This orange chicken casserole is a healthy spin on your favorite take-out classic! Just a few simple ingredients and a casserole dish you can have a dinner packed with veggies, protein, and whole grains, in just 60 minutes.
It’s casserole season, people. After you make this orange chicken casserole check out any of our delicious healthy chicken casserole recipes or this sweet potato green curry quinoa casserole.
Make Your Favorite Takeout AT HOME
One of the first meals I ever learned to cook as a kid was stir fry. You see, take out Chinese food was (and still is) my ultimate dinner after soccer practice when my parents were too tired to cook.
The people at New China in New Berlin, WI knew my mom and me by name. No shame. New China is who inspired me to make my own stir fry at home, because that’s what most 10-year-olds do, right? Sure.
Years later I still find myself craving stir fry like it was just yesterday. It’s such an easy meal to whip up and to make for the masses. It’s one of our Sunday family dinner staples that my siblings and I make.
So, what’s better than stir fry on a crazy weeknight? A stir fry casserole! Right when you thought dinner couldn’t get any easier than homemade orange chicken, I came up with an orange chicken casserole recipe.
You literally throw everything into your casserole dish 100% uncooked and pop it in the oven. It doesn’t get much easier than this, people. Freals.
What Kind of Rice to Use
Why germinated brown rice?
This recipe calls for germinated brown rice and it’s absolutely perfect. Germinated brown rice is brown rice that is soaked for anywhere from 4-20 hours. It tends to have a shorter cook time compared to other brown rice.
Whenever we get take out or eat at an Asian restaurant, I always order the brown rice if they have it. I just prefer the texture over all other kinds of rice and love the added nutrients you get from brown rice!
Will white rice and normal brown rice work?
Yes, you can use white rice and normal brown rice in this recipe. However, you will need to increase the cook-time.
If you are using normal or short grain brown rice, add everything to your casserole dish except for the chicken and the broccoli.
From there, cover the casserole dish and place it in the oven and bake for 30 minutes. Remove from the oven and THEN add the chicken and broccoli to the casserole dish and bake for an additional 30 minutes.
If your rice is still crunchy, bake for an additional 15-30 minutes.
Why is the rice still crunchy after I bake the casserole?
The key to making sure the rice and sauciness of the casserole turn out just right (no matter what type of rice you use) is letting the casserole sit covered for 15 minutes after removing it from the oven.
This is important because it allows the rice to soak up the remaining liquid!
Here’s what You Need
Once you have decided on what type of rice you are going to use, here are the additional ingredients you will need to make this tasty orange chicken casserole!
- chicken breast
- onion
- broccoli
- homemade orange chicken sauce
^^The sauce is rather simple to make. It’s made up of mostly orange juice, chicken broth, and tamari with a few other household ingredients thrown in there. For best results- don’t forget the orange zest!
Throw everything in your casserole dish and GO!
How to Store this Casserole
Healthy casseroles are great for meal prep throughout the week! Make this orange chicken casserole on a Sunday and throw it in the refrigerator or freezer for easy meals to warm up for your busiest weeks!
Refrigerator: Store in an airtight container glass container, for up to 5 days in the refrigerator.
Freezer: If you plan to freeze, we suggest baking this in a disposable/aluminum casserole dish
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Place a piece of plastic wrap on top of cooked, cooled casserole and press out all of the air. Then, wrap the entire casserole in tin foil and place in the freezer. Write the name and date of casserole on the tin foil.
To Reheat: take the frozen casserole out of the freezer and let thaw in the fridge overnight. Either reheat single servings of the casserole in the microwave or reheat the entire thing in the oven.
Healthy Casserole Recipes
Easy Orange Chicken Casserole
This orange chicken casserole is a healthy spin on your favorite take-out classic! Just a few simple ingredients and a casserole dish you can have a dinner packed with veggies, protein, and whole grains, in just 60 minutes.
Ingredients
For the Casserole
- 15 oz. chicken breast (~2 large)
- 1.5 cups germinated brown rice
- 1/2 yellow onion, diced
- 4 cups broccoli, chunked
For the Sauce
- 1.5 cups orange juice
- 2 cups chicken broth
- 1/4 cups tamari (or soy sauce)
- 1/4 cup honey
- 2 tablespoons rice vinegar
- 1 tablespoon minced garlic
- 1 teaspoon freshly ground ginger
- 2 tablespoon sriracha
- 1 teaspoon orange zest
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375ºF and spray your casserole dish with coconut oil cooking spray (be generous!).
- Next, prep veggies by dicing the yellow onion and chopping broccoli into chunks. Sprinkle veggies in to casserole dish.
- Prep chicken breast by cutting it into small pieces and then placing on top of the vegetables.
- Add germinated brown rice into the casserole dish and set aside.
- In a medium size bowl, mix together all ingredients for the sauce.
- Add sauce mixture to the casserole dish and use a large spoon to mix all ingredients together, making sure everything is (mostly) covered.
- Cover with tin foil and bake for 30 minutes.
- Then, remove and stir. It will still be a little soupy, but don’t worry this is how it’s suppose to be! Place back in oven for 30 minutes, covered.
- When casserole is done, take out and let sit for 10 minutes before serving.
Tips & Notes
If you are using normal or short grain brown rice, please cook everything BUT the chicken and broccoli for 30 minutes, covered. Then, add the chicken and broccoli and continue to cook as directed. If the rice is still crunchy when you take it out, cook for an additional 15-30 minutes. Don’t forget to let it sit on your stove top for 15 minutes, as well!
Nutrition Facts
Serving Size: 1/6 Calories: 421 Sugar: 21 Sodium: 243 Fat: 6 Carbohydrates: 67 Fiber: 4 Protein: 27Keywords: orange chicken
Would chicken thighs work here also?
I tried to follow the directions carefully, but this recipe did not work out for me. I ended up throwing it away and too much time and ingredients wasted to try it again. Better Luck to others that may try it.
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Hey sue! What kind of modifications did you make? Specifically with the rice?
I used regular long grain brown rice for this recipe so I cooked the rice with the sauce for 30 minutes as recommended, then added the chicken and broccoli. After it was done and had sat for over 10 minutes all of the liquid was absorbed but my rice was still not even close to cooked. I would not recommend using regular rice for this recipe!
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How can you make your own germinated brown rice? Soak, drain, let it sprout?
Wonderful recipe!! Easy and quick
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I ended up using Lundberg Sprouted Brown Basmati Rice, as I wasn’t able to find the germinated. All I had to do was add 20 extra minutes of cook time for the rice to softened up, and it turned out great! I loved the sauce. I bet this would go great with zucchini noodles or white rice noodles too.
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That is wonderful! Thank you so much for sharing!
I just made this with regular long grain brown rice and it worked perfectly! I followed the instructions in the additional note. I first cooked the rice with the sauce mixture and onions for 30 mins (I used a little bit less than 1.5 cups of rice, maybe 1.25 cups). I checked on it and the rice was cooking but I was a little bit worried it wouldn’t cook through so I put it back in for 15 mins before adding the chicken and broccoli. I then cooked the casserole (with broccoli and chicken) for 30 mins, stirred and put it back in for 20 mins, which was enough because I cooked the rice for a little bit longer in the beginning. Every element of the dish was cooked perfectly and it tastes so good!!
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So glad everything worked for you!
This came out perfectly for me. I used Trader Joe’s quick cook organic brown rice, followed the steps to a T and came out amazing! The rice was fully cooked and the liquid fully absorbed. Would recommend!
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YAY!! Glad you loved it!!
Really struggling with how this is considered a skinny recipe given the sugar content. The recommended daily max of sugar for women is 25 grams and you’d be getting most of that, 21 grams, in one serving us this dish. I’ll have to pass.
My rice did not cook through, even after an extra 15 mins in the oven. Also, my sauce did not thicken, let it sit for 20 mins and remained soupy. Very disappointed.
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Hi Mrs. Smith! Did you use the sprouted rice like we recommended with this recipe? That could be the issue as we’ve noted using normal brown rice takes much longer!
After reading the comments about the rice not cooking, I decided to try “quick cook” brown. I gave it a little extra cooking time, but other than that, the recipe worked great just as is. Love that it’s a healthy version of something i always want to order takeout. The flavor of the sauce is very good and I like that I usually have all those ingredients on hand. I will make this again
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So glad the quick cooking worked for you! Did you do a 1:1 ratio with the rice and/or change any of the liquid?
No changes to your recipe were needed for the sauce- it was quicker cook brown rice but not “instant” so I think it was about the same cooking-wise as the TruRoots so it worked well (I think the brand I used was SimplyNature from Aldi)
Thank you so much for letting us know!
Can this be made with less Rice? Watching our carbs mom
Can i sub cauliflower rice for the brown rice? If so, how do i modify Cooking this?
Can i do this quinoa? Looks amazing for a family dinner! Thanks!
Read before you cook… This recipe does not work with Normal or organic brown rice and after waiting for it to cook for 3 and a half hours – the rice was still rock hard and I had to throw it all away as the chicken had completely dried out and brocolli had dissolved !!
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I’m getting ready to make this for the first time tonight. Anything I need to know before I start?
Just made this recipe following the directions to a t and it set up PERFECTLY! Was a little nervous reading the other reviews – my only thought of how it may be “undercooked” is if you do not leave it to sit covered for the 10 minutes after baking. That step seemed crutial for the rice to cook through! Fantastic recipe !
So glad it worked for you! A lot of the other people who left reviews didn’t actually use sprouted rice, which is the main issue for the rice being too hard. Glad it worked for you!
This ended up a bit too sweet for me. It took over 2 hours and I gave up at that point and settled for hard rice. Not sure what went wrong with the rice!
I used regular brown rice and noticed similar unpleasant results as previous commenters. After 30 minutes I split the casserole into 2 separate dishes because all of the ingredients wouldn’t even fit. For the last 30 minutes I cooked it at 410F and it still wasn’t completely done. All in all it took about 2 hours to cook.
Made this last night and have to agree with the other commenters. Used the TruRoots brown rice and followed the recipe exactly and still ended up with hard rice and a soupy casserole. The taste was there, but the texture was disappointing.
Not a good recipe. Followed everything to a T including using germinated brown rice and after 2 hours in the oven the rice was still undercooked.
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I made this tonight for my family with regular brown rice and despite some hiccups while cooking it turned out to be a hit. I followed the special instructions for using regular brown rice but noticed that the rice was hardly cooking at all since the liquid wasn’t really even simmering. I turned my oven up to 410 F with ~20 minutes left. I still had to add about 10 minutes of extra cooking and after sitting it was still soupy. However, everyone thought it tasted great, so the sauce is a winner. In the future I’ll use the higher temperature to start and I think I wont need the extra time.
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I used Quinoa instead of the Brown Rice and it didn’t turn out good at all!! By using the Quinoa the casserole came out real sticky/gummy. I cook with Quinoa & Brown Rice all the time. Not exactly sure what went wrong. Maybe I’ll give it another try but use Brown Rice.
This looks good! I love your Cashew Chicken Quinoa Bake. Could I use quinoa in this recipe and maybe just reduce the amount of liquid?
You could totally try that! I’d reduce the liquid to 3 cups total!
Looks phenomenal! I LOVE the orange chicken idea–will veganize it with tofu or mock meat 😛
This recipe certainly doesnt work without the specific type of rice and it needs a decent sized casserole dish to allow all the ingredients to soak into the sauce.
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Loved this recipe! I used regular organic short grain brown rice in mine. I knew it would take longer to cook (mine took 2 hours) and probably should have waited to add the broccoli until halfway through but the flavors were so amazing that I didn’t mind that the broccoli was a bit soggy. 😉 YUM!! Made for great leftovers too.
I will update this in the recipe! Thank you for sharing 🙂
Hi Lee!
I have loved most of your recipes but I am with Jennifer above. This recipe needs revision. The exception to above is that no one carries the TruRoots brand in my area so I used Lundberg’s brown rice. I thought of cooking rice beforehand but was afraid it would be over-cooked. I made sure rice was on bottom when I poured the sauce over everything. I left the casserole in the oven an additional 15 minutes and let it sit 10 minutes. It was still undercooked. Not horribly but better than at 60 minutes. I did not want to overlook the chicken and broccoli.
Hey guys! I will have to retest this recipe with normal brown rice. Germinated brown rice really is the key to this recipe because it cooks faster than short grain brown rice. I wouldn’t say that this recipe “needs revisions” because I specifically stated you need to use germinated. We tested it 4 times, but I understand your frustrations!
My recipe flopped, unfortunately. I used sprouted organic brown rice, which I assume is the same as germinated. Like the poster above, after an hour the rice was hard and the liquid didn’t absorb at all. Wondering what I did wrong?
I followed this exactly as stated and after an hour, the rice was still very hard and the liquid hadn’t really absorbed at all. Never used this type of rice before. Does it require special prep? Any suggestions?
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That’s awesome you don’t have to pre-cook your rice! I prefer the texture of brown rice as well and agree with the benefits of the extra nutrition it provides!
Would this work with regular brown rice? I already have everything on hand this week if it doesn’t have to be the specialty rice, would the swap change the cooking time/liquid needed?
This sounds right up my husband’s alley!
Hey Samantha! It should work. I do know that the germinated brown rice cooked a little faster than short grain (because I tested it), so you may just need to let the casserole sit on your stove COVERED once it’s baked for the entirety. Let us know if it worked!
This dish looks so good. Love orange chicken.