Creamy Chicken and Broccoli Skillet

This Creamy Chicken and Broccoli Skillet combines chicken, broccoli, and cauliflower rice with a creamy dairy free cheese sauce for a quick and wholesome meal. This recipe is gluten free, grain free, dairy free, egg free, and refined sugar free.

Cauliflower rice saved my life. Okay, maybe I’m exaggerating a little bit. But when I was following the autoimmune protocol diet and cut out all grains and nightshades (aka potatoes), I was struggling to find recipes that I enjoyed. Most of my meals consisted of plain chicken and vegetables. Although there is nothing wrong with this, it got boring very quickly. Then I found out about cauliflower rice and everything changed. Trust me, I had my doubts about it too but it turned out to be the perfect replacement for rice. So when I say cauliflower rice saved my life, I really mean that it made me feel less restricted in what I could eat.

This Creamy Chicken and Broccoli Skillet combines my obsession with cauliflower rice with my love of easy one skillet meals. This recipe is perfect for when you don’t have all day to spend in the kitchen. The chicken, broccoli, and cauliflower rice are covered in a creamy dairy free cheese sauce that will please even the pickiest eaters.

Start by preheating the oven to 350 degrees. I buy large chicken breasts and butterfly them before cooking to save time. Place the chicken in the oven and bake at 350 degrees until it reaches an internal temperature of 165 degrees (about 20 minutes). While the chicken is cooking, start to prepare the sauce. Place the cashews and 1/2 cup of chicken broth into a food processor and blend together. Continue to blend until it becomes a thick and creamy consistency. You do not need to soak the cashews before placing them in the food processor.

Mix together the cashew cream, extra virgin olive oil, nutritional yeast, canned coconut milk, lemon juice, garlic, Italian seasoning, salt, pepper, and remaining 1/2 cup of chicken broth and set aside. Add the frozen cauliflower rice and broccoli to the skillet and cook on high heat until the veggies are tender (about 10 minutes). I use frozen cauliflower rice and broccoli because it saves time, but you can always use fresh if you would prefer.

When the chicken is cooked to an internal temperature of 165 degrees, cut it into cube sized pieces and set aside. Add the sauce to the skillet and continue to cook on medium-high heat for 5 minutes, stirring often. Place the chicken in the skillet and continue to cook on medium heat for another 3-5 minutes. You will know it is ready to be removed from the heat when the sauce is thick and creamy.

To make this recipe even easier, cook the chicken ahead of time. I bake the chicken on the weekend to save time when I make this meal during the week. For this recipe, prepping the chicken ahead of time will save you about 15-20 minutes. This means you can have a delicious weeknight dinner ready in 20 minutes!

For those who have celiac disease, make sure you check the label of your cashews. Nuts are one of those foods that can be easily cross contaminated due to shared equipment. If it says “processed in a facility with wheat” on the back label I would suggest avoiding it. I always try to find brands that have the certified gluten free label. For more information about cross contamination, check out my post here.

-Kelsey