Healthier Broccoli Chicken Casserole

Calvin and I had our first real fight in 2020 this week. Not about what you might think—not about Bernice, not about Marcus, not about the world outside—but about a casserole. I made a casserole from a recipe I found in one of my church cookbooks, a cookbook from the 1970s that belonged to the Ensley AME kitchen, the kind of cookbook that is spiral-bound and dedicated to the memory of Sister Such-and-Such and contains recipes that are charming in their specificity and their confidence that Campbell's cream of mushroom soup is a legitimate cooking ingredient. I was not myself. I was tired and grieving and the casserole was easy and I made it and Calvin, who knows every dish I have made in thirty years of marriage and can tell the difference between my food and not-my-food, ate it with an expression that I read as critical and I said, "What?" and he said, "It's fine," and I said, "Fine is not what I cook," and it escalated from there.

It was not really about the casserole. These arguments never are. It was about being exhausted and sad and unable to maintain my usual standard and refusing to admit that I was exhausted and sad, because the casserole was standing in for all of it—the grief, the pandemic, the spring that had taken Bernice, the two-year-old wound that was Marcus—and when Calvin said "It's fine" I heard something larger than fine and responded to something larger than a casserole. We sorted it out. We always sort it out. Twenty-eight years of marriage have given us the tools, even if we sometimes forget where we put them. We found them. We sat at the kitchen table with cups of tea and we said what was actually happening and we did not sleep until it was right between us.

I threw the rest of the casserole away. I made fried chicken. It was right. The kitchen was right. We were right. More salt, more love, more time. That is always the instruction. That is always the answer.

Once the kitchen was right again, I needed to make something that deserved to be in it — something I had put my hands into on purpose, not out of exhaustion. This Healthier Broccoli Chicken Casserole is the answer to the one I threw away: no condensed soup from a can, no apology in it, just real ingredients treated with the attention they are owed. If the first casserole was me disappearing, this one is me coming back.

Prep Time: 20 minutes | Cook Time: 35 minutes | Total Time: 55 minutes | Servings: 6

Ingredients

1 1/2 lbs boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cooked and shredded
4 cups fresh broccoli florets, cut into bite-sized pieces
1 cup plain Greek yogurt (full-fat or 2%)
1 cup low-sodium chicken broth
1 cup shredded sharp cheddar cheese, divided
1/2 cup yellow onion, finely diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 teaspoon onion powder
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 cup whole wheat panko breadcrumbs
1 tablespoon unsalted butter, melted

Instructions

Preheat and prep. Heat oven to 375°F. Lightly grease a 9x13-inch baking dish and set aside.
Blanch the broccoli. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add broccoli florets and cook 3 to 4 minutes, until just tender but still bright green. Drain well and pat dry.
Sauté aromatics. Warm olive oil in a skillet over medium heat. Add onion and cook, stirring occasionally, until softened and translucent, about 5 minutes. Add garlic and cook 1 minute more. Remove from heat.
Make the sauce. In a large mixing bowl, whisk together Greek yogurt, chicken broth, 3/4 cup of the cheddar, onion powder, garlic powder, salt, and pepper until smooth and combined.
Combine the filling. Add shredded chicken, blanched broccoli, and the sautéed onion and garlic to the bowl. Fold everything together until evenly coated.
Assemble. Spread the filling evenly into the prepared baking dish. Scatter the remaining 1/4 cup cheddar across the top.
Add the topping. Toss panko breadcrumbs with melted butter until the crumbs are lightly coated. Sprinkle in an even layer over the cheese.
Bake. Bake uncovered for 30 to 35 minutes, until the casserole is bubbling around the edges and the breadcrumb topping is golden brown. Let rest 5 minutes before serving.

Nutrition (per serving)

Healthier Broccoli Chicken Casserole — The One Worth Keeping