These broccoli bites are the perfect quick and easy appetizers, full of veggie and cheesy goodness. Broccoli cheese bites are everything you love about a broccoli cheese casserole all in one tiny bite. These broccoli bites are perfect for a weekly dinner side or served at a brunch!
The Best Broccoli Cheese Bites
I host a lot of parties and am always looking for party appetizers that taste good both warm and at room temperature.
These broccoli bites are a bite-sized version of that Ritz broccoli casserole I mentioned earlier, and they’re great for serving at any party!
We tested out ten different versions of broccoli cheese bites to get to this recipe, and it’s the best variation we could come up with! It’s like a bite-sized version of this broccoli cheese chicken casserole, minus the chicken!
These also make great finger foods for picky eaters and a great option for getting some veggies in for the whole family! They’re always a big hit with kids and adults, and a fun way to serve healthy foods without just doing a standard veggie tray.
They’re full of broccoli and cheese without tasting like you’re eating broccoli and cheese. They’re a great way to hide veggies in something that tastes delicious!
Why You’ll Love these Cheddar Broccoli Bites
- Simple – all you need to do is crush some crackers, mix all the simple ingredients together, and bake!
- Healthier appetizer – these are a great healthier alternative for an appetizer compared to something like these bacon wrapped dates or these grape jelly meatballs.
- Great at room temperature – some things (like buffalo chicken dip) are only good when they’re hot. These broccoli bites are good warm or at room temperature, which makes them perfect for parties!
Ingredients
Ingredient Notes
- Broccoli – you’ll need three cups of fresh broccoli florets that are cooked and chopped up into small bite-sized pieces. You can either use raw broccoli that you cut and cook yourself or something like broccoli wockly that’s already cut up for you and ready to cook. I do not recommend using frozen broccoli because it adds too much liquid to the broccoli bites.
- Ritz Crackers – I used about 30 crumbled up crackers (one sleeve) to make these but if you want a little less, you can skip adding the cracker crumbles on top of the broccoli cheese bites.
- Salt – while it’s not pictured above, you’ll also need to add a little salt to pull all of the flavors together nicely. Salt is the easiest way to really bring out the natural flavors of food.
- Cheddar cheese – you can either buy store-bought shredded cheese or shred it by hand, just make sure it’s thinly shredded so it’ll mix with the other ingredients nicely. You could also make these with a combination of 1 1/2 cups cheddar cheese and 1/2 cup parmesan cheese, but I prefer the classic cheddar cheese combo.
How to Make Broccoli Bites
Making these broccoli cheddar bites is so easy, seriously. This broccoli appetizer will take you about 20 minutes tops!
- Preheat your oven to 350 degrees and spray a muffin tin with non-stick cooking spray. You could also use a mini muffin tin if you want to make mini bites, I just prefer the full-size ones.
- While your oven is preheating, cook the broccoli. You can either steam it (here’s a great tutorial if you’re not sure how) or use a micro-steamer like this to make the process faster!
- Throw the pieces of broccoli in a food processor along with 25 of the Ritz crackers, the cheese, the egg, and salt. Pulse until everything is well combined into one broccoli mixture.
Recommended tools
I picked up this food processor on Prime Day last year, and it’s been worth every cent!
- Once the egg mixture is ready, spoon the mixture loosely into muffin tins until they’re about 3/4 full either using a large spoon or cookie scoop. Do not press down on the mixture or it’ll end up more dry than you want.
Tip!
I prefer to use a silicone muffin pan like this one so that they slide out easily once baked but you can use any muffin tin you’d like as long as you spray it well with non-stick spray!
- Once all of the muffin tins are filled, sprinkle the remaining crumbled Ritz crackers on top before baking.
- Bake in muffin cups for 12-15 minutes and you have yourself bite-sized bites of broccoli and cheese goodness. The cooking time may vary depending on how quickly your oven bakes and the actual size of the broccoli bites so watch them starting around 10 minutes.
- Let cool for just a minute then use a small silicone spatula to slide those bites out! So much cuter than a casserole.
These broccoli bites were perfect for my Super Bowl party! They’d also go great paired as a great side dish with this almond chicken or even this balsamic chicken – they’re great way to make eating veggies fun for both younger and older kids! Or just stack them on a plate and serve as is!
Tips & tricks
Store leftovers in the refrigerator in an airtight container for up to three days. After the three days either freeze using the instructions below or throw away.
Freeze in a freezer safe airtight container for up to three months. When you’re ready to thaw and reheat, I recommend reheating in the oven by placing them on a baking sheet and putting them in the cold oven. Set the temperature to 350 degrees and let the broccoli bites warm up with the oven. Enjoy once they’re warm.
Spice them up. If you want to add a little more flavor and kick (not recommend for kids), you can add 1/2 tsp of cayenne pepper to the mixture.
FAQs
These broccoli bites can be made without crackers by replacing the cracker crumbs with something else you’d prefer such as bread crumbs, panko bread crumbs, gluten free bread crumbs, almond crackers, and more. You’ll want about 1 1/2 cups total of whatever crumbs you choose.
If you’d prefer to make mini bites, similar in size to something like broccoli tots, I recommend filling mini muffin tins 3/4 full and then baking for 6-9 minutes or until the crumbs on the top are slightly browned.
Broccoli bites are made of broccoli, cheddar cheese, Ritz crackers, egg, and salt. The ingredients are combined together into bite-sized broccoli cheese bites of delicious flavor!
You can definitely make these gluten-free by substituting gluten-free crackers like almond crackers, nut crackers, or gluten-free bread crumbs. As long as there is some sort of crumb added, they should work out great!
More Easy Appetizers
If these broccoli cheese bites aren’t quite what you’re looking for, here are some more simple appetizers!
- Bacon brie bites – bacon and brie cheese combines together in these delicious bite-sized snacks!
- Cheese bomb – bacon and cheese stuffed inside a biscuit turns into a delicious bomb of flavor!
- Bisquick sausage balls – five-ingredient sausage balls with tons of yummy flavor!
- Pizza twist recipe – all the flavors of your favorite pizza twisted into a grab and go snack!
- Pigs in a blanket with cheese – classic pigs in a blanket gets a cheesy upgraded into this favorite!
Broccoli Cheese Bites
Ingredients
- 3 cups broccoli , cooked and chopped
- 2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
- 30 Ritz crackers , hand crushed
- 1 egg
- 1 tsp salt
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- Spray muffin tin with non-stick baking spray.
- Cook broccoli, roughly chop into dime-sized pieces.3 cups broccoli
- Combine broccoli, cheese, 25 Ritz crackers, egg, and salt in a medium bowl until everything is just combined.3 cups broccoli, 2 cups shredded cheddar cheese, 1 egg, 1 tsp salt
- Place mixture into a food processor and lightly pulse until everything is roughly the size of a pea. (three or four pulses should do it.)
- Spoon mixture loosely into muffin tin until full, using the back of the spoon to lightly press it in.
- Sprinkle with remaining Ritz crackers.
- Bake at 350 degrees for 12-15 minutes or until crackers are slightly browned on top and mixture is fully cooked.
- Best served warm.
Tips & Notes:
Nutrition Info
Note!
This recipe was originally published in 2014. We’ve redeveloped it and made changes to the recipe since then based on feedback and additional testing. If you have made these in the past, they are slightly different now but in a good way. We hope you love the changes!
Don Schuldes says
Looks yummy! Actually if you used light cheddar, it would be a fairly healthy snack since they’re baked and not deep fried. I think I’m going to try this on the weekend!!!
BritniV says
Awesome! Let me know how they turn out. Thank you
Michele Silla says
I just made them, they are great! I used shredded mozzarelli instead of cheddar cheese. If I used breadcrumbs next time instead of ritz crackers, what amount would I use. Happy New Year
Thanks Michele S
BritniV says
You can substitute the cracker crumbs with 1 1/2 cups of bread crumbs – should work just fine!
Michele S says
Making today for New Year’s Eve! They look sooo good!
Michele says
I’m planning to make these for New Year’s Eve. Instead of ritz crackers how much bread crumbs should I use. Thanks for the help!
Fay says
I didn’t have a mini muffin tin so I doubled the recipie and made 12 regular size muffins, adjusted the cook time to 20 minutes and they came out perfect. Great snack for while everyone is watching football before Thanksgiving.
Mello says
I made these yesterday…I added a little curry paste to them to match the rest of my meal. So I would say these can be created to suit any meal…next time I make a Mexican meal I will add chipotle pepper and maybe add some corn to them….great recipe! Thanks!
P.S. I made them with gluten free crackers and them came out perfect! Next time I will double the recipe 🙂
Chris says
Can’t find where the recipe says how many this makes. Thanks for your help. Sounds delish.
BritniV says
It makes one twelve cup muffin tin full, sorry must not have pulled over when I made some updates to my blog!
Eleni says
I just made them…I love it!! I will do it again and again! My little girl is 2 and a half years old and she loved it too!! Thank you!
mona says
could this dish be frozen? I was going to make them for my daughters wedding and I need to make them ahead of time.
thank you
BritniV says
You can freeze them in an airtight container for up to three months! Just reheat in the oven rather than the microwave to avoid them getting mushy!
Lucy says
Hi, I would love to make these with my nutrition students! How many does 1 batch make, 8-12 mini muffins?
BritniV says
Yes!