Broccoli Cheese Casserole is a comfort food classic side dish, featuring frozen broccoli, an easy homemade cheese sauce, and topped with a mixture of buttery cracker crumbs!

Broccoli Cheese Casserole with text overlay.

Today I'm sharing a classic side dish that's as comforting as it is delicious. It's the kind of veggie recipe that even your resident 'vegetable haters' will eat and enjoy. Raise your hand if you looove Broccoli Cheese Casserole as much as I do!

Broccoli Cheese Casserole on plate and in dish with stack of plates.

From-Scratch Recipe

Broccoli Cheese Casserole is a quintessential American side dish. The version of my childhood featured that infamous processed cheese loaf and canned condensed soup. And it was, admittedly, delicious.

But y'all know how I enjoy reinventing beloved "processed" recipes using real ingredients. So today I'm sharing my version of this classic! And there's not a speck of processed cheese nor smidge of canned soup in sight. 😉

That's not to call this recipe healthy, per se. It's definitely cheesy and rich and decadent and all of the things that a good Broccoli Cheese Casserole should be!

But seeing as how I typically serve my family their broccoli either steamed or roasted, this casserole is an occasional indulgence to make a regular ol' dinner or a holiday meal a bit more special.

Ingredients

Broccoli. I developed this recipe using frozen broccoli, because I always keep a couple bags in my freezer. However, if you have fresh broccoli, it will work just dandy. (For further details, see the section at the bottom of this post, just above the recipe card: "Helpful Tips, Tricks, and Equipment".)
Butter + garlic + flour. These form the base of your homemade cheese sauce. You may substitute GF baking flour if you need to make this recipe gluten-free.
Milk. Any type of milk is fine -- whole milk, 2%, skim milk, unsweetened almond milk, etc. -- but it needs to be at room temperature.
Cream cheese. Softened. For an extra creamy sauce.
Shredded cheddar cheese. I recommend sharp cheddar since it lends more cheesy flavor than mild cheddar when melted into a sauce like this.
Prepared mustard. A teeny-tiny bit of mustard stirred into cheese sauce adds a boost of flavor without tasting "mustard-y." Just don't overdo it.
Smoked paprika. You may have noticed that this ingredient was initially missing from my photo above. Luckily, I was able to call upon my excellent Photoshop skills to add it in after the fact. You see, in the midst of recipe-testing, I decided that the cheese sauce needed a little extra flavor, and a dash of smoked paprika did the trick! If you don't already have smoked paprika in your spice cabinet, I highly recommend you pick up a bottle. It's such a great ingredient to add subtle smokiness and flavor to so many recipes. Just keep in mind that a little bit goes a long way! If you have regular paprika, it will work, too...but I have a special place in my heart for the smoky stuff. 😉
Salt + pepper. Taste your sauce once it's done and add extra, if necessary. Salt helps the cheesy flavor pop.
Crushed cracker crumbs. For the topping! I love using butter crackers (and yes, I do check the label for decent ingredients), but keep scrolling if you're interested in alternative topping options.
Grated Parmesan + melted butter. To mix with the cracker crumbs for the topping.

Serving spoon scooping Broccoli Cheese Casserole from dish.

How to Make Broccoli Cheese Casserole

(The below photos are intended to be helpful, but please refer to the recipe card at the bottom of this post for FULL DIRECTIONS.)

I tried to keep the extra dishes to a minimum when devising this recipe. So all you'll need is a pot (to make the cheese sauce) and then a baking dish (to transfer everything to the oven).

Preheat the oven and grease your baking dish.
Choose a saucepan or a pot that's not too big to make the cheese sauce, but big enough to stir in all of the broccoli later (I use my favorite 3.5-quart Dutch oven). Set it over medium heat, melt the butter, and stir around the minced garlic until fragrant. Sprinkle the flour on top and whisk for 1 minute to cook off any raw flavor.

Flour, butter, and garlic whisked together in pot.

Slowly whisk in the milk and continue whisking vigorously while it cooks and thickens for a minute or two. Reduce the heat and stir in the cream cheese until melted and smooth.

Remove the pot from the heat and gradually whisk in 1 cup of the shredded cheddar (a bit at a time) until fully incorporated and smooth.

Shredded cheddar going into cheese sauce.

Homemade cheese sauce in pot with whisk.

Stir in the mustard, smoked paprika (*missing from the pic...sorry), salt, and pepper. Taste and adjust any seasonings. Fold the drained broccoli into the cheese sauce.

Homemade cheese sauce ready to be mixed with broccoli.

Broccoli combined with cheese sauce in pot.

Transfer the broccoli cheese mixture to the prepared baking dish and smooth the top. Sprinkle with the remaining shredded cheddar.
In a small bowl, combine the cracker crumbs, Parmesan, and melted butter, and then sprinkle this mixture on top of the cheddar.

Broccoli Cheese Casserole mixture spread into baking dish.

Shredded cheddar sprinkled on top of baking dish.

Close-up of cracker crumbs and Parmesan sprinkled on top.

Bake until the broccoli and cheese are bubbly and the topping is golden brown. Serve hot!

Broccoli Cheese Casserole just out of the oven.

Prepping Ahead of Time

To make this Broccoli Cheese Casserole ahead of time, prepare as directed through Step 4 (sprinkling the casserole with the extra shredded cheddar). Cover the dish tightly with foil and refrigerate for up to one week.

When you’re ready to bake it off, preheat the oven. While the oven is preheating, remove the dish from the fridge to let it start coming to room temperature, uncover, and proceed with Step 5.

Doubling the Recipe

This recipe can be easily doubled and baked in a 9- by 13-inch (or 3- to 4-quart) baking dish.

Freezing the Recipe

You can also double this recipe, divide it between two 8- by 8-inch (or 2-quart) baking dishes, bake one now, and freeze one for later.

Omit the cracker/Parmesan/butter topping from the second dish, tightly wrap in freezer-thickness aluminum foil, and freeze for up to 3 months. The night before you’re ready to bake it, pop it in the fridge to thaw. Once thawed, add the cracker mixture to the top and bake as directed.

Aerial view of Broccoli Cheese Casserole with scoop missing.

Gluten-Free Option

As mentioned above in the "Ingredients" section, this recipe can easily be made gluten-free by using a GF flour to make the cheese sauce and using your favorite gluten-free option for the topping, such as gluten-free crackers or one of the toppings below (if it's GF).

Alternative Toppings

While I love the combo of butter cracker crumbs + grated Parmesan, this Broccoli Cheese Casserole would also be tasty with other toppings:

Another type of cracker crumbs. Saltines...cheese crackers...the possibilities are endless!
Crushed potato chips.
Breadcrumbs. Regular, Panko, or gluten-free.
French fried onions.

Helpful Tips, Tricks, & Equipment

This recipe will fit in any 2-quart baking dish, though an 8- by 8-inch square baking dish is a pretty common iteration of that capacity.
I make this recipe using 20 ounces of broccoli. But since frozen broccoli is sold in different sizes of bags, the amount of broccoli called for by the recipe allows for a bit of flexibility. Obviously, less broccoli is going to make for a cheesier, more decadent casserole.
Fresh broccoli works great in this casserole but does require one extra step. You’ll need to blanch or lightly steam about 8 cups of fresh florets before proceeding with the recipe. Your florets shouldn't be too large, and they should be of roughly equivalent sizes.

So whether you want a treat of a veggie to liven up a weeknight dinner, for a special Sunday supper, or for indulging on a holiday, I think you'll find that this from-scratch-yet-EASY Broccoli Cheese Casserole perfectly fits the bill. 🙂

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