Cook: 30 Whole wheat pasta, chicken, and broccoli in an easy-to-make flavorful creamy cashew sauce that can all be ready in 30 minutes flat! Top it off with regular or vegan shredded cheese for a dairy-free recipe (or almost dairy-free, your choice) that’s SO delicious and comforting. This Healthy Chicken Broccoli Pasta Casserole is EVERYTHING and perfect for a quick, weeknight dinner!
Healthy Chicken Broccoli Pasta Casserole Recipe
It doesn’t get much easier than this Healthy Chicken Broccoli Pasta Casserole for dinner. Creamy, savory, delicious, perfect for hiding veggies, and SO effortless! Even my picky kiddos like this one. It’s that good! Here’s what I’m loving about it:
- Other than cooking the pasta, it’s a one-pan (rather, casserole dish (opens in a new tab)) meal – so easy clean-up!
- It can be prepped in advance and/or frozen and reheated.
- It’s great for feeding a crowd.
- It can be made lower-carb by using chickpea or lentil-based pasta. (opens in a new tab)
- If you use cooked chicken and pre-cut broccoli florets, this recipe can be made in 30 minutes flat!
- The recipe is mostly dairy-free, but can be made completely dairy-free by using vegan cheese instead of regular.
- It’s one of the quickest, easiest healthy dinner recipes ever and I know you’re going to love it!
Did I mention how this recipe legitimately tastes like comfort food heaven? It’s the BEST. Happy no-fuss cooking, friends!
RELATED: 15 Easy Weeknight Healthy Pasta Recipes
Ingredients/Substitutions
Here’s what you’ll need for this recipe.
Creamy Cashew Sauce
This cashew sauce is INCREDIBLY easy to make! You’ll need cashew butter, (opens in a new tab) chicken (or vegetable) broth, unsweetened plain cashew milk (or almond milk), a small amount of almond flour, (opens in a new tab) garlic powder, paprika, dried parsley, and salt/pepper to taste. Simply whisk it all together and you’re set!
Cooked Chicken + Broccoli
You’ll need to have cooked chicken and broccoli florets ready to go! You can also save time by cooking the chicken and chopping these ingredients up the night before so that they’re ready to go for a quick and easy dinner the next day.
Other hidden veggies ideas for this casserole include frozen or canned peas, carrots, chopped spinach or kale, and/or mushrooms!
RELATED: Instant Pot Shredded Chicken
Whole Wheat or Chickpea Pasta
I’ve made this recipe with both whole wheat pasta (opens in a new tab) and chickpea pasta, and both always turn out great! If you use the lower-carb chickpea pasta (opens in a new tab) option, be sure to lower the amount of time for cooking the pasta (as it gets soft pretty quickly) by 1-2 minutes. This will keep it from getting mushy when you bake it with the other ingredients!
The Cheese Topping
To fully make this recipe dairy-free, I used vegan shredded cheese to top off the dish. However, regular shredded cheddar cheese is great as well! You can also add more or less cheese on top, to taste.
TIP: Take it up a notch with a little fresh parsley and chopped walnuts, if you want!
Make This Healthy Chicken Broccoli Pasta Casserole in 30 Minutes
As in ACTUAL 30 MINUTES! The best healthy dinner win. Here’s how to make this Healthy Chicken Broccoli Pasta Casserole in just 30 minutes:
- Roast the broccoli florets in a 9×13 casserole dish with a little oil and salt for about 15 minutes.
- While the broccoli florets are roasting, cook the pasta.
- Whisk together the cashew sauce ingredients.
- Add the cooked, pre-cubed chicken and cooked pasta into the casserole dish along with the sauce and 1/2 of the shredded cheese.
- Mix together and top with the remaining cheese.
- Bake in the oven for another 10-15 minutes (or until the cheese is melted).
You’ll Also Love: Chicken Pesto Pasta Bake
Tips for a Next-Level Healthy Chicken & Broccoli Pasta Bake
- This recipe uses pre-cooked chicken. Have this Roasted Chicken on hand or purchase a rotisserie chicken to make this recipe quickly during the week!
- Make sure that the cooked chicken is seasoned well. I love this seasoning!
- Use high-quality, organic chicken for this recipe! Butcher Box (opens in a new tab) is a great option for affordable, free-range organic chicken! Here’s my full review of Butcher Box if you’re interested in learning more.
- I like to buy pre-cut broccoli florets from the grocery store to save time, but you can also prep the broccoli but cutting it earlier in the week or the night before.
- Want to meal prep this recipe? Simply roast the broccoli according to the recipe directions below and put it all together (except for the cheese topping) in a glass casserole dish like this one the night before. Add the airtight lid and store in the refrigerator overnight. When ready to bake, give it another stir and add the cheese topping. Bake until the cheese melts and everything is hot!
RELATED: 23 Healthy Casserole Recipes
More Healthy Comfort Food Recipes
- The BEST Coconut Lentil & Chickpea Curry
- Healthy Tuna Noodle Casserole
- Cheesy Chicken Spaghetti Squash Casserole
- Spicy Southwest Butternut Squash Casserole
- Creamy Healthy Chicken Enchilada Skillet
Did you make this recipe? Be sure to give it a rating below and tag your photos @jar.of.lemons! (opens in a new tab)
Healthy Chicken Broccoli Pasta Casserole
Equipment
Ingredients
Pasta Casserole
- 8 ounces whole wheat rotini pasta (opens in a new tab) (or any pasta)
- 3-4 cups broccoli florets
- 2 Tablespoons avocado oil (opens in a new tab)
- 3 cups cooked chicken, cubed
- 2 cups regular or vegan shredded cheese (divided)
Cashew Sauce
- 1/2 cup creamy cashew butter (opens in a new tab)
- 3/4 cup unsweetened plain cashew milk (or almond milk)
- 1 cup chicken or vegetable broth
- 1/4 cup almond flour (opens in a new tab)
- 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1/2 teaspoon paprika
- 1/2 teaspoon dried parsley
- salt/pepper (to taste)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.
- At the same time, begin boiling a pot of water for the pasta.
- Place the broccoli in a 9×13" casserole dish and drizzle with avocado oil.
- Sprinkle with salt and pepper to taste, then roast in the oven for about 15 minutes.
- While the broccoli is roasting, cook the pasta according to directions, drain, and set aside.
- Whisk together the cashew sauce ingredients.
- When the broccoli is done roasting, add the cooked pasta, precooked chicken, 1 cup of shredded cheese, and the cashew sauce to the casserole dish.
- Mix it all together and top it with the remaining cheese.
- Place the casserole dish back in the oven and bake for another 10-15 minutes.
- Let cool for a few minutes and enjoy!
Watch Me Make This
Nutrition
Did you make this? I’d love to see!
Tag me on socials at @JarOfLemons (opens in a new tab) or #JarOfLemons (opens in a new tab)
Could you list alternatives to the cashew sauce for those that are allergic to nuts
Absolutely! I would try sun butter and regular milk, or you could even make it with whole Greek yogurt (instead of cashew butter), regular milk, and add 1/4 cup of shredded cheese (or more to taste). The texture will be a bit different, but it should still work!
This looks so great, thank you! My daughter hates cheese and won’t eat anything with even a hint of cheese. Do casserole dishes – like this one and other similar ones – still work if I just omit the cheese altogether? I know cheese would bind it all together (and it’s soooo good!) but she just won’t sadly. Thanks for your thoughts!
Hi Lucy! That’s a great question. I’m honestly not sure how it would taste without the cheese. My thought is that it would probably still be good, since the cashew sauce is creamy and flavorful. The cheese does help to thicken the sauce, but you could try subbing the cheese for nutritional yeast or more almond flour (to thicken the sauce). I hope you and your daughter love the recipe!
My family and I loved this recipe.
I used 16oz of pasta. I added an extra 1/2 tsp. of garlic powder.
Omitted the chicken broth(that was by mistake ).
I then increased the milk to 1 cup using whole milk instead of 3/4 almond milk. After everything was assembled Panko bread crumbs on top of the cheese. Broiled at the end to brown for about 2 minutes. Then drizzled about 6 tbs. of melted butter on top. Thanks for the inspiration✨️
Hi, can I substitute the cashew butter with another type of nut butter?
Almond butter or sunflower butter could work great, too!
This sounds like such a great recipe! I love the option for the lower carb pasta and vegan cheese. So tasty.