When life gets busy, I need a few staple recipes to hold onto. Food that can be thrown together without much brain power, but will still meet our nutritional needs. It’s especially hard when the staple recipes most of us know aren’t based around a healthy diet.
When I was a kid a broccoli, chicken & rice casserole was a classic dinner. I now make it for my kids, but with a few twists. This recipe has no gluten, sugar, or milk. It can be dairy free if you leave the Parmesan off the top. Personally, a little Parmesan doesn’t hurt my stomach like other cheeses do.
This is a great recipe that can be made even faster if you meal prep the brown rice and grilled chicken ahead of time. You could literally come home from work and have this thrown in the oven in 10 minutes, and have it cooked in 35 minutes. How great is that?!?
Ingredients
- 3 chicken breasts
- 2 T olive oil
- 1 T butter or ghee
- 2 heads of broccoli
- 1 medium onion, diced
- 2 cloves garlic
- 2 cups cooked brown rice
- 1 can chicken broth 14.5 OZ.
- 1 T Italian seasoning
- 1/2 tsp. salt
- 1/2 tsp. pepper
- Fresh Parmesan, to be sprinkled on top
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°.
- If your rice isn't cooked yet, start it now on the stove top. Bring 2 cups of water to a boil and add 1 cup brown rice. Allow to come to a boil, then reduce to a simmer for 35-45 minutes until done.
- Drizzle 1 T of the olive oil in a large pan. Turn the heat on medium/high.
- Put the butter in a small/medium pan and set to low/medium heat.
- Add the onions to the small pan. Grill for 5-7 minutes.
- Add the chicken breasts to the large pan. Season with salt and pepper to your liking. Cook until juices run clear, about 5 minutes each side.
- Dice the broccoli into bite sized pieces.
- Mince the 2 cloves of garlic.
- In a large casserole dish, add the cooked rice, chicken broth, broccoli, chicken, garlic, grilled onions, Italian seasoning, salt and pepper.
- Carefully mix together. This dish gets pretty full!
- Bake uncovered for 25 minutes. Remove from the oven and add the Parmesan. Bake another 10 minutes until the cheese is slightly golden.
- Once the dish is done, put the lid on it to keep the broccoli from drying out until you are ready to serve it.