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This broccoli cheddar casserole with smoked sausage is extra cheesy, bursting with flavor, and a quick way to get dinner on the table!
My dad was always a huge fan of smoked sausage when I was a kid and I was honestly just kind of weirded out by it.
Like, was it just an overgrown hot dog? Why are you slicing it up and putting it in things? What is even happening?
Then I grew up and decided that smoked sausage is one of my favorite things ever because a) it tastes good and b) it cooks in about 2 minutes and I’m a busy mom who’s just trying to get dinner on the table as easily as possible.
So, today we’ve got this broccoli cheddar casserole situation loaded with browned smoked sausage. It’s beyond easy and oh so delicious.
You ready for the step by step? But first, drool over that saucy goodness happening in the photo below…oh man.
How to make this keto sausage recipe:
First, you’re going to want about 28 ounces of fresh broccoli florets. I just buy the bag of florets, but you can definitely by a head of broccoli and chop it up yourself.
I don’t recommend frozen broccoli for this recipe. Fresh is best, always. It doesn’t get nearly as mushy or weird as frozen broccoli does.
Add your broccoli to a large mixing bowl along with a couple tablespoons of water and cover it all tightly with plastic wrap. Microwave this for 2 minutes and then let it sit for 2 minutes to steam.
If you don’t have a microwave or don’t like using plastic wrap in the microwave, you can do this on a stove top steamer. You’re looking for warm, barely cooked broccoli. We’re going to finish this in the oven, so don’t over do it.
While the broccoli is doing it’s thang, slice up some smoked sausage and toss it in a hot skillet to brown. I like to get mine really browned on the edges, because it amps the flavor up majorly.
Add some cream cheese, mayo, cheddar, garlic powder, and pepper to a mixing bowl and stir really well to combine.
Dump that mixture over your hot broccoli and sausage and stir to coat. The cheese mixture is thick, but it should mix in pretty easily since the broccoli is hot.
Pop all that in a baking dish, top it off with a sprinkle of Parmesan, and bake it up!
If you love my broccoli casserole, you might notice that this is a riff on that recipe!
What comes out of your oven is a seriously gooey, creamy broccoli cheddar casserole loaded with bits of browned smoked sausage.
I think I could eat this every day!
Side dish or main dish?
This recipe is pretty filling thanks to all of the cheese, broccoli, and sausage so you definitely could consider it a main dish. Just know that it also packs a lot of fat and is a bit carb heavy if you’re keto.
We serve this as a side dish and the nutrition is based on this making 8 servings. If you’d like to serve as a main, double each portion to serve 4 people and be sure to double the nutrition info when tracking. 🙂
What kind of smoked sausage to use?
Smoked sausage comes in a variety of flavors and from many different brands. I was super surprised to see how many carbs are loaded in some of those sausages!
Hillshire Farm makes a smoked sausage with only 1 carb per 2 ounce serving and that’s what I use and how I’ve calculated the nutrition info for this recipe. It’s the lowest carb option I’ve seen and tastes great.
More low carb favorites to try:
Broccoli Salad: Broccoli is my favorite veggie, if you hadn’t noticed! This broccoli salad is divine.
Pulled Pork: I love a good slow cooker recipe and the sauce on this one is amazing.
Lemon Chicken: Quick, easy, and so creamy and flavorful!
Fathead Pizza: I topped mine off with BLT goodness!
Cheesy Broccoli & Sausage Casserole
Ingredients
- 20 ounces fresh broccoli florets
- 16 ounces smoked sausage
- 8 ounces cream cheese room temperature
- 1/2 cup mayonnaise
- 2 cups freshly grated cheddar cheese
- 2 teaspoons 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.
- While broccoli is steaming, slice the sausage into thin rounds and add to a hot skillet over medium heat. Cook, stirring occasionally, until sausage is browned on the outside.
- 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 and browned sausage 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.
Gordon says
This was AMAZING!!! Thank you for the recipe!!
Angie says
We really liked this recipe however, I agree with another comment – I would cut back on the garlic. Maybe just one tsp. I’m going to keep making it and cutting back each time until I perfect it! Oh – and we added more sausage to make it the main dish 🙂 Thanks for the yummy recipe!
Kim G says
DEE-LISH
Highly recommend this keep in mind any dish cooked with a brick of cream cheese will be very rich
I cooked accordingly but added on top ground up pork rinds seasoned with Chili and Cooked bacon bits
This will be one of our repeats meals
Calene Jackson says
Made this last year for my family Christmas get together & now they request I make it every year because they liked it so much!
Karly Campbell says
That’s great to hear!
crystal allbritten says
Winner! Topped with crushed porkrinds and Redmond ds seasoned salt…yummy and easy!!!
Lee Ely says
I’ll give ya a 5 star, I thought it was pretty good, I made per the recipe except I cooked longer and hotter. 30 min. At 400f to get it bubbly and a golden brown .
Sarah says
Delicious. Can this dish be frozen?
Karly Campbell says
I haven’t tried freezing this one. I’d be a bit worried about the cream cheese getting funky but it may turn out fine!
Bamboo Cottage says
Way too salty, needs a carb friendly ingredient to bulk it it up. I made this for my mom and dad, and needed some extra stuff to absorb the extra liquid from the steamed broccoli. I won’t be making this again
Karly Campbell says
Sorry this one didn’t work out for you.
Chris Gibson says
I like garlic don’t get me wrong but holy hell that is way to much garlic for this recipe. We will try it again but with about 1/2 of the garlic powder.
Mera says
Taste- delicious
Make again- yes
Review: Not sure the issue of other’s. In rating recipes one should tell relevant information. Once you modify, it’s not the recipe. This was great. I changed nothing, used quality ingredients because that matters with some things like cheeses and meats! Fresh broccoli was also used. Thank you for this great recipe!
shannon willeford says
Ok so I made the dish with only a few modifications. I’m on a tight budget so I used what I had Colby jack instead of cheddar and only three quarters of a teaspoon of garlic. I enjoyed it! Now my husband on the other hand said it was ok but…
So next time I’m going to use less salt and i will try frozen vegetables an American cheese. Understand in his opinion a vegetable isn’t cooked right if its not falling apart and mushy. So thumbs up here!
Cheryl says
Awesome!
Sarah says
The first couple of bites I was impressed but after that, it was overwhelming how much cream cheese came through on the flavor. This was probably the only and last time I’ll make this recipe. Worth a shot for others to try though!
Steampunkpug says
I agree. I’ll make it again but with a lot less cream cheese.
Karen says
My hubby loves cheese and he agreed that there was too much cheese. We won’t make this again.
bob says
28 ounces of broccoli was way too much. I has two 12 oz bags and the cheese wouldn’t coat half the broccoli. Also, there was no way it would fit in 8 x 8 bowl. Perhaps that was the starting weight of the broccoli not the florets? I weighed the bags and they were accurate. Anyway, to offset the broccoli size, I had to use 1.5x the cheese and it came out reasonable, but no way near as cheesy as shown in the picture. Next time, I think I’ll stick with the single 12oz bag!
Jaimee says
Very delicious. Maybe cut half cheese out. And I softened cream cheese in microwave first which helped with mixing. And added blackened seasoning.
Julie says
This was the best thing ever! I could have eaten the whole pan! My husband loved it, too! Plus, it’s so easy to prepare. Definately going to be a weekly one in our house! Thanks for sharing!
Ashton says
Adding this to our weekly rotation!!! So creamy and delicious Thank you for the recipe!
jc says
Massive fail for my family. I made exactly per recipe. We are a family of 10 but I never double new recipes in case they are poorly received, I just make extra sides. Despite 10 of us being teenage boys, only half of this was eaten , the consensus being it tastes “weird.” Straight to our Do Not Make Again pile. Everyone likes smoked sausage, cheese, and broccoli so I was surprised this recipe was a loser for us. I can’t have smoked sausage so just picked out the broccoli and that tasted fine to me.
Karly Campbell says
Sorry it wasn’t a hit for you guys. Perhaps your smoked sausage was off, if you thought it tasted fine without it?
Tammi says
Used cauliflower because I don’t like broccoli and subbed homemade ricotta for the Mayo to lighten it up a bit. Also added some mustard for an acid as it’s pretty heavy.
Pam M says
Can suggest instead of using bread crumbs, crush pork rinds. Keto friendly & adds good crunch. I used the Salt & pepper ones from Walmart on chicken broccoli cheddar casserole. Yum!
Trina says
yum!!! so tasty and filling!!!!
Elden Hill says
In the top 10 of the worst things I have ever made.
Richard Kohout says
Where do you see bread crumbs in this recipe?