Description
Elevate your next meal with this mouthwatering cheesy broccoli rice casserole. This casserole is just about as effortless as it gets and is ready in about an hour.
Ingredients
Cashew Cream
- 1/2 cup (65g) raw cashews
- 1 cup filtered water
- 1/3 cup nutritional yeast
- 1/2 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
- 1/2 teaspoon salt, plus more to taste
- 1/8 teaspoon nutmeg
- 1/8 teaspoon black pepper
- 1/8 teaspoon turmeric
Rice Casserole
- 1/2 medium (about 1 cup) yellow onion, finely chopped
- 1 rib celery, finely diced
- 4 cloves garlic, finely minced
- 1 1/2 cups hot low-sodium vegetable broth (see step 5)
- 1 cup brown riceÂ
- 1 cup cooked chickpeas (optional)
- 1/2 cup shredded carrot
- 3 cups broccoli florets, cut into bite sized pieces
- Vegan parmesan cheese, as desired for garnish
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400°F and get a (9×9-inch) casserole dish ready. (see notes)
- Bring a small pot of water to a boil. Once it is boiling, remove the pot from heat and add in the cashews. Soak for 20 minutes or until softened and drain.
- Add the soaked and drained cashews to a high speed blender along with the remaining ingredients for the cashew cream. Blend until smooth and set aside.
- In a medium pan over medium heat, add in 2 tablespoons of water broth along with the diced onion, celery and garlic. Sauté until softened, about 3 minutes, adding 2 more tablespoons of water as needed to prevent burning. Alternatively, you can cook these in 1/2 tablespoon of cooking oil.
- Heat your vegetable broth just until it begins to boil. We do this in a microwave to keep it quick but you can also do it on the stove!Â
- Transfer the cooked mixture to a 9×9-inch baking dish along with the cashew cream, vegetable broth, brown rice, chickpeas and shredded carrots. Mix everything together until uniform.
- Evenly arrange the broccoli over the casserole.
- Tightly cover the dish with foil and place it into the oven for 60 minutes. Remove the dish from the oven and cool for 10-15 minutes before serving. Enjoy!
Notes
- This recipe was inspired by From My Bowl and our Broccoli Cheddar Soup.
- We have tested this in a smaller and taller baking dish and it worked as well! We just suggest you use a small-medium sized dish.
- Cauliflower would work great in this recipe too.
- Prep Time: 20 minutes
- Cook Time: 60 minutes
- Category: Entree
- Method: Oven
Keywords: vegan, broccoli, cheddar, cashews, casserole, dump and bake, entree, dinner, lunch, brown rice
Hello there,
When you put the brown rice in the dish to bake is it cooked already.
Thanks for sharing wonderful recipes.
Hello! No, the rice will cook in the oven. Let us know if you need anything else 🙂
Is there a way to make this with frozen broccoli?
Yes, frozen broccoli would work! Just add it in as you would fresh broccoli and it will cook in the oven.
Made this for dinner last night, so yummy!! Thanks for sharing!
10/10 from us!
★★★★★
This is so dang good! I made it two weeks in a row for dinner. It’s going into our regular rotation! I double it so we have leftovers and cook it in a 9×13 pan which works great.
★★★★★
This was bomb! I was so impressed by the cheesiness even though there wasn’t any cheese! It was a bit more time consuming than I anticipated so I will need to plan to start this much earlier than I did the other day because this is going to be in my rotation of dinners for the next couple of weeks. Love that it is pantry friendly too! My non-vegan boyfriend really really enjoyed this too so thumbs up from us both 🙂
★★★★★
could i pre make the cheese sauce the night before?
Yes, most-definitely!
Can this be made with left over already cooked rice?
Unfortunately not, it’s designed with the liquid ration to cook the rice as it bakes!
How come the recipe is no longer on the page?
The recipe is still here!
This was seriously phenomenal (though of course every recipe from Sweet Simple Vegan that I’ve tried has been). Vegan toddler-approved as well! This will be made again in our household for sure.
★★★★★
So happy to hear that, thank you 🙂
I’ve made this dish a few times because it’s really delicious. I modify the vegetable ingredients according to what I have on hand, but I keep the sauce and key ingredients as-is. I’ve discovered that it needs about 2 1/2 or so cups of broth and cooking time of 1 hour 15 minutes (and then start checking for doneness) to avoid a touch of crunchiness in the center of the rice. Other than that, it’s a super recipe that I make often.
★★★★
So so so good!! I used soy curls instead of chickpeas. Thanks for sharing your recipe!!