The cooler weather this week gives me a feeling of pure delight. I love fall and all that’s associated with it, and the meals are no exception. At the end of the workday yesterday, as I sat in my office, cozy in my cardigan sweater (which may have been overkill; I think the temperature reached 80 yesterday, but that’s no matter ;-)), I brainstormed dinner and decided what sounded best was a soul-warming chicken casserole.
I’ve heard rave reviews about casseroles using just chicken, rice, vegetables, and a can of cream of mushroom soup. Unfortunately, we can’t do dairy, so I had to get creative. I came up with a pretty excellent dairy-free, gluten-free (and probably healthier) alternative to the classic casserole. If you don’t want to make it DF and GF, but don’t want to use condensed soup, you could easily make this using milk and regular flour!
Chicken and Broccoli Casserole
1 1/4 lb chicken breast, cut into 1-inch pieces
12 oz mushrooms, sliced
4 c broccoli (fresh or frozen)
1 1/2 c brown rice
2 c soy milk
1/4 c DF butter substitute
1/4 c GF flour
salt
pepper
garlic powder
paprika
2 c water
1. Preheat oven to 375. 2. Heat 1 tbsp butter in a large skillet over medium-low heat; add mushrooms, and cook until browned. 3. Add remaining butter to skillet, then milk, spices, and flour, and whisk to combine. 4. Stir regularly until the mixture thickens. 5. In a large glass baking dish, combine chicken, rice, broccoli, skillet mixture, and water. 6. Stir well, cover with aluminum foil, and place in oven for 45 min-1 hour.
I took it out of the oven and stirred a few times during the cooking process because I love to stir things and couldn’t help myself to prevent it from burning on the walls of the dish. For some reason the rice took a lot longer to cook than I anticipated, despite using the quick-cook variety. Also, as usual, I eyeballed the spices. You can always add more at the end if it needs more flavor!
The end result was de-licious, and I doubt anyone would know it’s dairy-free! We made it even better by eating it with baked apples straight out of the oven. 😀
The apples were a late addition to the meal–they came to mind while the rice was taking forever to cook, so I knew I had time to get them in the oven. All I did was: slice two apples, put them in a small glass baking dish with a little butter, brown sugar, and cinnamon; cover with foil, put in oven for 5 minutes, remove foil, stir, and put back in oven for another 10 minutes or so (stirring periodically, again, because I can’t help myself. :-D)
It was an awesome, feel-good, fall meal.
And I even let Andrew eat some after he said, “What, are you my grandma?” when I told him I was making casserole. Punk. 😉
What are you favorite cooler weather meals?
Any tips for taking good food photos, especially as it’s getting darker earlier? I know my pictures are not good, but I have no skills!
A Two Storey Home 
First of all, your cardigan overkill is so adorable! I love the fact that fall is slowly commencing and I support all cardigan wear! 🙂 Which, of course, makes your casseroles the appropriate meals now! Making apples like that are the best! I do that too and I’ll throw in some walnuts to make it extra delicious! 🙂 Sounds like a yummy meal and stirring things is absolutely okay! ❤
I am also a horrid food picture taker. No advice here, other than to use editing like crazy! 🙂 I use pic monkey!
Fall? What’s that? Sadly, we don’t get that here in Florida 😦 I really miss it!
I just might have to make this this week (with the addition of some cheese…). Sounds quite delicious!
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I just made your recipe this evening and the men in the house all loved it! My sweetheart said he could eat this every night. His sales partner and our nephew both said it reminded them of their mom’s cooking! I made some adjustments as I prepared the casserole: I used rice milk instead of the soy and added a couple tbsps more of the gluten free flour to thicken the skillet mixture better. I will make this again and find the right amount of seasoning to add. I erred on the side of caution so we were adding a little more salt and pepper after serving. Thanks for sharing such a great recipe for healthier lifestyles! 😄
This looks great! Did you cook the chicken before putting it in the dish or just put it in raw? Probably a dumb question but wasn’t sure! Can’t wait to try it 🙂
Thanks! Not a dumb question 🙂 I put it in raw and let it cook together with all the other ingredients. I did find, when I made it a second time, that it’s better if you cook the rice first. I hope it turns out well!
If you cook the rice do you lower the water amount?
Yes, I’d use just one cup of water if you precook the rice!
This was a great recipe, I’d like to boost up the flavor with something – maybe adobo seasoning. I also used cooked rice and frozen broccoli and even 1 C of water was too much.
I realize this post is 8 years old, but I’m hoping you will still see this and SOON! 😬 I have had this in the oven at 375 for over an hour, and the rice is still not cooked! I’m not sure what to do. I see that you wrote that the rice took longer than expected, but I assumed that you had updated the cooking time to reflect that. About how long would you say it took to finish cooking? I’ve got a hangry family asking when dinner will be ready. 😫