fbpx

Cheesy Chickpea Broccoli Rice Casserole

This post has been sponsored by Minute® Rice. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

This Cheesy Chickpea Broccoli Rice Casserole is an easy one-pan dinner that the whole family will love. Feed a crowd with this casserole or freeze the leftovers! Vegan and can be made gluten-free.

Recently, Emily (our operations manager here at Emilie Eats!) asked me to choose my favorite recipe on the site. What a question! All of my recipes are like my babies, but one of my all-time favorites is this cheesy chickpea broccoli quinoa casserole that all of you seem to love as well.

I knew I wanted to make a rice casserole version of that recipe—so, here you go! What I love about this chickpea broccoli rice casserole is that you don’t have to wait long for the rice to cook. Minute® Ready to Serve Brown Rice is ready in just 1 minute, which means you can get the casserole in the oven (and on your plate!) sooner.

I was able to purchase all of the ingredients for this broccoli rice casserole, including Minute® Ready to Serve Brown Rice, at my local Safeway. This rice casserole recipe uses some of my staple ingredients that I always have in my kitchen—chickpeas, broccoli, Minute® Ready to Serve Brown Rice, raw cashews, nutritional yeast—and I love that I can get all of that at Safeway.

Lucky for you, there is a Safeway coupon available now for Minute® Ready to Serve Rice! From 3/2/20-3/31/20, you can get $0.50 off any 1 Minute® Ready to Serve Brown Rice, Brown & Wild Rice, and Brown Rice & Quinoa. They also have a mobile app you can check out!

How to Make Chickpea Broccoli Rice Casserole

For the chickpeas, you can either use 2 cans or cook them from scratch. I love using my pressure cooker to cook the chickpeas in under 1 hour.

For the rice, we’re using Minute® Ready to Serve Brown Rice. We need 3 cups for this broccoli rice casserole, so you’ll need 2 packages of Minute® Ready to Serve Brown Rice (each package contains 2 cups). You don’t need to add anything to this rice—just heat it up for 1 minute in the microwave, then add it to this rice casserole. I love that the cups are BPA-free and recyclable!

For the broccoli, you’ll lightly steam chopped florets for a few minutes before adding them to this cheesy broccoli casserole.

For the cheese sauce, we’re using a classic combination of raw cashews, carrots, and nutritional yeast. Instead of soaking the cashews overnight, I like to boil the cashews and carrots for 10 minutes. And let’s be honest —I always forget to soak them overnight anyway.

How to Store Casserole 

Since I’m just cooking for one, I like to freeze the leftovers of this broccoli rice casserole. The best way to store this casserole is to cut it into individual portions and freeze the pieces separately. When you need a quick dinner, you can pull a piece out of the freezer without having to deal with a huge block of frozen casserole pieces stuck together.

I like to reheat the frozen leftovers in the microwave for a few minutes or the oven at 325°F for 10-15 minutes.

Print
How to make:

Cheesy Chickpea Broccoli Rice Casserole

This Cheesy Chickpea Broccoli Rice Casserole is an easy one-pan dinner that the whole family will love. Feed a crowd with this casserole or freeze the leftovers! Vegan and can be made gluten-free.

Prep Time:
15 mins
Cook Time:
1 hour 10 mins
Total Time:
1 hour 10 mins
Author:
Emilie
Yield:
8 1x
Rating: 4 from 1 reviews

Ingredients

  • 3 cups Minute® Ready to Serve Brown Rice
  • 4 cups steamable broccoli florets
  • 2 15-ounce cans (3 cups) chickpeas, drained and rinsed
  • 1 cup raw cashews
  • 1 cup carrots, chopped into ½-inch chunks
  • 1 ¾ cups unsweetened non-dairy milk or water (or a mix)
  • ½ cup nutritional yeast
  • 2 teaspoons miso paste
  • 2 cloves garlic
  • 1 teaspoon onion powder
  • ½ teaspoon ground turmeric
  • ¼ teaspoon ground cayenne pepper
  • Salt and pepper, to taste
  • ½ cup whole grain or gluten-free bread crumbs
  • Chopped parsley, for garnish

Instructions

  1. Preheat oven to 375ºF.
  2. Heat Minute® Ready to Serve Brown Rice according to package directions.
  3. Steam broccoli in microwave according to package directions.
  4. In a small saucepan over high heat, add cashews, carrots, and enough water to cover them. Bring to a boil; cook for 10 minutes until cashews and carrots are tender. Drain.
  5. In a blender or food processor, add cashews and carrots, non-dairy milk, nutritional yeast, miso, garlic, onion powder, turmeric, cayenne, salt, and pepper.
  6. In a 9×13 baking dish, add rice, steamed broccoli, and chickpeas; stir to combine. Pour on the cheese sauce; stir to thoroughly mix into ingredients. Top with bread crumbs.
  7. Bake for 45 minutes. Let cool for 10 minutes before serving.

Nutrition

  • Serving Size: 1 piece
  • Calories: 360.7
  • Sugar: 5.6
  • Sodium: 270.1
  • Fat: 11.0
  • Saturated Fat: 1.7
  • Unsaturated Fat: 7.4
  • Trans Fat: 0
  • Carbohydrates: 53.0
  • Fiber: 11.3
  • Protein: 16.8
  • Cholesterol: 0

Download the Safeway app now to get this coupon available 3/2/20-3/31/20!

Thanks to Minute® Rice for sponsoring this post! I love working with brands whose products I really love and would honestly recommend. Thank you for your support!