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This vegan broccoli and cheese rice casserole is the perfect hearty dinner or side dish. It’s full of flavor, and the family always enjoys eating it.

Why you’ll love this recipe

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• A dish the whole family can love
• It may be steppy, but it’s still an easy recipe to make
• It makes a hearty vegan casserole
• Vegan broccoli casserole makes a great way to use up fresh broccoli.

Ingredients and substitutions

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Check out the recipe card at the bottom of this post for the full recipe.

Condensed Potato Soup

• Vegan butter- this makes the soup nice a creamy. You can use oil if that’s all you have, but it’s best with vegan butter.

• All Purpose flour- You make a roux with all-purpose flour, which helps thicken the soup. If you need this to be gluten-free, you can use all-purpose gluten-free flour.

• Vegetable broth- you can use bullion or my vegan chicken broth; you want it to be flavorful so it’ll shine through in the recipe.

• Non dairy milk- you use oat milk, soy milk, almond milk, whichever you prefer; just make sure it’s unsweetened and unflavored. It will taste really funky otherwise.

• Instant potato flakes– this is a great way to thicken recipes without adding extra fat. You can use regular cooked, mashed potatoes if you don’t have instant potatoes.

• Onion powder- Garlic powder- celery seed- all aid in the flavor of making this taste like condensed potato soup. If you don’t have celery seed, use half the amount in celery salt.

Casserole

• Broccoli florets- you want these cut bite-sized; no one wants to bite into a giant piece of broccoli. I prefer using fresh, but you can use frozen and cook it also. The key here is not overcooking the broccoli or undercooking it. It won’t cook much in the oven.

• Vegan cheese- I prefer to use vegan cheddar cheese; we love Vio-life, but whatever brand is your favorite, or use a vegan cheese sauce. Depending on how cheesy you want, you can add more or less of this.

• Vegan sour cream makes it nice and creamy; you can use cashew cream with a little vinegar if you prefer.

• Cooked white rice- make sure you don’t overcook the rice. You can use brown rice if you prefer it.

• Cashew Parmesan– this can be made in a matter of minutes, but it does use cashews. If you need this to be nut free, you can use a store-bought vegan parmesan. 

Topping

• Ritz crackers- you can use whatever cracker or bread crumbs, panko crumbs, whatever works here; you just want it to be something that will crisp up a bit on the top.

• Vegan butter- this is optional; you can melt 1 TB vegan butter and combine it with the topping mixture to help it crisp up when it gets baked.

• Cashew Parmesan- this is one of my favorite vegan cheeses. It tastes SO good. It’s super easy to make, but again you can sub this out for vegan parmesan from the store if you prefer.

How to make

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Step 1- Make the cream of potato soup.

Get all your ingredients ready; this happens fast. Melt your vegan butter in your pot on medium heat, and whisk in the flour- this will thicken fast, add your broth and whisk (this thickens really fast as well); add the rest of your ingredients and whisk until smooth.

Once it’s thick and creamy (which happens in about 30 seconds to 1 minute), it’s ready, and you can set it aside. Add the vegan cheeses and the vegan sour cream to this and stir, then set it aside.

Step 2- Cook your broccoli.

You can do this in a microwave or on the stove.

Microwave- place your florets in a steamer bowl with water and cook for about 6 minutes or until it’s the perfect texture for you. You don’t want it mushy, but you don’t want it crunchy it won’t cook much in the oven. It typically has a bright green color when it’s the perfect texture.

OR

Stove- add the broccoli florets to a small saucepan and fill it with a bit of water, place a lid over it, and cook until your desired texture.

Step 3-

Drain and set aside.

Step 4- Make the topping

Take a small bowl, combine the crackers and vegan cashew parmesan,

stir and set it aside.

Step 5- Put it all together.

Take a large bowl, combine the soup mixture, cooked rice, and cooked broccoli, and stir until well combined.

Step 6-

Add this mixture to an 8×8 baking dish and sprinkle the topping mixture on top of the casserole.

Step 7- Bake

Bake casserole in the preheated oven for 20 minutes or until heated through. The cooking time may vary.

Expert Tips and Tricks

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• Don’t overbake your rice; you want delicious fluffy rice for this.
• Don’t overcook or undercook your broccoli- no one wants mushy broccoli, and I’m not a big fan if it’s super crunchy, but some people are, and that’s okay too.
• If you want to make this a gluten-free casserole, use gluten-free flour in the soup recipe and a gluten-free cracker in the topping.
• This may seem overwhelming, but it’s actually a straightforward recipe. I always have the cashew parmesan made up in my fridge, so if you need to make that ahead of time, do so for a quicker recipe.
• Make sure to have cooked rice or use leftover rice if you need to use fresh rice; star your rice before you start your soup.

How to Serve

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This cheesy broccoli rice casserole is best served warm as a main dish or side dish.

How to store and freeze

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Storing–

To store leftovers, place them in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 5 days. You can reheat it in the microwave or oven.

Freezing-

Let it cool down before placing it in an airtight freezer safe container in the freezer for up to 3 months. 

When you want to reheat it, let it defrost, then you can either place it in a microwave-safe dish or oven-safe dish and reheat either way. 

Variations and Ad-ons

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• Use bread crumbs, tortilla chips, or another type of cracker crumb to change the topping flavor
• Add cooked onions for more flavor.
• Use brown rice or wild rice for a different flavor profile.
• You can add any mushroom; just cook it before adding it.
• Try adding other cooked vegetables.

Recipes you may like

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• Vegan Green Bean Casserole
• Vegan Tamale Pie
• Vegan Chicken Noodle Soup

If you loved this recipe, then give it a 5-star rating and leave a comment! I love to chat with you all. Please feel free to share on social media and tag #courtneyshomestead. I would love to see you over on Instagram or Facebook. 

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