Cauliflower Rice Chicken Caprese Casserole Recipe

Once we had our daughter, time went from standing still to holy smokes she’s 5 and going into preschool?! It’s as cliché as any saying out there but wow, do they grow up fast! I remember when my daughter used to go up to our tomato plant outside when she was about 1 ½ years old and take em right off the vine and devour them. She’d usually next go to the basil plant and eat some of that as well. I’d like to think she’s gifted already in the world of culinary arts, but logic tells me she was just grabbing and eating because it was there.

Preschool starts in 2 weeks so I’m getting ready to get those 1 pot, sheet pan, casserole meals ready for the school year, and it starts with this Cauliflower Rice Caprese Casserole. We are definitely chicken fans in this house so to manage my time well, I began by searing off some chicken breasts until they were golden brown and cooked throughout. This takes about 5 to 7 minutes per side over medium to medium-high heat.

If you don’t feel confident cooking chicken through over the open flame then pop ’em in the oven at 350°for about 10 minutes after you brown them on each side. Let the chicken rest and then chop it up.

My wife and I are trying to do our best to chill on the gluten and the lactose, although I failed with the latter in this recipe. With those things in mind I decided to make cauliflower rice and use it as the base to this recipe. It’s as simple as trimming it and running it through a food processor until it literally looks like rice.

From there, you want to sauté it in a bit of olive oil and then finish it by adding in some canned crushed tomatoes, a boat load of shredded mozzarella, some spinach and then the chopped chicken.

Of course, I didn’t stop with the cheese there, I went overboard. I added some more shredded mozzarella, sliced mozzarella and shredded parmesan. Yeah, the lactose free diet isn't going that well in our house, but dang is it delicious! I finished off the recipe with some sliced tomatoes and some fresh basil leaves and off to the oven it went.

You know when cheesy casseroles are done with they are golden brown on top. I had some leftover pesto that I thought would go perfect over the top so I drizzled a tad bit on there and then served it up. This casserole is a cheesy flavorful delight and no one even noticed that there was no gluten in it because the cauliflower rice was just that good.

This is a great back to school recipe if you are looking to use up the rest of those in season tomatoes you’ve got on hand! Happy casserole season!