This Level 5: Minced & Moist Riced-Broccoli Rice Casserole is as delicious as it is easy to eat and swallow! It’s warm, creamy, and comforting – perfect for a potluck.
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No-hassle comfort food
Casserole number two is up! I modified this Riced-Broccoli Rice Casserole from Diana Rattray’s 8-Ingredient Broccoli Rice Casserole posted on thespruceeats.com.
One of my aims when working on Minced & Moist meals is to avoid modifying the meal after cooking, mostly so I can wash the dishes while dinner is in the oven. Yeah, we still don’t have a dishwasher.
A huge benefit of this delightful Riced-Broccoli Rice Casserole is that you don’t need to use or wash a food processor or blender at all!
That is, unless you want to use your food processor to mince the onion. I thought I could grate the onion on my cheese grater, and oh boy that is something that should be reserved for enemies!! I had to go outside to escape the extreme onion tears, worse than I have ever experienced. In the end, I just minced up my onion with a knife (with residual tears in my eyes).
Store-bought time saver
For the main modification to this recipe, I replaced the original pieces of broccoli in broccoli rice casserole with a bag of frozen riced broccoli. This removes all the smashing/mashing/dicing typically involved in a Minced & Moist recipe besides the onion. You could rice a head of broccoli yourself, of course, if you own and wanted to wash a ricer.
Green Giant makes a variety of frozen riced vegetables, but I found a larger bag for less at my local Sprouts. My package had microwave instructions, so just I cooked the broccoli in the bag it came in to save even more dishes. Genius!
When you add and cook down the cream of chicken soup, this is an excellent opportunity to remove all those little chicken pieces they toss into the can to remind us that it’s made of chicken. All the pieces in my can were larger than 2mm, so I needed to remove them to meet the Minced & Moist requirements.
Level 5: Minced & Moist
Level 5: Minced & Moist is appropriate for individuals who have good tongue control and can manage small bits of food, but may have decreased chewing or tongue force. Foods contain visible lumps and are covered with a moist sauce. These foods can be scooped and shaped into a ball on the plate, but no liquid can separate from the solids if the plate is tipped.
Food pieces or lumps can be no larger than 4mm for adults or 2mm for children and must fit between the tines of a fork; this is called the Fork Test. Minced & Moist recipes must pass both the Fork Test and the Spoon Tilt Test, in which the food must hold its shape on a spoon but fall off easily if tilted or lightly flicked. We recommend watching IDDSI’s Youtube video of the Spoon Tilt Test before you cook as well as during the testing of your final modified portion.
Always test your food before serving to ensure that it meets all the IDDSI testing guidelines.
Use what you have on hand
I used Monterey Jack cheese in this casserole because it’s what we had on hand, but you could replace with Velveeta or cheddar for a more traditional, Midwest style. I’ve also made this recipe using Manchego cheese, which I love but carries a heftier price tag.
The absolute most important part of this recipe is tasting the mixture before you bake it. This is a relatively easy modified-texture meal, but we need to make sure it still has flavor! Don’t under-season, but also watch out for over-salting (a mistake I made on my first batch).
This casserole would be a delight to bring to a potluck, as it could easily transition from a side dish to a stand-alone main – especially if there’s nothing else at the potluck at your level.
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If you loved this recipe, check out our other Level 5: Minced & Moist recipes, or learn more about us!
Level 5: Minced & Moist Riced-Broccoli Rice Casserole
Equipment
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon oil
- ½ an onion minced to 4mmx15mm for adults or 2mmx15mm for children
- 1 10.5 ounce can cream of chicken or mushroom soup
- 3/4 cup shredded cheese I used Monterey Jack and Manchego
- 1 cup uncooked rice
- 1 12 ounce pkg riced broccoli
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon pepper
- 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease an 8x8 inch pan and set aside.
- Cook the rice according to the package instructions.
- Cook the broccoli according to the package instructions (mine was microwave in bag). Drain the broccoli.
- Heat a skillet or saute pan over medium-low heat. Saute the onion with oil until soft.
- Add the cream of chicken soup and cheese. Cook, stirring, until the cheese has melted. As you’re stirring, remove any large pieces of chicken from the soup that do not meet the 4mm size requirement for adults or 2mm size requirement for children.
- Combine soup/onion mixture with the rice and riced broccoli in a large bowl.
- Add salt, pepper, and garlic powder to taste.
- Spread the mixture into the 8x8 inch pan and cover with foil.
- Bake for 20 to 25 minutes or until heated through.
Hi! I so appreciate all of your recipes. Where you are saying 2mm pieces above are you referring to the pediatric Minced and Moist Piece Size? I am making food for an adult so that would be 4mm based on the IDDSI Guidelines for Adults Level 5 correct?
Hi Jenny! Thanks for catching this, looks like I was in pediatric mode when I wrote this. I’ve updated the recipe to make it more clear!