This healthy broccoli quinoa casserole is easy to prepare ahead for easy weeknight dinners! Packed with chicken, broccoli, and quinoa, it's meal prep and freezer friendly.
Comfort food at its finest - casseroles such as this healthier chicken and cauliflower casserole, butternut squash enchilada casserole, and this broccoli quinoa casserole are true meal prep heroes!
This broccoli quinoa casserole is so easy to assemble if you have some of the ingredients prepped ahead! Toss all your meal-prepped ingredients together in just 10 minutes, and dinner will be on the table after just 30 minutes of baking.
To our surprise, our broccoli-hating little one LOVED this broccoli chicken quinoa casserole! It's pretty hard to beat the combination of cheese, herbs, chicken & quinoa, even with a little broccoli hidden in there.
Reasons You'll Love This Recipe
- the flavors of the broccoli with chicken and cheese are so delicious and comforting
- you can meal prep the ingredients ahead, then assemble in under 10 minutes
- it's gluten-free and full of nutritious, wholesome ingredients
ingredient notes
- Chicken - start with cooked, cooled chicken - cut into bite-sized pieces. You can use rotisserie chicken, or cook your own in the Instant Pot.
- Quinoa - can be cooked in a rice cooker for easy meal prep and perfect fluffy quinoa every time, or prep it in the Instant Pot. We used white quinoa, but you could also use tri-color quinoa (they cook up the same)
- Cheese - shredded; we used mozarella, but you could use Monterey Jack, or cheddar cheese
- Broccoli - washed, dried, and cut into 1- ½ inch bite sized flourets. Could be swapped for cauliflower, if you prefer
- Herbs - dried basil and oregano work perfectly here, but you could also swap either of these herbs for thyme if you don't have it
Step by step directions
Cook Quinoa
Ways you can cook it:
Once cooked, you will want to allow the quinoa to fully cool before assembling this broccoli quinoa casserole.
Cook Broccoli
Heat ½ inch water in a pan or pot. Add broccoli florets, cover, and steam for 3-5 minutes, until bright green and soft in the middle.
See: how to cook broccoli
Assemble
Heat oven to 350°F. Spray a deep 9 x 9 inch baking dish with oil and set aside. In a large bowl, mix together the quinoa, cooked chicken, broccoli, egg, chicken stock, half the cheese, and all spices.
Press into the prepared baking dish, and sprinkle with remaining cheese.
Bake
Cover and bake for 40 minutes. Remove cover and bake uncovered for 5-10 more minutes.
Serve
Portion into bowls, and enjoy!
FAQ
Likely yes, but we haven't tried. You can definitely freeze before baking (assembled but unbaked). Thaw completely, then bake up as directed. Quinoa freeze/thaws surprisingly well!
This should work, but we haven't tested it. If you do try, could you report back in the comments to let us know how it turns out?
Yes, feel free to swap for cauliflower - although your finished dish may not be quite as pretty, it will cook up in the same amount of time, with similar flavors.
Meal Prep
To meal prep this broccoli quinoa casserole as a freezer meal, we recommend:
- assembling all ingredients up to step 3
- be sure to use a metal casserole dish to avoid risk of glass breaking
- freeze (assembled but unbaked).
- thaw completely, then bake up as directed.
Storage and Reheating
Fridge - Cool completely after baking. Store in the fridge in the baking dish (covered), or portioned out into meal prep containers for up to 4 days.
Reheat - at 350°F in the oven. Cover the casserole to reheat. I love these reusable silicone baking dish covers to reduce my foil waste!
Did you make this? Tag me on social @sweetpeasandsaffron and be sure to leave a comment and rate the recipe!
Broccoli Quinoa Casserole
Ingredients
- 2 cups cooked quinoa
- 2 cups cooked chicken see note 1
- 3 cups steamed broccoli
- 1 egg
- ½ cup chicken stock
- 2 cups cheese shredded; divided in half
- ½ teaspoon dried basil
- ½ teaspoon dried oregano
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon pepper
Instructions
- Cook quinoa - Cook quinoa according to package directions on the stovetop, in a rice cooker, or in an Instant Pot (see note 2).
- Cook broccoli- Heat ½ inch water in a pan or pot. Add broccoli florets, cover, and steam for 3-5 minutes, until bright green and soft in the middle.
- Combine - Heat oven to 350°F. Spray a deep 9 x 9 inch baking dish with oil and set aside. In a large bowl, mix together the quinoa, cooked chicken, broccoli, egg, chicken stock, half the cheese, and all spices. Press into the prepared baking dish, and sprinkle with remaining cheese.
- Bake - Cover and bake for 40 minutes. Remove cover and bake uncovered for 5-10 more minutes.
- Serve - Portion into bowls, and enjoy!
Tips:
- Start with cooked, cooled chicken. You can use rotisserie chicken, or cook your own in the Instant Pot
- When cooking quinoa in the Instant Pot it's important to halve the cooking liquid
- assembling all ingredients up to step 3
- be sure to use a metal casserole dish to avoid the risk of glass breaking
- freeze (assembled but unbaked).
- thaw completely, then bake up as directed.
Nutrition Information
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Denise Bustard is the creator of Sweet Peas and Saffron, a meal prep-focussed food blog. With a PhD in biochemistry, Denise takes a scientific approach to perfecting her recipes. You can find Denise's work featured on Huffington Post, MSN, Self and more.
Claudia Phillips says
This looks delicious and I will try it. Could you tell us how many ounces of cheese to use? Two cups of cheese could vary a lot depending on how finely it’s grated and how it’s packed into a measuring cup.
Donna says
I used leftover turkey and swapped out the broccoli (it upsets my stomach)for fresh steamed spinach. It was soooo delicious!
Sharon says
Delish. I followed the recipe as written. I have been looking for a high protein easy casserole and this one is the best so far. Next time I may put a little less cheese and it will still be great. Thanks!
Claire says
Thank you for this delicious recipe! My husband and I are trying to eat healthier and had been searching how to use quinoa in meals. This was extremely easy to prepare and so flavorful! Threw in some boiled celery to bulk up and provide more fiber since we had extra. We did not have a 9x9 pan but used a 7.5x13.3 pyrex dish. Will definitely make again!
Jasmine @ Sweet Peas & Saffron says
Hi Claire, so glad that you found it flavorful and worthy of making again! Thanks so much for taking the time to come back and leave a rating and review 🙂
HN says
I made this as a freezer meal for my sister who just had a baby and it was delicious! Really flavorful. I'm going to make it again as a vegetarian meal with broccoli and cauliflower and I'm sure it will be great again.
Denise Bustard says
Hi HN! What a good sister you are! I'm so happy to hear you guys enjoyed the recipe. Thank you so much for coming back to leave a review, I really appreciate it!
Annie says
Another delicious recipe—thank you!
I pretty much followed the recipe as written...I used tri-color quinoa (2/3 cup uncooked), 4-ish cups steamed fresh broccoli, mozzarella cheese, Italian seasoning, garlic powder, salt and pepper (also sprinkled some Parmesan on top). I did use 8.25oz chicken broth (plus the egg) and it was super moist/not soupy at all!
Next time, I may get wild and crazy by trying a Ranch Seasoning blend with white cheddar. 🙃
Denise says
Hi Annie! So happy to hear you enjoyed the recipe. Glad it was a good texture for you. Ranch seasoning sounds pretty amazing to me!
David says
Can I prepare this in my toaster oven? It does have convection baking feature.
Denise says
Hi David, unfortunately I really can't say. If you try it, I'd love to hear how it turns out for you!
Amber says
I just made this for my vegetarian daughter. I left out the chicken, and replaced the chicken stock with water. It came out to watery. What is the purpose of the liquid? Can it just be left out?
Denise says
Hi Amber, that's very strange! It should not be watery at all. The liquid helps the quinoa stick together while it bakes. Without it, the casserole was very dry for us.