Cheesy Potato Casserole
Updated Jan 09, 2025
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Cheesy Potato Casserole is a comfort food that your whole family will love. It tastes like your favorite classic funeral potatoes but made with homemade ingredients.
I love a good cheesy potato casserole dish and this one turns out great every time. Hashbrown casserole is ideal for a potluck, holiday feast, funeral, or a side dish to your dinner.
I love that this casserole incorporates homemade ingredients instead of frozen hash browns or canned soups – I grated my own potatoes, added cream, sour cream, onion, and cheese and then baked it! A scoop of these potatoes and a slice of glazed ham is pretty much perfection on a plate!
Table of Contents
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
- Classic Comfort: This dish is the epitome of comfort food, with its creamy, cheesy goodness.
- Great for Leftovers: This casserole reheats well, making it perfect for leftovers.
- Make-Ahead Friendly: You can prepare this casserole in advance and bake it when you’re ready.
Ingredients
- Russet Potatoes
- Onion
- Shredded Cheddar Cheese
- Sour Cream
- Butter
- Heavy cream
- Chicken Base: something like Better than Bullion
- Garlic Powder
- Salt & Pepper
See the recipe card below for full information on ingredients and quantities
How to Make Cheesy Potato Casserole
Step #1. Preheat the oven, then prepare your baking dish. Peel, wash, and grate the potatoes.
Step #3. Place the potatoes in a large bowl. Peel the onion and grate it. Add the grated onion to the potatoes. Add 1 cup of the cheese, melted butter, sour cream, chicken base, garlic powder, salt, and pepper to the bowl. Stir well to combine.
Step #2. Place half the potatoes in a dish towel and squeeze out as much moisture as you can, then repeat with the other half.
Step #4. Spoon the mixture into the baking dish. Spread the remaining cheese over the top. Bake for one hour, covering with foil if the cheese browns too quickly. Let rest 5 minutes before serving.
Recipe FAQs
I’ve heard it called everything from cheesy potato casserole, to hash brown casserole, and sometimes here in Utah they even call them Funeral Potatoes! How odd is that.
I like to use russet potatoes if I am grating them for hashbrowns. They fluff up nicely and taste delicious. Use what you have on hand though, I haven’t noticed a big difference between types.
Yes! This recipe is great to make a in advance. You can make it all and mix it up and then bake it, or you can make it and bake it and reheat it as needed.
You can make this casserole and put in the freezer. When you are ready to serve just thaw fully and bake.
Expert Tips
- Use freshly grated cheese. The pre-shredded kind has an anti-caking agent on it to keep it from clumping but can make it less creamy than cheese you spread yourself.
- Lots of variations of this casserole have a crunchy topping made from corn flakes, crackers, or even crushed potato chips mixed with melted butter. Mix about 2 cups of crumbs with 1/4 cup of melted butter and spread evenly over the top before baking.
- This recipe doubles really well if you need to feed a crowd.
- Hashbrown casserole is ideal for prepping in advance when you have a busy schedule. It also makes for great leftovers!
More Sides Recipes to Consider
Side Dishes and Salads
Easy Creamy Cheesy Potatoes
Vegetable Sides
Glazed Honey Roasted Carrots
Vegetable Sides
19 Fresh Vegetable Recipes For Spring
Side Dishes and Salads
Cauliflower Mashed Potatoes
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Cheesy Potato Casserole
Ingredients
- 2.5 pounds russet potatoes
- 1 medium onion
- 8 ounces shredded cheddar cheese
- 12 ounces sour cream
- ½ cup melted butter
- ¾ cup heavy cream
- 1 teaspoon chicken base, like Better than Bullion
- 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon salt
- scant 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 375 degrees F.
- Spray a 9×13 inch baking dish well with cooking spray and set aside.
- Prepare your potatoes by peeling the skins and rinsing off the outside of the peeled potato. Grate the potatoes using a box grater or food processor.
- Working with half of the grated potatoes at a time, place them in a clean dish towel and squeeze out as much extra moisture as you can. Repeat with second half of the grated potatoes.
- Place the grated potatoes in a large bowl.
- Remove the outer skin of the onion and grate it as well (you can chop it finely but I like to grate it since I already have the grater out and used).
- Add the onion to the potatoes in the bowl.
- Add 1 cup of the shredded cheddar, the sour cream, melted butter, chicken base, garlic powder, salt, and pepper to the bowl.
- Stir to combine well.
- Add the potato mixture to the prepared pan.
- Spread the remaining shredded cheese evenly over the potatoes.
- Bake for 1 hour. If the top of the cheese starts to brown too quickly, cover the top with foil and continue to bake as directed.
- Let the mixture rest for 5 minutes before serving hot.
Notes
- Chicken base is like creamy bullion cubes and I like the Better than Bullion brand.
- You can use more cheese here if you’d like or different kinds of cheese (or a combination of cheeses), so feel free to make it to taste.
- Make sure to season the casserole mixture well with salt and pepper before baking. Potatoes are notorious but being on the bland side unless you use plenty of seasoning.
- These potatoes are the perfect side dish to glazed ham.
Could you make ahead/freeze this?