Loaded Broccoli Casserole (Recipe 165 of 125)

Merry Christmas Eve! Tonight I'm headed to my sister-in-laws house for dinner and fun family shenanigans. My middle brother will be there tonight too. We haven't seen him in several years thanks to Covid. 

My assignment for tonight's dinner was to bring something green, and a casserole. Since I don't like green bean casserole, and we just had my world famous broccoli casserole, I decided to make a new version of the broccoli casserole. And I had to make it gluten free since Sherrie will be there. 

Enter Loaded Broccoli Casserole. 

I didn't follow the baking instructions because I felt like 30 minutes might be too long from fresh broccoli. I like my broccoli crisp not mushy. 

My first mistake was forgetting to get bacon out of the freezer. So I used the precooked bacon, which meant there was no bacon grease. Which was fine since I wasn't planning on pre-cooking the broccoli. 

So I simply mixed everything together except the bacon. Put the whole thing in a 9X13 pan, topped with cheese, topped with bacon, topped with green onions. Baked for about 20 minutes until the cheese was bubbling. 

Loaded Broccoli Casserole

Recipe from Eating Well 

Serves 8

• 3 slices bacon (I used more like 5 slices)
• 1 ½ pounds broccoli crowns, cut into bite-size florets
• ½ teaspoon ground pepper
• ¼ teaspoon salt (I didn't add salt and pepper. Instead I did McCormicks Montreal Steak seasoning)
• 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil (if needed - it was needed because I didn't do bacon grease)
• 1 ½ cups shredded extra-sharp Cheddar cheese, divided
• .5 cup reduced-fat sour cream
• 4 scallions, sliced, divided

Preheat oven to 425°F. Lightly coat a 9-by-13-inch baking dish with cooking spray.

Place bacon in a large nonstick skillet over medium heat; cook until crisp, 6 to 8 minutes. Transfer to a paper-towel-lined plate to cool, then chop (reserve drippings in the pan).

Add broccoli, pepper and salt to the pan and toss with the bacon drippings until coated. If your bacon didn't render much fat, add up to 1 tablespoon oil; toss to coat. Transfer to the baking dish and roast, stirring once or twice, until tender, about 30 minutes.

Meanwhile, combine 1 cup cheese, sour cream and half the scallions in a small bowl. When the broccoli is tender, add the cheese mixture to the baking pan and stir to coat well. Sprinkle with the remaining 1/2 cup cheese and the reserved bacon. Bake the cheese is melted, about 5 minutes. Sprinkle with the remaining scallions.