Dairy-Free Chicken Broccoli Casserole With Coconut Milk

This dairy-free chicken-broccoli casserole uses homemade coconut milk to bring cooked chicken, broccoli, and mushrooms together in one warm dinner. The onion and mushrooms are cooked first, then everything goes into a baking dish with chicken meat stock and eggs. As it bakes, the liquid sets lightly around the filling.

You do not need cheese or a flour-thickened sauce for this version. Coconut milk gives it a mild coconut flavor, and the browned vegetables keep the dish savory. Optional nutmeg adds a small warm spice note. Leave it out if you prefer the chicken and mushrooms to lead.

Our weekdays include homeschooling, lunch and dinner preparation, and second-shift work. Having cooked chicken available gives me more room to plan the rest of the meal. This recipe starts with that chicken already cooked, so the work here is preparing the vegetables, mixing the liquid, and giving the casserole enough oven time.

Jump To The Recipe

Allow about an hour with the chicken, stock, and milk ready: approximately 15 minutes preparation, 35–40 minutes baking, and a 5–10-minute rest.

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons coconut oil, divided
• 4 cups fresh broccoli florets
• 1 medium white onion, diced
• Sea salt and black pepper, to taste
• 8 ounces mushrooms, sliced
• 3 cups cooked chicken, shredded
• 1 cup homemade chicken meat stock
• 1 cup rich homemade coconut milk
• 2 eggs
• ½ teaspoon pure nutmeg, optional

Measure the chicken after it is cooked and shredded. Remove all bones, and break apart tightly packed pieces before putting them into the dish. If you have just made chicken meat stock, that cooked meat is useful for a dinner like this.

The coconut milk should be plain, unsweetened, and homemade. Use a richer batch rather than a thin drinking milk, and stir any separated coconut fat back through before measuring one cup. You want the creamy part and the liquid together, not a cup of watery liquid taken from beneath a solid fat layer.

The milk-making recipe is a separate preparation. Begin the casserole with finished strained milk. This baking method does not make milk from coconut flakes, and you do not add those flakes to the casserole.

Cut broccoli florets into pieces that fit comfortably on a fork with the chicken. Keep them reasonably similar in size so some do not turn soft while a much larger floret stays firm in the center.

Slice the mushrooms and dice the onion before you begin cooking. The onion amount can be reduced to half an onion if preferred. Keep the listed stock, milk, eggs, and chicken amounts the same.

How To Make Dairy-Free Chicken-Broccoli Casserole

1. Grease The Baking Dish

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Use half of the measured coconut oil to grease an oven-safe rectangular baking dish. Reserve the remaining half for the stovetop vegetables.

A broad four-quart dish gives the filling room to spread. The Le Creuset Heritage rectangular dish in Artichaut fits this oven method. Use a separate stainless-steel or enameled pan for sautéing; the stoneware baking dish does not go on the burner.

2. Steam The Broccoli Lightly

Steam the broccoli until it is barely cooked, then put it aside uncovered. Its color should look brighter, and the florets should still hold their shape. Stop before the broccoli becomes soft enough to fall apart under a spoon.

Let surface water drain away. The broccoli will cook again in the oven, and water carried into the baking dish can make the creamier part looser than you want. Leaving it uncovered also lets excess steam escape.

3. Brown The Onion And Cook The Mushrooms

Melt the reserved coconut oil in the cooking pan. Add the diced onion, season with sea salt and black pepper, and cook until the onion begins to brown.

Add the mushrooms and sauté until cooked. Watch them soften and darken as their moisture releases. Stir across the pan so the onion is not left sitting in one hot place. Move the pan off the heat when the vegetables are ready.

4. Assemble The Filling

Spread the broccoli, cooked onion and mushrooms, and cooked shredded chicken through the greased baking dish. Mix the pieces across the dish rather than leaving the mushrooms at one end and the chicken at the other.

Keep the filling at a reasonably even depth. Large compact chicken clumps can stop the liquid from reaching the spaces around them. Loosen them with the spoon before you add the egg mixture.

5. Mix The Milk, Stock, And Eggs

Whisk the finished coconut milk, chicken meat stock, eggs, optional nutmeg, and a generous pinch of salt and pepper in a separate bowl. Look for a consistently creamy mixture without strands of unmixed egg.

Pour it evenly over the filling. Gently settle the chicken and vegetables so the mixture reaches the corners and spaces between the pieces. It does not have to drown every broccoli top, and you do not add extra unmeasured stock to make that happen.

6. Bake To A Set Center

Bake for 35–40 minutes, checking the middle of the casserole. The edges can look ready before the center does. Look for the egg mixture to be set around the filling rather than a loose pool of unmixed liquid in the middle.

The chicken and vegetables should be hot through the center. Give the dish longer if that middle section still needs cooking, rather than taking it out because the oven timer has finished.

7. Rest Before Serving

Let the casserole rest for 5–10 minutes after removing it from the oven. Set the hot dish on a heat-safe support. Resting gives the creamy mixture time to settle before you lift a portion with a serving spoon.

Expect visible broccoli, mushrooms, and chicken shreds in a lightly set creamy base. This is not a smooth puree or a cheese-covered bake.

Where This Fits On GAPS

This is a dairy-free Full GAPS recipe once you have introduced and tolerate its ingredients. The milk is homemade coconut milk. Dr. Natasha’s guidance permits homemade coconut milk and excludes canned coconut milk, so the homemade preparation matters here.

The broth ingredient is homemade chicken meat stock. The 2020 GAPS book uses meat stock for at least the first year, and for some people longer, before bone broth. Measure one cup of prepared stock for this casserole.

Although the stock itself belongs in Intro, this combination is a later meal. It includes browned vegetables, whole eggs, coconut milk, and optional nutmeg. The card is labeled Full GAPS rather than being assigned an early Intro stage because one ingredient is stock.

The half-onion choice can reduce the amount of onion in the dish. It does not make an automatic ketogenic GAPS claim for the whole meal. Consider the serving and the rest of your food when using that approach.

This recipe does not fit No-Plant GAPS because it contains broccoli, onion, mushrooms, and coconut. If dairy is part of your meals, the separate cultured-cream chicken-broccoli casserole gives you the dairy version with its own measurements and card.

Storage And Serving

The recipe makes four servings. Spoon portions after the rest so you get chicken, vegetables, and the creamy mixture together. For eight servings, double the ingredients and use two similar baking dishes instead of packing one dish much deeper.

A cool side such as creamy paprika-and-cumin coleslaw works when its raw vegetables and mayo fit your introduced foods. Lime-and-cilantro guacamole is another way to add a fresh topping to the plate.

Refrigerate leftovers in covered containers. Reheat portions covered so the surface chicken does not dry out while the middle warms. Check the center of the portion as well as the outside. A small splash of the same chicken meat stock can loosen a portion that has thickened after chilling.

For advance preparation, keep cooked shredded chicken, completed stock, and finished coconut milk ready in the refrigerator. Having those components made is what keeps the casserole work manageable. The stock and milk methods have their own preparation times, which are not included in the casserole’s one-hour estimate.

Frequently Asked Questions

Will It Taste Like Coconut?

Homemade coconut milk has a coconut flavor. Here it sits with browned onion, mushrooms, chicken, and stock, so the dish is savory. Optional nutmeg adds warmth; it does not remove the coconut taste.

Can I Use Raw Chicken?

Start with three cups of cooked, shredded chicken. Raw pieces would need a different cooking method and would release different moisture into the dish. Keep the cooked-chicken preparation for this recipe.

Why Is It Watery?

Check that the broccoli drained after steaming, the mushrooms were cooked first, and the stock and milk were measured. A very thin coconut drinking milk changes the texture too. Bake until the middle is set and give the casserole its rest before serving.

Are Eggs Dairy?

No. This recipe uses eggs but no milk or cream from a dairy animal. It is dairy-free, but it is not egg-free. The eggs help the liquid set around the chicken and vegetables.

Can I Use Cultured Cream Instead?

Use the separate cultured-cream casserole recipe when you want that version. Keeping it separate makes the dairy choice and its ingredient list clear.

Recommended Equipment

Use a four-quart oven-safe rectangular baking dish, a separate stainless-steel or enameled cooking pan, a steaming basket and pot, a knife and board, measuring cups and spoons, a mixing bowl and stainless-steel whisk, a serving spoon, and a heat-safe support for the hot dish.

Recipe Card

More Full GAPS Dinners

Save the homemade chicken meat stock and coconut milk component recipes for your meal preparation. Try the separate cultured-cream casserole when introduced dairy suits your household.

For more main dishes to add to your rotation, look for the Dinner Cookbook in the WFLI catalog. Having a few familiar dinners and prepared components gives you a practical starting point for the week.