Chicken Broccoli Casserole With Yogurt Cheese For Full GAPS

This chicken broccoli casserole has bite-sized chicken thighs and tender broccoli in a thick, tangy cheddar sauce. Homemade yogurt cheese gives the sauce its body. A tiny pinch of nutmeg adds warmth without making dinner taste like a sweet baking recipe.

You brown the chicken first, make the cheese sauce in the same skillet, then put everything into a four-quart baking dish. There is no rice, canned soup or flour in the filling. The finished casserole is spoonable, with pieces of chicken and broccoli held together by the sauce.

Our children are homeschooled, so lunch is usually whatever I am making at home. I also get lunch and dinner ready before leaving for second-shift work unless something is already made. That is a lot of cooking to fit around the rest of a weekday. A six-serving casserole gives you one dish to portion at the table, with leftovers you can put away after the meal. Having the yogurt cheese ready beforehand is the part to plan here. It needs its own fermenting and draining time before this recipe begins.

Ingredients

• 1 tablespoon homemade unsalted butter
• 2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken thighs
• 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
• 2 pounds broccoli, chopped
• 8 ounces thick homemade yogurt cheese, weighed after draining
• 8 ounces natural organic cheddar, grated
• 1 tablespoon pure dried onion
• ½ pinch pure nutmeg, a tiny amount measuring less than ⅛ teaspoon
• ¼ teaspoon black pepper
• ¼ teaspoon natural sea salt
• ¼ cup natural Parmesan, grated, optional
• Coconut oil, for greasing the baking dish

The yogurt cheese is the thick curd left in the cloth when finished homemade 24-hour yogurt drains. The linked method explains both parts: the pale-yellow whey that collects below and the thicker cheese you keep separately. Use the cheese here. Eight ounces of undrained yogurt or eight ounces of whey would give you a different sauce.

Weigh the cheese after draining it. Its yield depends on how thick the yogurt was to begin with and how long it drained. Have enough finished cheese to measure the full eight ounces rather than assuming a particular starting jar will produce that amount.

For the broccoli, chop the florets into manageable pieces and trim any tough stalk portions. You can also use a broccoli-and-cauliflower mixture, keeping the combined weight at two pounds. The vegetables go into the sauce before baking; they are not steamed in a separate step.

Use natural, traditionally made cheddar and Parmesan without added starches or other additives. Grate them from blocks. The Parmesan is optional and goes into the sauce when used. Check that the dried onion is plain onion, rather than an onion seasoning mix.

Keep the nutmeg small. Half a pinch means just a little between your fingers, less than one-eighth teaspoon for this original batch. It should sit behind the cheddar’s flavor rather than taking over the dish.

How To Make Chicken Broccoli Casserole

1. Heat the oven to 375°F. Grease a four-quart oven-safe casserole dish with coconut oil. Have the prepared yogurt cheese and grated cheeses ready, and chop the broccoli.
2. Melt the tablespoon of butter in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the chicken thighs in an uncrowded layer. Brown for about 3 to 4 minutes on each side, working in batches if needed. Lift the chicken onto a plate and let it cool enough to cut. It finishes cooking in the casserole.
3. Add the apple cider vinegar to the skillet. Scrape up the browned cooking juices with a wooden spoon. Lower the heat to medium-low and add the yogurt cheese, cheddar, dried onion, nutmeg, pepper and salt. Add the Parmesan now if using it.
4. Stir for about 5 minutes, until the soft cheese loosens and the cheddar melts into a thick sauce. Remove the skillet from the heat. Stir in the chopped broccoli or broccoli-and-cauliflower mixture.
5. Cut the browned chicken into bite-sized pieces and stir it into the vegetable-and-cheese mixture. Transfer everything to the greased casserole dish and spread it evenly.
6. Bake at 375°F for about 35 minutes, until the center is hot, the vegetables are tender and the chicken reaches 165°F. Give it longer if needed to reach those endpoints. Let the casserole rest for 5 minutes before serving.

Look for golden-brown patches on the chicken during the skillet step. It does not need to be cooked through before you lift it out. Browning leaves a savory coating in the pan, and the spoonful of vinegar helps release it into the sauce. Scrape up brown bits; discard any blackened, burnt pieces.

The sauce begins thick. Fold and stir it over the lower heat as the grated cheddar melts. The yogurt cheese brings a gentle sourness, so the flavor is tangier than a casserole made with ordinary cream cheese. You are looking for a sauce that clings to the spoon and coats the broccoli.

Once the broccoli and chicken are mixed in, spread them through the dish so each serving has some of both. Keep the filling at an even depth. A large mound in the middle takes longer to heat than the thinner edges.

Check the center as well as the edges at the end of baking. The cheese may be bubbling around the outside while the middle still needs time. Push a fork into a piece of broccoli to check its tenderness, and check the chicken with a thermometer. The five-minute rest lets the bubbling settle before you spoon out the portions.

Where It Fits On GAPS

This casserole belongs on Full GAPS after the dairy foods in it have been introduced and tolerated. In Gut and Physiology Syndrome, homemade soft cheese is made by draining yogurt or kefir. Natural cheese follows in the dairy introduction sequence. The cheddar and optional Parmesan matter when deciding whether the whole dish fits your current menu.

Use homemade yogurt cheese in place of ordinary packaged cream cheese. Start with homemade 24-hour GAPS yogurt for that preparation. My go-to yogurt maker is the Luvele. The casserole itself needs a skillet and oven, so you can have the yogurt and cheese prepared on another day.

The apple cider vinegar is the option used here for loosening the browned juices. Its acidity also balances the rich cheese sauce.

It is egg-free and does not use nut flour, but it contains dairy. It is not an Introduction Diet casserole or a No-Plant meal. Removing the cheese would also remove the sauce that holds this particular dish together.

If you need a dairy-free chicken-and-broccoli dinner, the coconut-milk chicken broccoli casserole has its own stock-and-egg filling and amounts. Follow that separate recipe rather than replacing this thick cheese sauce with an equal volume of coconut milk.

Serving And Storage

Spoon the casserole into six portions after its five-minute rest. The broccoli and chicken make up most of each serving, with the thick sauce around them. It is a dinner you serve with a spoon, rather than one that cuts into firm squares.

Allow about 25 minutes to prepare the filling, including the skillet work, then about 35 minutes for baking and 5 minutes for resting. That is a 65-minute estimate once the homemade ingredients are ready. Extra browning batches or larger vegetable pieces can take longer.

Refrigerate cooked leftovers promptly in shallow, covered containers and use within three days. Reheat portions until hot throughout, reaching 165°F in the center. The sauce will thicken when chilled and loosen again as it warms.

For longer storage, freeze portions of the fully cooked casserole. Thaw in the refrigerator before reheating. You may see a little liquid separate from the vegetables or yogurt cheese after thawing; gently stir the hot portion together again. Save the cooked casserole rather than stopping after the chicken-browning step to put the partly cooked mixture away.

Recommended Equipment

Use a four-quart glass, ceramic or enameled baking dish and a large stainless-steel or enameled skillet. I use Le Creuset in Artichaut where it fits the job. Leave the chicken enough room in the skillet to brown, using batches when necessary.

A kitchen scale measures the chicken, vegetables and drained cheese. You also need measuring spoons, a cheese grater, knife, chopping board, wooden spoon and food thermometer. Keep the plate used for the partly cooked chicken separate from the dishes you will serve dinner on.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I Use Yogurt Without Draining It?

Use the thick drained cheese. Undrained yogurt contains more liquid and will change the consistency of this sauce. Measure the eight-ounce portion after the whey has drained away.

Can I Add Cauliflower?

Yes. Replace part of the broccoli with cauliflower while keeping the combined vegetable weight at two pounds. Chop the pieces so they can cook through during baking, and check their tenderness before serving.

Where Does The Parmesan Go?

Stir the optional quarter cup into the skillet with the other sauce ingredients. It is part of the sauce, not a separate layer of crumbs on top.

Can I Start With Cooked Chicken?

This method begins with raw chicken thighs. Browning them supplies the cooking juices used in the sauce, and they finish cooking in the oven. If you have cooked chicken to use up, the linked coconut-milk casserole starts with three cups of cooked chicken and combines it with stock and eggs. Its quantities and preparation are written for that different starting point.

The upcoming Freezer Meal Plan in the WFLI shop brings a freezer-stocking session together with a shopping list, labels and an eating schedule. For this casserole, finish baking first, then cool and portion what you are saving for another meal.