Rich and creamy homemade honey mustard sauce adds a flavorful twist to this quick and easy Gluten Free Honey Mustard Chicken Broccoli Casserole.
I’m purty sure that everyone has their very own “my momma makes the best” chicken and broccoli casserole. Don’t feel bad, I do too. Actually, I took my mom’s chicken and broccoli casserole recipe and made it tastier, healthier, and gluten free. It’s one of the first recipes I put up on the blog, and accordingly has some of the worst pictures to accompany it. Don’t judge.
Now I don’t know how many people have actually converted to my chicken and broccoli recipe, but in my experience of people sticking to family traditions, my guess would be not many. Shame on you.
I can’t complain though. Honestly, I wish I was more sentimental about traditions at times. Having just cruised through the holidays these past 3 months, I’ve realized just how unattached to traditions I am.
We didn’t do anything particularly special for Halloween besides having Ben’s parents come and visit, which was a total blast as always. I thought a few years back that it would be nice to serve warm stew before trick-or-treating around the neighborhood. However, that year proved to be the only semi-cool Halloween we had in Phoenix. Apparently Arizona’s weather and more recently Hawaii’s heat spell aren’t really conducive climates for that tradition.
Thanksgiving was a day full of first time events for our family: an early morning workout, a turkey trot by the beach, watching Ben play football, gathering together with friends at the church for a Thanksgiving feast, and a trip to the local movie theater for a kid movie later that evening. Again, we had a blast, but did nothing that fit into the category of family traditions.
Christmas proved to be a similar situation composed of random events and a smorgasbord of first time foods. It was actually quite comical when it came down to the Christmas Day menu. My mom accidentally over salted the stuffing. Now she is NOT one for change so she just resorted to the fact that she was going to have to serve salty stuffing to the family.
I, on the other hand, AM one for change. I swooped in, with much eye piercing DAGGER glares from my mother, and added diced sweet potatoes, toasted bread, extra celery and onions, and chopped apples to the mix. I also baked it at a higher degree than was deemed appropriate by my mother, just because I wanted a crispy top.
Guess what??? It was delicious! So much for TRADITIONAL stuffing.
I followed suit in breaking traditions with the rest of the menu items as well by making up recipes for sage butter roasted turkey, cheddar and bacon mashed potatoes, and a fruit based green salad topped with cayenne and brown sugar glazed pecans.
I really did think my mom was going to have a heart attack with all of this new holiday food.
But it’s like the good old book Green Eggs and Ham. Try it! Try it! You may like it!
And so I say with this new twist on chicken and broccoli casserole, “Try it! Try it! You may like it!”
This Gluten Free Honey Mustard Chicken Broccoli Casserole is just as comforting, just as tasty, and just as easy as your traditional broccoli casserole only with a whole new set of flavors.
Instead of the cream of chicken or cream of mushroom soup base in a regular casserole, I used a healthier and gluten free honey mustard option. It really was quite simple with only a quick whisk of Greek yogurt, mayo, and a few seasonings for the dressing and some good old dicing of a leftover rotisserie chicken for the meat.
Costco came in handy by selling a bag of pre-cut and pre-washed broccoli florets that I was able to nuke in the microwave for 2 minutes to barely soften before throwing them into the baking dish. I’m telling you, EASY!
So easy, in fact, that even if you don’t like this new version of chicken and broccoli casserole, you didn’t waste much time of your life making it.
BUT, I pretty much guarantee you will like it. And you will make it over and over again, creating a new tradition in your house. And that one day you decide to make that old traditional broccoli casserole, you kiddos will look at you and say, “What’s this?!”
The sauce in this dish is slightly sweet and subtly tangy coming from the mixture of honey, Greek yogurt, and mustard. The honey mustard flavor is elevated with a mixture of spices including rubbed sage and dried thyme.
And then you top this flavorful sauce off with warm and bubbly melted cheddar cheese and crispy bacon pieces. It’s a pretty glorious combo if you ask me.
So bring on the NEW chicken and broccoli casserole along with this NEW year! Let’s make some changes around here. Wink, wink.
What is your favorite traditional meal?
- 6 cups broccoli florets
- 3 cups cubed rotisserie chicken
- 1 cup shredded sharp cheddar cheese
- ¼ cup bacon pieces
- ½ cup mayonnaise
- ½ cup nonfat Greek yogurt
- 2 tablespoons milk
- 1 tablespoon mustard
- 1½ tablespoons honey
- ¼ teaspoon ground pepper, plus more for seasoning
- 1 teaspoon chicken bullion granules
- ½ teaspoon salt, plus more for seasoning
- ½ teaspoon thyme
- ½ teaspoon sage
- ½ teaspoon onion powder
- ¼ teaspoon granulated garlic
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a 9X13 pan with cooking spray. Set aside.
- Cut broccoli florets to bite sized pieces. In two batches, place florets in a microwave safe bowl, add 2 tablespoons of water, cover, and microwave on high for 2 minutes. Drain. Place broccoli evenly in baking pan and lightly season with salt and pepper.
- Cut up chicken and scatter on top of broccoli.
- In a small mixing bowl, whisk together mayonnaise, Greek yogurt, milk, mustard, honey, ¼ teaspoon pepper, chicken bullion granules, ½ teaspoon salt, thyme, sage, onion powder, and granulated garlic. Stir until smooth.
- Spread sauce over top of the chicken. Sprinkle with cheese. Cover pan with aluminum foil and bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes.
- Remove foil and sprinkle on bacon pieces. Broil uncovered for an additional 5 minutes or until cheese is browning and bubbly.
- Let sit for 5 minutes before serving. Serve on top of cooked rice, baked potatoes, noodles, quinoa, etc.
Kristine | Kristine's Kitchen says
I love broccoli casserole, but my version doesn’t have chicken in it. I love that this recipe works as a main dish – yum!
Brielle says
Thanks Kristine! I’ve never even thought NOT to put chicken in it, but that would be a way easy side dish. Good idea!