Broccoli cheese casserole is one of those side dishes that gets gobbled up every time. It’s so creamy, cheesy, and full of flavor. Even your picky eaters will devour this broccoli.
Would you believe that my parents never made me eat broccoli as a kid?
I honestly don’t think I ever even tasted broccoli until I was a teenager.
Which, hey, I’m not complaining. Broccoli was scary and green looking and I was super picky. My parents picked their battles.
But now? I LOVE broccoli. It’s probably my favorite veggie and I often eat it steamed with just a sprinkling of salt. No butter, no cheese, just good ol’ broccoli.
Sometimes, though, you’ve got to get a little fancy with your vegetables and that’s where this easy broccoli casserole comes into play.
Y’all are going to love how cheesy and melty and flavorful this low carb broccoli casserole recipe is!
How to make broccoli casserole:
We’re starting with fresh broccoli for this recipe, because I personally find the frozen kind a bit icky. The texture is just all wrong for me.
Fresh is best when it comes to vegetables, right? 🙂
You’ll start out by steaming the broccoli lightly, either in a stove top steamer or in the microwave. For this recipe, I nearly always opt for the microwave, just because it’s easy.
Pop your broccoli into a large bowl with two tablespoons of water, cover tightly with plastic wrap, and microwave for 2 minutes.
The cheesy goodness that makes this broccoli cheese casserole recipe so good starts with cream cheese – my favorite food on the planet. 😉
You’ll mix together cream cheese, grated cheddar, garlic powder, salt, and pepper.
Scoop that mixture right on top of your hot and steamy broccoli and start stirring. The mixture should melt right into the broccoli pretty quickly as you stir.
Transfer this to a baking dish and sprinkle the top with Parmesan cheese.
Bake it up and you’ll have this decadent broccoli and cheese casserole that the whole family will love!
This easy broccoli casserole is ready to go in just about 20 minutes.
Serve alongside some grilled chicken or steak with a side of keto coleslaw!
If you love this keto broccoli casserole recipe, be sure to try my broccoli salad and cauliflower potato salad!
Broccoli Cheese Casserole
This low carb broccoli cheese casserole is ready in just about 20 minutes and is always a hit with my kids. Cheesy broccoli makes the perfect side to any grilled meat.
Per serving: 303 calories, 28g fat, 10g protein, 4g carbs, 1g fiber = 3 net carbs
Ingredients
- 32 ounces fresh broccoli florets
- 8 ounces cream cheese room temperature
- ¼ cup mayonnaise
- 1 cup freshly grated cheddar cheese
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- ½ teaspoon ground black pepper
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ¼ cup grated Parmesan
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- Add the broccoli to a large microwave safe bowl along with 2 tablespoons of water. Cover tightly with plastic wrap and microwave for 2 minutes. Let sit, covered, for 2 minutes.
- Add the cream cheese, mayonnaise, cheddar, garlic powder, salt, and pepper to a small bowl and mix well to combine.
- Stir the cream cheese mixture into the steamed broccoli until well combined.
- Transfer broccoli to an 8x8 baking dish and sprinkle the Parmesan over the top.
- Bake for 10 minutes.
25 comments
This is kind of like the “Loaded Cauliflower Casserole” except you don’t add the bacon. If you precooked some bacon, chopped it and added it to this casserole it would just finish it (I think).
Yes, bacon would be a good addition. 🙂 It’s already fairly salty with all that cheese though, so I’d omit the salt if you add bacon.
Believe it or not, I don’t own a microwave and don’t really want one. I also don’t have a steamer basket because I don’t prefer veggies cooked this way either. I was thinking I could blanch the broccoli? Would I need to bake a tad longer? I’m just trying to get the texture you have with the finished product and hoping the blanching process would put it close to your microwave cooking process. Any suggestions?
I really don’t ever boil broccoli, but I would guess that boiling for 2 minutes would probably get the right texture. You want it hot so it melts the cream cheese mixture when you combine them. You can just bake as long as you like to get the texture you prefer – the longer you bake, the softer it will get.
I don’t have a microwave either, they take up too much room in the kitchen and I only used it to melt butter so I got rid of it years ago. That said, I do steam rather than boil all my veggies since I believe boiling leaves most of the nutrients in the water that is tossed.
Blanching is not the same as boiling. You add the broccoli to boiling water but it only stays in the water a matter of seconds. It sets the color to a bright green but leaves the veggie still more on the crisp side than cooked side. Once removed from the boiling water you immediately plunge it into ice water to stop the cooking process. It can be served as “raw” on veggie trays or used in stir fries or what ever you wish but because it is still more on the crisp side vs. cooked, I just wanted to get a feel if that is the texture the microwaved broccoli is. This would give me more of an idea of how long it should be baked if using this technique. Guess I will give it a try and find out!
I never steam veggies-don’t like the texture. Our preferred way is either roasted or grilled.
I’m loving all the low/no carb recipes. thanks
Thanks, Kathy!
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To me it’s actually a goopy concoction with way too much cheese. I’d put in half the amount of cheese and skip the mayonnaise altogether, and add some kind of spice or herb to give it some flavor. I was disappointed, obviously.
Sorry to hear you didn’t enjoy this one.
How many cups is in a serving
The recipe serves 6. I didn’t calculate the volume of each serving.
Love this, what is the measurement for on serving size. Is it one cup or 1/2 a cup.
The nutrition information is based on 1/6th of the recipe. I didn’t measure the volume of each serving.
[…] Broccoli Cheese Casserole – Adding cheese to broccoli is a sure win in my house and this low carb casserole never fails with my family. […]
[…] Broccoli Cheese Casserole – Adding cheese to broccoli is a sure win in my house and this low carb casserole never fails with my family. […]
My husband was so excited for this one. Early fathers day dinner tonight, it was a side for our grilled filet mignon with mushrooms. He absolutely loved it. Thank you!!
Yay! Glad it was a hit!
What temp do you bake it at?
As stated in the recipe, this bakes at 350. 🙂
First, this casserole is delicious! I’m curios where you figured the carb count from because when I put the ingredients in carb manager I get 8g of net carbs…just trying to justify eating this delicious dish
Hi Jacquie! I use My Fitness Pal to calculate nutrition. MFP is always super accurate but it’s so well known and popular that I stick with that. You can use whichever calculation you feel most comfortable with. Sorry for the confusion!
Whoops, typo – that should have said MFP **isn’t** always super accurate… 🙂
This was yummy … didn’t miss the rice at all. Low carb and delish