Cheesy Cheddar Broccoli Casserole

This Cheesy Cheddar Broccoli Casserole recipe uses crisp, fresh broccoli florets and tangy sharp cheddar cheese. It is a dish that compliments everything from baked chicken breasts to hamburger steaks. Your family will fall for the sauce that makes this cheesy broccoli the baked comfort food that it is.

There are hundreds of recipes for broccoli casserole out there, but I think you will bookmark this one once you have tried it.

I must have 20 or 30 casserole recipes alone with broccoli as an ingredient. A casserole with broccoli method is just not hard to find and perfect. The fresh broccoli cheese casserole I am highlighting today seems to be the one that goes over with my family the best. This includes passing muster with little kids who, as most of you already know, will tell you in an instant if they are NOT eating something. We call it Cheesy Cheddar Broccoli Casserole.

Cheesy Cheddar Broccoli Casserole is that classic side dish that fills a void when you are not sure what to put together. I personally love that it is quasi-soufflé like, calling for two eggs to be incorporated into what ultimately becomes the cheese sauce that envelopes the broccoli.

This dish also calls for an unexpected profile by way of grated onion. You will not see it in the finished bake, but the sweet flavor that onion imparts plays a key role in this dish being as much of a standout as any main dish. Please allow me to show you that broccoli cheese casseroles need not be boring.

I use broccolini and sometimes broccoli rabe when I bake this casserole up for myself. I also experiment with different types of cheeses. A combination of shredded Muenster and Dill Havarti is my favorite, combined with a crispy buttered corn flake topping!

This rich and creamy broccoli cheddar casserole comes from my Grandmother. Yet again, does she strike with her classics. Gram died before I began Not Entirely Average. She hated the internet I think because she did not understand it. I often wonder what she would think of NEA. Of me sharing her recipes and her Mom’s recipes. I want to think she would get a kick out of it, but I just do not know.

In her handwriting on the side of the card this recipe is written on, is a ‘V-G.’ That was her cryptic code to herself that something was ‘very good.’ And to see a ‘V-G’ on anything we pull out of her recipe box now, means though we may not remember it, she tested it on us surely, and we liked it.

A broccoli cheese casserole is something that was frequently on her table. There were eight of us to feed when everybody was together, so a casserole was something that would stretch. Broccoli casserole with cheese would be fitting.

Not every recipe for broccoli cheese casserole is the same. Broccoli casserole recipes can vary from the ingredients they use to the type of broccoli that goes into them. This cheese & broccoli casserole recipe allows for some personalization. Switch up the type of broccoli, sure, but also play with the kind of cheese. Toppings can be anything from buttered corn flakes to Ritz Cracker crumbles. Looking for a broccoli casserole without soup? Swap the soup out for a broccoli casserole with cream cheese instead.

There is another notation that none of us are sure of. It says ‘Gloria’s creamy casserole.’ Who in the heck is Gloria? Is this Gloria’s recipe, shared perhaps with Gram? Likely, Gloria was a fellow Red Hat or church member that Gram was friends with, but who none of us ever met. But thank you, Miss Gloria, for your delicious Cheesy Cheddar Broccoli Casserole. I hope you will not mind America trying it out. Your broccoli with cheese casserole is about to make its debut.

Any form of a cheesy broccoli casserole is a winner with me. And, let us be honest, any cheese casserole recipe is generally a hit at the dinner table with most people. Baking dish recipes evoke a taste of home, a walk back to yesteryear, dinner at our mom or grandma’s table, and food made with love. Today, with our crazy busy lives and the crazy busy lives of our kids, it’s about embracing meals that are crafted in minutes versus hours and may have to involve frozen broccoli over fresh. And all of this is okay. It is all still, made with love.

This recipe for an easy broccoli cheese casserole will free up your hands (and time!) for prepping everything else that must get done today. A cheesy broccoli bake is always a good way to get everybody motivated for eating their vegies, too.

So, it is still November, and I am holding on to posting these comfort food dishes for as long as y’all will keep reading from me and commenting! I am about to give you carte blanche with this recipe, too. Why? Because also scribbled on the margins of this recipe card and words like “broccoli casserole with cream cheese” and “broccoli and cheese casserole with rice.”

There is also some unidentifiable verbiage which may be “cracker topping” or “Ritz crackers.” This tells me that my grandmother absolutely experimented with this recipe. She ran carte blanche with Gloria’s broccoli! Ha! Well, as silly as I am making this out to sound, she probably did. She would not have made all these notes otherwise. I know her…

How long does it take to bake Broccoli Casserole?

This side dish is weeknight friendly, and can be assembled in 15 minutes and bakes in 20 to 25 minutes. It’s kid friendly, filling, and works well with just about every main protein I can think of.

The recipe for Cheesy Cheddar Broccoli Casserole is what I am punching out on the keyboard today. It is the classic broccoli casserole recipe cream of mushroom soup. I am also giving a few variations by way of notes herein. Run with it!

Looking for a broccoli cheese casserole with Ritz Crackers? DONE! Bust out that box of Ritz and prepare this recipe as its written and add those buttered bits of Ritz crumbs. Ever tried a Cheez-It topping? Or buttered Corn Flakes? I have had this recipe where the ‘casserole’ was spooned over a bed of cooked rice and cooked chicken breasts. It was then baked off for 20 minutes at high heat until it was piping and bubbling. It was DELICIOUS!