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
- 20 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
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Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
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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.
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Add the cream cheese, mayonnaise, cheddar, garlic powder, salt, and pepper to a small bowl and mix well to combine.
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Stir the cream cheese mixture into the steamed broccoli until well combined.
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Transfer broccoli to an 8x8 baking dish and sprinkle the Parmesan over the top.
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Bake for 10 minutes.
105 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.
What if I roast the broccoli in the oven instead?!?
Should be delicious!
Just made this and it was amazing! Thank you
Can the casserole be made the day before? Food prepping for Christmas. 🙂
I haven’t tried, but I think it’d probably be fine.
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!
[…] Jiffy corn casserole, baked beans recipe, and broccoli cheese casserole all go well alongside this pasta […]
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
My husband and son, and I, loved this recipe! I happened to be making jalapeno popper stuffed chicken the same night and had two extra chicken breasts. SO….I stuffed the two chicken breasts with this mix and it turned out amazing! Great recipe, and especially for people who don’t like broccoli very much but still want to try to eat it.
Oh, stuffing this inside chicken was brilliant! You might just see that pop up on the blog soon. haha! 🙂
I followed the recipe exactly and when I took it out of the oven it smelled sour. My family all tried it and it was not good. It tasted like the cream cheese went sour when it was put in the oven to cook. I’m not sure what went wrong because I used all fresh ingredients.
Hi Amanda! Sorry this didn’t work out for you – the recipe has received numerous positive reviews, with a glowing review coming in just hours after this one. I have to assume that something was off with one of your dairy products. There was nothing in the recipe that could have turned them bad so I would guess they’d expired or you’d gotten a bad batch.
Is it possible that Amanda used Miracle Whip instead of Mayonnaise?
This was amazing. I served this at a dinner party. Two of the guests hate broccoli and they both loved it! Some people liked it better than the main dish. I made extra cheese topping I know some people think there is too much sauce; but my group voted eight in favor of the additional sauce and one against it. I also did not mix the cheese topping in; but rather placed it on top – it did not spread during cooking; but rather stayed put (that was a surprise); so if you wanted less you just had to scrape it off. This gave it a rather unique flavor – a nice sharp flavor followed by the broccoli flavor. Really nice.
I love the idea of spreading the mixture on top of the broccoli. Glad to hear it was a hit with your dinner guests!
Sorry, forgot to leave my rating and it won’t let me leave it without an additional comment.
I’ve been search for a cheesy and delicious low carb broccoli side dish and I found it! Easy to make and so good! Thank you for the great recipe.
All 32 oz of broccoli will fit in an 8×8 Pan? Just staring at my 8×8 & it seems small
The broccoli gets cooked a bit before going in the pan and it shrinks up. It should fit just fine. 🙂
I made this with a 32 oz bag of brocooli and I’m pretty sure you used a regular 16 oz bag for this recipe. Even after steaming, there was no way 32 oz of broccoli was going to fit in my 8×8 pan. It barely all fit in a 9×13. And, the cheesy part wasn’t nearly enough. There was LOTS of bare broccoli. I doubled that part of the recipe after I tried baking it as-is, and it’s still not as cheesy as we were actually wanting (for keto). A 32 oz bag of broccoli is the really big size at Costco or Sam’s Club; the regular size at grocery stores is 16 oz. You may want to double check this and revise the recipe as needed.
Hi Jen!
Well, you’re right…I’m so sorry! I actually used 2 packages of 10 ounces broccoli florets. I thought the packages were 16 ounces each and clearly I was wrong.
So sorry you had issues with the recipe. Really appreciate you letting me know!
Very excited to try your recipes. I’m lactose intolerant, I can substitute cheese no problem but what cream cheese should I use?
I’m not sure of a sub, but I do think there is a lactose free cream cheese on the market if you could find that. 🙂
Maybe I didn’t add enough broccoli, but this was TOO cheesy, but my kids gobbled it up. So, win?!?
Too cheesy?? Haha – it is extra cheesy and you could definitely add more broccoli next time if that’s not your thing. 🙂
Can you use Shredded Mozzarella instead of cheddar ?
That should work just fine.
I halved the recipe and added 1/4 c. of additional cheese mixture, a gouda pimento cheese I found at Sam’s Club. My dish was 6×10 and BARELY fit the broccoli, which I heated in a glass bowl in the microwave for 2 minutes at a time. I bet your 8×8 is deeper! Mine is just barely 2″ but my mom has one that’s deeper, I always thought of that as a casserole dish. Mine will be 3 servings, and the carb count of mine will be 4 g./serving. I may call it 5 because I have multiple packages of pre-shredded cheese claiming “less than 1 g.” I’m baking for 12 minutes and then tossing it a bit to make sure it’s soft enough since I don’t think I properly pre-steamed. It’ll get cooked somehow!
This was delicious, fast and easy to make. Will make again!!
This looks amazing!!!! I’m going to try this tonight. Although, I had to comment out of concern because plastic wrap in the microwave is a huuuuuuuuge no no, I hope you can find an alternative to it.
Plastic wrap in America is all rated to be safe for microwave use, however if you’re outside of America it might be worth checking into. 🙂
I could see roasting the broccoli first for something like 20 minutes at 450F, instead of steaming (more caramelized flavors can come out), and maybe basted in some butter or maybe bacon fat. I could see adding either (leftover) grill smoked chicken to the mix too, or maybe some bacon.
Do you think a sharp cheddar would be better than a mild one in this dish? I’m thinking sharp, but will it overpower the parm?
Hi John!
Roasting the broccoli first should work just fine. Bacon and chicken would be great as well.
I think any type of cheddar you prefer will work fine here.
I got this in the oven right now ! YUM!
Can you use frozen broccoli?
I don’t ever cook with frozen broccoli, so I can’t say for sure, but it’d probably work if you like the texture. 🙂
Tastes great! It’s keto, for sure but divided into six isn’t enough for a main, and as a side dish it’s pretty calorie rich. Prep was simple but not 10 minutes. More like 30 minutes- retrieving ingredients and tools- just freshly grating cheddar takes at least 10 minutes.
Everyone will take different amounts of time in the kitchen…it definitely doesn’t take me 10 minutes to grate cheese and it’s hard to guess how long it might take someone else, so you’ll just have to use the prep time as a guideline. 🙂
I’m excited to try. I think I’ll substitute sour cream for mayo since I don’t have keto friendly mayo in the house (and don’t want to make).
Made this tonight. Added leftover Rotisserie Chicken. Was so decadent. Thanks for the delicious recipe!
Did you shred the rotisserie chicken?
I’m going to make this for dinner tonight. Can I use miracle whip instead of mayonnaise?
It will significantly change the nutritional values. Otherwise, I’m sure Miracle Whip would work, but I’m not sure how the flavor will be.
We are trying to stay away from Mayo in our house but this recipe sounds delicious and would love to try it. I’ve heard that Pearo can be a substitution for Mayo…how do you think that would be in this recipe? Or has anyone tried it?
I’ve never used or heard of Pearo, so I can’t say.
This recipe is the BOMB! I have tried numerous other recipes for Broccoli casserole and this one won us over….Thank you so much for sharing!!!
Yay! I’m so glad to hear that! 🙂
Made this tonight and we loved it!! I added diced baked chicken and followed the recipe. Thank you, we enjoyed this a lot!! Perfect for a fall day
Glad to hear! Thanks for the review! 🙂
This is so good! I have my second batch in the oven in as many weeks!
That’s awesome to hear! 🙂
Thank you for the awesome recipe! My cream cheese mixture didn’t melt all the way over the steamed broccoli – microwave a little more to mix it before cooking, or throw it in and mix it at the end??
It should be fine to just toss it in the oven. It’ll melt in there and you can stir if needed. 🙂
Adding this to my family’s dinner rotation! This dish was so easy and absolutely delicious.
Glad to hear!! 🙂
This was amazing, I had it with some rotisserie chicken, and it was perfection! It’ll be my lunch for the week.
I’m planning on making this, this weekend. Do you know how it would cook it in the slow cooker with chicken?
I haven’t tried it in the slow cooker.
We had it for dinner tonight, it was amazing! Loved it, thanks for a great side dish and looking at comments I’ll add chicken and make it a main.
How many cups of broccoli florets do you think your 20 oz would be? I’m using heads not bagged broccoli.
I’m really not sure. If you have a kitchen scale, you could measure it. Otherwise, just give it your best guess – you can’t mess this one up. 🙂
Does anyone know how well this freezes? I am the only one doing Keto in my house, and I need to prep ahead of time.
I’m not sure how well it would freeze. My non-keto family loved this one too, though.
I made it turned out to be a great
Hi there! This sounds awesome! Do you have the weight measurement for the cheese? I never really understand volume measurements for ingredients like cheese as they can vary. Of course , I do not understand the concept of “too cheesy” so I don’t imagine I could mess this up too badly. 😉
4 ounces of cheese generally equals 1 cup. But you’re right – you definitely can’t mess this up with extra cheese. 🙂
I’ve made twice now! I use 20 ounces of broccoli florets, cooked in microwave per package directions. The very first time I made it, I happened to have a quarter of a red onion so I finely diced and added to the frozen broccoli. The 2nd time I added no onion, and while still delicious, I liked it even more with onion! Followed recipe to a T as far as other ingredients. The only other difference was to bake for 30 minutes total. Since I like my broccoli in smaller pieces, I wait until it’s cooled off from microwave cooking, then cut into smaller pieces and put together. Even with end baking time being long, the broccoli still has bite! So delicious, this is what I’m bringing for Thanksgiving dinner and for the holiday potluck at work. Thank you for sharing!
So glad you enjoy the recipe!
Can this be made the day before I want to serve it? I have made it once before and it was delicious. I would like to have for Thanksgiving dinner and make it the day before and bake it the day of.
Yes, I think that should work fine!
OMG this was so amazing. Made for dinner last night and snacked on it cold this afternoon! Thanks for the recipe.
Can you make this ahead of time and stick it in the fridge until it is time to bake? Maybe bake just a little longer?
Should work fine – bake til hot and bubbly.
So when do you use the cheddar?
Never mind. Duh, I reed good.
I added Cubed chicken and sour cream instead of Mayo…OMG! it’s so good. I will be making this a lot. Thank You
Made it today and it was on point!!! Perfect with my baked chicken and easy to make! Keto perfect
Had this for dinner tonight it was amazing I’ll definitely be having it again
I’m going to try this, this weekend. I like adding the onion comment and I think I’m going to add some jalapeno’s too. What ya’ll think that has tasted this. Thank you for posting.
2nd time making, both times added bacon! This time I used cauliflower and have decided if keto tastes this good, I am all in! Thank you!
Ooh, now I need to make a cauliflower bacon version! Genius! 🙂
So glad you like the recipe!
My son and I recently went Keto and made this side dish to accompany our instant pot chuck roast last night and we both loved it. Thanks so much for a delicious recipe that turned out spot on on the first try!
Amazing!! I used my BRK pressure cooker to pressur cook broccoli and cauliflower. I did one organic head of each and doubled the whole recipe. Drained the water and added the cheese mixture to the hot pot with veggies. It all blended well in the hot pot (key). Then added in the pan and baked for about 20. Also mixed the Parmesan in the cheese mixture instead of on top. Turned out excellent. I used organic veggies, cream cheese. Cabot cheddars and Trader Joe’s garlic. Total winner!