This easy cheesy potatoes recipe is going to be your new go-to side dish for the holidays. Flavorful potatoes in a simple cheddar cheese sauce is creamy and comforting!
Love potatoes? Try these other favorite casseroles including funeral potatoes, cheesy scalloped potatoes and twice baked potatoes.
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Best Cheesy Potato Casserole
If you’re looking for a recipe for cheesy potatoes to add to your Christmas dinner or Thanksgiving menu this year…I’ve got your back!
This cheesy potato casserole is a staple Thanksgiving side dish that is always the first one gone. It tastes amazing served alongside a roasted turkey or baked ham feeds a crowd.
Why I Love This Recipe
- The perfect texture. Creamy from both the sour cream and cream of chicken soup, cheesy from the cheddar cheese and crunchy from the buttery corn flakes topping.
- Easy and quick. Prepared and baked from start to finish in under an hour with minimal ingredients and effort. This American classic is an easy, no-fail side dish!
- Party potatoes. A potato side by many names – cheesy potato bake, cheesy potato casserole, funeral potatoes or cheesy hashbrown casserole recipe.
Cheesy Potatoes Ingredients
With a few fridge and pantry staples, this recipe for cheesy potatoes doesn’t require any fancy ingredients!
Find the full printable recipe with specific measurements below.
- Hash browns: A large bag of frozen hash browns potatoes. You can either use diced or shredded or even country style with onions and peppers.
- Sour cream: This adds a bit of tang and contributes to the creamy texture.
- Canned cream of chicken soup: You can also use cream of celery or cream of mushroom soup. Make a homemade cream of chicken soup if you’d prefer.
- Butter: This is mixed in with the potatoes and the crunchy topping for some added richness.
- Onions: I like to include some fresh chopped green onions to help boost the flavor. If you don’t have fresh onions on hand, you can mix in some onion powder instead.
- Cheese: They wouldn’t be cheesy potatoes without the cheese! I like to grate my own sharp cheddar cheese and then stir it into the potato mixture.
- Cornflakes: Crush them up, then sprinkle on top before baking. You could also use crushed Ritz crackers, potato chips or panko breadcrumbs as the crunchy topping.
How to Make Cheesy Potatoes
- Preheat oven. Preheat oven and butter a 9×13″ baking dish. Set aside.
- Mix ingredients together. In a large bowl, combine potatoes, green onions, sour cream, cream of chicken, salt, pepper, 1/4 cup melted butter and cheese. Stir, then spread into casserole dish.
- Add topping. Top with extra cheese (if desired) and crushed cornflakes. Drizzle remaining melted butter on top.
- Bake in oven. Bake for 30 to 40 minutes, or until golden brown and bubbling hot.
Expert Tips
- Thaw. It’s important to thaw the bag of hash browns first before using. If they are still frozen, the excess water could make your cheesy potato casserole runny when baking.
- Using real Russet potatoes. Easy cheesy potatoes recipe from scratch! Boil or bake potatoes and then shred or cube them and they should work well in this recipe.
- Topping. If the cornflake topping begins to brown too fast while baking, feel free to tent the top with foil. Instead of cornflakes, try crushed potato chips or Ritz crackers.
- Let rest. The potatoes will need to set a bit before serving, so I would recommend letting them rest for about 5 to 10 minutes before digging in.
Want more cheesy potato recipes? Try cheesy mashed potatoes, cheesy scalloped potatoes and ham, or this au gratin potatoes recipe.
More Potato Side Dish Recipes
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Cheesy Potatoes Recipe
Video
Ingredients
- 1 (30-ounce) bag diced or shredded hash browns , thawed
- 1 (16-ounce) container sour cream
- 1 (10.5-ounce) can cream of chicken soup (or celery or mushroom)
- ¼ cup melted butter
- 1 bunch green onions (or 1/2 teaspoon onion powder)
- 1 teaspoon Kosher salt
- ½ teaspoon ground black pepper
- 1 ½ cups shredded cheddar cheese , plus more if desired
Topping
- 1-2 cups crushed cornflakes (or ritz crackers or panko crumbs)
- ¼ cup melted butter
Instructions
- Prep. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Butter a 9×13-inch baking dish. Make sure your potatoes are mostly thawed and drain any excess water.
- Combine ingredients. In a medium bowl, stir together 30 ounce hash brown potatoes, 16 ounce sour cream, 1 can cream of chicken, 1 bunch green onions (or 1/2 teaspoon onion powder), 1 teaspoon salt, 1/2 teaspoon pepper, 1/4 cup butter, and 1 1/2 cups shredded cheese until combined. Spread into the baking dish. Top with extra cheese, if desired.
- Bake. Spread 1-2 cups crushed cornflakes over the top. Drizzle with 1/4 cup butter. Bake 30 to 40 minutes, or until golden brown and bubbling hot. If using cubed potatoes instead of shredded hash browns, bake 40 minutes.
- Serve. Let rest 5 minutes before serving. Enjoy while warm!
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition provided is an estimate. It will vary based on specific ingredients used.
Did you make this recipe? Don’t forget to give it a star rating below!
Recipe FAQs
The dish isn’t gluten-free with the cornflakes, but you can make it gluten-free by swapping them out with a gluten-free cracker or breadcrumb.
Yes, you can make crockpot cheesy potatoes if you’d like. Simply mix the potatoes, sour cream, cream of chicken, butter, half of the cheese and spices in the slow cooker. Cook on low for 4 to 5 hours. Then sprinkle on the remaining cheese and cook for about 10-15 more minutes until bubbly.
If you haven’t tried this cheesy potato casserole recipe, it’s a must this year! We always make this old-fashioned potato dish for Thanksgiving with turkey or on Christmas and Easter with spiral ham, roasted vegetables, and potato rolls.
Yes, to make ahead prepare in a baking dish as directed, but leave off the cornflake topping. Then cover and refrigerate for 1 to 2 days. When you’re ready to bake, let the dish sit at room temperature while the oven preheats. Then sprinkle the cornflake topping over the potatoes and bake as directed.
To freeze this potato side dish, prepare according to instructions (don’t add the cornflake topping). Pour it into a baking dish or a disposable pan for easier clean up. Cover the pan tightly, then freeze up to 2 months.
When ready to enjoy, let thaw in the fridge overnight. Add the topping just before baking, then bake as directed (it may need to bake a few minutes longer since it was frozen, so just keep an eye on it).
These are simply the best cheesy potatoes! They’re on my list for Thanksgiving again this year!
Glad to hear you have a new tradition! These are a crowd pleaser. Thanks for sharing, Eva.
Wonderful! Thanks for sharing
These are great any time of year, but these would be a great addition to any Thanksgiving feast. Happy Holidays!
💗 I love your recipes, they are easy to follow and I usually have all the ingredients to make them with at home. We have a lot of family favorites from your cookbook.
This makes me so happy to hear, Gina! Thank you for your nice comment and review :)
These are my Favorite!! They remind me of the holidays but I love them all year long. Love this recipe!
It’s definitely a holiday staple at our house too!
Yummy and easy!
If I need to reduce the amount of potatoes, does the baking time need to be reduced as well?
I test it about 5-10 minutes early.
My boys favorite!!!!
I haven’t had this in years but love it! We can’t buy the bags of frozen hash browns here, would you suggest we make our own with just boiling them or boilding and fry?
Hi Lisa! Boiled or baked and then shredded or cubed should work well in this recipe.
Have made this every year I have made thanksgiving and my family loves it
I’m so happy to hear your family loves it! :)
I love this recipe I even make it for breakfast it’s a family favorite
My family loves this. It’s their favorite recipe.
I’m so happy to hear it’s a family favorite!
We love this recipe a family favorite for sure!
My favorite potatoes, not just for holidays, but al year long! They are always requested, because everyone loves them! They are the first thing to go every year!
I make these all the time and everyone loves them! Including me! Sometimes I add a little extra cheese 🤗
They are a favorite around here too. I’m so glad to hear everyone loves them!
I made this for a picnic and this was the perfect accompaniment for the food I was serving. I messed up. by adding all the cheese and butter during the first mix (oops) so I ended up adding more cheese and melted butter on the top. I also added some softened sautéed onions to the potatoes and it added some nice flavor.
I’m so glad you enjoyed it! :)
This recipe is by far the best cheesy potato recipe of all time. My family absolutely loves them!
I’m so glad you loved them! :)
I make this but use cream of mushroom soup, mix southern style hash browns and bag of shredded cheddar cheese, top with cornflakes-crushed and mixed with 1/2 stick melted butter, bake 1-1/2 hrs.
Goes well with ham or pork chops!
Sounds delicious!
I made these on Easter & they were a big hit. Will add this to my often used recipes.
I’m so glad they were a big hit! :)
We loooove potatoes too and I’m always looking for new ways to incorporate them into our meals. This looks so creamy and cheesy – this is definitely going to be part of our Christmas spread! :) Thank you so much for sharing!