I substitute for the cashews due to nut allergies.
Hi Veronica, you could try sunflower seeds!
I made this tonight and my husband loved it! He rated it a solid 8-9 (out of 10)!
We made a few tweaks.
1.) I used frozen broccoli and brown rice and ended up needing to increase the cook time time to about 45 minutes uncovered and 25-30 uncovered.
2.) I used a whole onion, simply because I hate saving the other half in the fridge- lol!
3.) I used a little less salt because the himilayan sea salt that we have seems to be a tad bit more salty in comparison to regular table salt.
4.) I used about 2.5 cups broth.
I also recommend putting the rice in the broth BEFORE anything else. I had a few grains fall onto the broccoli that did not cook so I had to pick those off before serving.
This recipe is DELICIOUS and a keeper for sure 🙂
★★★★★
Woo-hoo! Thanks for sharing your tips and results.