Twelve ingredients and fifty-five minutes, with three components made separately and combined in a baking dish: cauliflower, chicken and a cheddar sauce.
There is no rice and no pasta in this casserole, and the recipe says so in its own fourth step. The cauliflower is doing the job a starch would normally do.
Why This Recipe Works
- Four to five minutes of steaming takes cauliflower to just tender, which is as far as it should go before an oven.
- Draining it thoroughly stops the sauce being watered down in the dish.
- Cooking the chicken separately and shredding it gives strands the sauce can coat.
- A butter-and-flour roux with milk carries a cup of cheddar without splitting.
- Holding half a cup of cheddar back gives the top something to brown in eighteen to twenty-two minutes.
Ingredient Notes
- Cauliflower
- One large head in florets, steamed to just tender. It is the bulk of the dish and it stands where rice or pasta would otherwise be.
- Cheddar, divided
- A cup and a half: a cup melts into the sauce and half a cup goes on top to brown.
- Salt, divided
- A teaspoon in total, half of it on the chicken. The rest is in the sauce.
- Paprika
- Half a teaspoon over the top before baking. It is part of the colour of the browned surface.
How to Make It
Steam the cauliflower, drain well
Heat oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit. Steam cauliflower 4 to 5 minutes until just tender and drain thoroughly.
Cook the chicken to 165F, shred
Season chicken with half the salt and pepper, cook in a skillet until 165 degrees Fahrenheit, then shred.
Roux, milk, cheddar
Melt butter, cook garlic briefly, whisk in flour, then gradually whisk in milk. Simmer until thick and stir in 1 cup cheddar.
Combine, and no starch
Combine cauliflower and shredded chicken in a baking dish with the cheddar sauce. Do not add rice, pasta, or other starch.
Top and bake
Top with remaining cheddar and paprika and bake 18 to 22 minutes until bubbling and browned.
Parsley
Finish with parsley.
What Fills the Dish
In a casserole of this size the bulk is almost always rice or pasta. Here it is one large head of cauliflower, and the recipe forbids adding a starch alongside it. Seen in proportion, the substitution is the recipe.
- Cauliflower florets1 large head
- Shredded chicken1 1/2 lb
- Milk, for the sauce1 1/2 cups
- Shredded cheddar1 1/2 cups, divided
- Rice, pasta or other starchnone
The bar is relative volume only. The last row is a real entry rather than a joke: step 4 says in so many words not to add rice, pasta or other starch, and none belongs in the dish. The one instruction that protects the proportions above is draining the steamed cauliflower thoroughly: undrained florets add water that the 1 1/2 cups of milk was never measured against.
Success Tips
- Drain the cauliflower properly — this is the single thing most likely to leave a watery dish.
- Add the milk a little at a time rather than all at once, or the flour seizes into lumps the sauce never loses.
- Keep half the cheddar back for the top; that is where the browning comes from.
Serving Ideas
Six servings from the white dish, the cauliflower florets and shredded chicken under the browned orange cheddar sauce with paprika and parsley over it. Nothing underneath it.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I add rice or pasta?
No — step 4 rules it out. The cauliflower is what stands in for a starch here, and there is none visible in the finished dish.
How is this different from the broccoli cheddar chicken?
Two things: this uses cauliflower rather than broccoli, and the chicken is cooked separately and shredded rather than browned in chunks. That one is a skillet dish finished under the broiler; this one is baked.
Why did my casserole come out watery?
Almost always cauliflower that was not drained thoroughly. Steamed florets hold a surprising amount of water and it all ends up in the sauce.
