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!
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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.
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
- 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.
Notes
This recipe is very cheesy! Feel free to add more broccoli or less cream cheese, if you don't want it quite so rich and decadent.
We purchase bags of FRESH broccoli florets in the produce section. It's more expensive than buying a head and chopping yourself, but it's my favorite time saver and helps us eat more broccoli when I know I don't have to spend time prepping it.
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Nutrition Information:
Yield: 6 Serving Size: 1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 323Total Fat: 28gSaturated Fat: 13gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 12gCholesterol: 64mgSodium: 502mgCarbohydrates: 8gNet Carbohydrates: 5gFiber: 3gSugar: 3gProtein: 10g
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How would I add rice to this recipe?
Hi Jade! You could add cauliflower rice in with the broccoli, I would think. I’m not sure about regular rice.
I had made this recipe and if your a big cream cheese lover you would love this dish. For me all I could taste was the cream cheese. Next time i will use 4oz of cream cheese instead of the 8
Annamarie, my cheese sauce is made with butter, cream & cream cheese with added hard cheese of choice… add a teaspoon of mustard, salt & pepper… delish..
How much is 1 serving? 1/2 cup, 1 cup? Thank you so much!!
Hi Jennifer! I didn’t measure by volume, just divided it out into 6 portions.
Question! Is it 350 Fahrenheit or Celsius ? I
Fahrenheit! 🙂
I just made it for the first time and it is great! I added some dried chopped onions,( a bunch) can’t wait till dinner. Only question….. What is a serving size? You have all the nutritional values but no serving size. I am diabetic and although my sugars have always been great, lately they are going crazy and I am portioning. I am on an insulin pump and trying to get things back under controll.
Thanks for the great recipe!
Hi Sue! I bet it will be great with the onions! This recipe was calculated based on 6 servings, but I didn’t measure the servings by volume. Hope that helps!
I didn’t have the quantities that the recipe called for so I adjusted it a little. My non-low carb husband gave it a 10! It was delish! A definite keeper.
Made this tonight, unfortunately didn’t hit the mark for me. Sound it way too heavy and flavourless. Missing like a “something”, like the sharpness of vintage cheese would have maybe helped, or using sour cream or something.
Sorry to hear this one wasn’t a big hit for you.
Could you add cooked ground Turkey to this recipe?
Yes, that should be fine.
Has anyone tried this with riced cauliflower added?
I’m going to make this tonight and put some chicken in it.
I wanted to use froze broccoli, but thought I’d better stick with the exact directions so as not to run into any issues the lesser star people had. I enjoyed this. I made sure my cream cheese was softened and used a mixer to blend it altogether smooth before adding the broccoli. It is rather gloopy at first, but the oven fixed that. I did double the time in the microwave and the broccoli was still bright green and crunchy. It’s a matter of taste depending on which of the 3 Bears you’re feeding. All my bears cleaned their plates. Thank you for the recipe!
So glad it was a hit! I’m sure this would work fine with frozen broccoli, if you like frozen broccoli. I’m just not a fan of frozen veggies. 🙂
I’m not a broccoli fan, but this was good and I ate it. My husband loved it.
Will definitely make it again.
Hi Karla, what size cups do you use plz ??
Hi Rich! They’re measuring cups. It’s a volume measure rather than a weight measure.
Anyone ever add chicken to it?
Yep, if you read through the comments you’ll see that lots of people have. Already cooked, shredded chicken would be the way to go. 🙂
I am planning on making this tomorrow using a combo of Broccoli and Cauliflower. Does anyone know how many cups of the vegetables to use? How much is 20 ounces?
Hi Lori! I didn’t measure this by volume since it will vary so much based on the size of your vegetables. If you have a kitchen scale, I’d use that. Otherwise, it’ll probably be around 6 cups.
Just made this wonderful, rich-tasting casserole on Christmas Eve, following the original recipe and advice of contributors above. I steamed the broccoli on the stove (about half of the large bag that Costco sells). To lower the fat content without losing flavor, I used 1/4 cup light sour cream, 1/4 cup light mayo and four ounces of light cream cheese. Sharp cheddar indeed provides a nice bite. Topped it with some crispy onions to add a bit of crunch before baking about 15 min. Verdict: My wife loved it … had to stash the rest in the fridge or it would be gone before Santa even arrives. I might add a couple of shakes of onion powder or some minced onion next time.
This has become a staple dish for my fiancé’s Keto diet because I love it too it’s so good!
I used frozen broccoli and sharp cheddar. I could eat this every night it was that good.
Did you cook the broccoli first?
So good!! I could eat the whole thing myself!
Can I make this today to be cooked tomorrow? Or can I bake it today and reheat it tomorrow? If so the reheat how long and at what temp? Thank you!
Hi Debbie! This should reheat fine. I’d let it come to room temperature first, if it’s already been cooked once, and then warm through in a 300 degree oven until hot and bubbly.
This is a favorite recipe of mine especially doing low carb. I do add some minced onion since I don’t like the crunch of raw onion, I just put it in my little mini chopper and almost juice it. It really adds flavor and yes it is wonderful with shredded chicken added. Thanks.