Hashbrown Casserole
With an average rating of 4.5 from over 200 readers, this homemade hashbrown casserole is a go-to recipe for me and my readers. No canned soup! Just an easy, cheesy, comforting potato casserole.
Since the day I shared this recipe back in 2018, it became one of my most popular recipes. People enjoy this easy and yet homemade recipe that features thawed frozen shredded hashbrowns, homemade creamy cheese sauce, onion, herbs, and of course, some more cheese.
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“I have made hadhbrown casserole for years with COC soup. Thisi is the best recipe for this casserole and the best way to prepare as the recipe states.” ~Barbara ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Years of working at the Cracker Barrel and enjoying all the delicious comforting food drove me to create my own recipes and make it at home. Hashbrown Casserole is definitely one of those dishes. When you have a recipe that beats the restaurant’s, you don’t have a need to go out and get it. You are all set to make it right at home!
Scalloped potatoes and hashbrown casserole are the two potato sides that I make for a big family dinner. Don’t let the fact that this casserole is prepared with no canned soup make you think that it’s harder to cook. It is just as easy and only takes about 10 extra minutes of preparation time. (Okay, I also frequent my loaded cheesy potato casserole as well.)
Tips For Making Hashbrown Casserole
- Do thaw frozen hashbrowns: hash brown potatoes usually come frozen so make sure to thaw the potatoes first. Best way to do that is to thaw them overnight or for up to 24 hours in the refrigerator.
- Successful smooth cheese sauce: coat sauteed onions in flour evenly. Pour the liquids in slowly AS you continuously but slowly stir! The mixture will start to thicken as you are slowly stirring. (Feel free to use a whisk if that is more comfortable for you.)
- Keep the temperature below medium! Never have the heat too high when making any kind of creamy cheese sauce. Medium to start and the lower to medium low after adding liquids.
- Add cheese one handful at a time: slowly stir as you add the cheese one handful at a time. This will help the cheese melt and incorporate into the sauce evenly.
- Take off heat as soon as cheese is melted.
- Be gentle mixing hashbrowns and cheese sauce. Don’t overmix but make sure it’s mixed evenly.
- If you’re noticing that the top is getting browned too fast, you can loosely place a sheet of aluminum foil on top of the baking dish. This will deflect direct heat from the cheese topping.
How To Make It Ahead Of Time?
- You can prepare the casserole completely, up to the baking step, and refrigerate overnight. Make sure to cover the prepared casserole dish air-tight with plastic wrap or a fitted lid before putting it in the refrigerator.
- When ready to bake, take the dish out of the refrigerator about 30 minutes before baking and let it sit on the counter to warm up. Discard the plastic wrap and bake at 350° but add extra 5-7 minutes or so since the casserole will start out cold.
How To Store and Reheat The Casserole
- Store any leftover hashbrown casserole in the refrigerator covered air-tight. You can store it in the original baking dish or transfer it into a food storage container with a lid. Properly stored, hashbrown casserole will last up to 3 days.
- To reheat, you can reheat individual portions in a microwave or the whole casserole in the oven. (Make sure not to overheat it or cheese and cream will start to separate.)
- Reheat the whole casserole in the baking dish, in the oven, at 350°F. Make sure to let the dish warm up on the counter for about 30 minutes before placing it into the oven. Tent the casserole loosely with a sheet of foil to prevent the top from browning too much.
How To Freeze Hashbrown Casserole?
- PRO TIP: If you plan to freeze this casserole, you can prepare it and bake it in an aluminum baking pan. Note that the bake time will be slightly less, about 5 minutes less.
- Prepare the casserole and bake it in an aluminum baking dish, per the recipe. Make sure to cool the cooked potato casserole to room temperature before freezing!
- Cover the whole pan with plastic or another freezer-friendly air-tight wrap and then, wrap it in a some aluminum foil. Double cover will make sure it is completely air-tight.
- Label the pan and freeze it for up to 3 months.
- Make sure to thaw it slowly, in the refrigerator, for up to 24 hours.
If you’ve made my Hashbrown Casserole recipe and found a lot of good information here, PLEASE leave a 🌟 star rating! Let me know how you liked it by leaving the 📝 comment below as well. Don’t forget to subscribe to my newsletter!
Hashbrown Casserole Recipe
With an average rating of 4.5 from over 200 readers, this homemade hashbrown casserole is a go-to recipe for me and my readers. No canned soup! Just an easy, cheesy, comforting potato casserole.
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Servings: 8
Calories: 408kcal
Ingredients
- 30 oz frozen shredded hash brown potatoes thawed
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 1 yellow onion diced
- 3 large garlic cloves minced
- 1/4 cup all purpose flour*
- 2 cups whole milk (can use reduced fat if needed)
- 1 cup chicken stock
- 1 cup sour cream
- 8 oz shredded sharp cheddar cheese
- 1 1/2 tbsp minced parsley (can use dried parsley if needed)
- salt
- fresh cracked black pepper
- 1 cup shredded sharp cheddar cheese topping
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F and grease a 9×13 casserole baking dish.
- Preheat medium pot over medium heat on stove-top.
- Add oil, heat it through, and add diced onions. Sauté onions until they start to brown.
- Smash and mince garlic and add it to the onions. Stir and sauté until fragrant, just a few seconds.
- Sprinkle flour over the onions and stir well. Stir for a few seconds and start slowly pouring in chicken stock, while stirring. Pour in milk after that while stirring as well.
- Lower the heat to medium-low. Let the mixture heat through and start to thicken. Make sure to stir often.
- Stir in sour cream, salt, and pepper. (You may need to use a whisk to help incorporate the sour cream.) Let the mixture cook for about a minute.
- Stir in cheese one handful at a time. Stir in as it melts and taste to make sure you have enough seasoning. Once cheese is melted, stir in parsley and take the pot off heat.
- Mix hash brown potatoes and cheese sauce in a large bowl and spread the mixture in the prepared casserole dish. Make sure it's all spread evenly throughout.
- Spread some more cheese on top and bake for 30-35 minutes, until casserole browned and bubbles around the edges. If you would like to brown the top a little more, turn on the broiler for a few seconds.
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Notes
- Gluten Free*: This casserole is very easily made gluten free. Just substitute all purpose flour for gluten free all purpose flour. Note that sometimes it takes just a little more gluten free flour to make it the same thickness as regular. (Depending on the brand.) In most cases, 1/2-1 extra tablespoon will do the trick.
- To Make It In The Crock Pot: Prepare the casserole as instructed in the recipe up to the step of spreading it in the baking dish. Spread the cheesy potato mixture in the Crock Pot, cover with the lid, and cook for 2-3 hours on HIGH or for 4-4.5 hours on LOW. Spread the grated cheese on top of the casserole during the last 30 minutes of cook time.
- Storing: Store any leftover hashbrown casserole in the refrigerator covered air-tight. You can store it in the original baking dish or transfer it into a food storage container with a lid. Properly stored, hashbrown casserole will last up to 3 days.
- Frozen Shredded Hash Brown Potatoes – hash brown potatoes usually come frozen so make sure to thaw the potatoes first. Best way to do that is to thaw them overnight or for up to 24 hours in the refrigerator.
- Flavor Variations and Additions: you can easily add some protein to it, like diced ham or crispy cooked bacon right into the hashbrown mixture. It’s also a nice recipe for using up leftover turkey meat! Add some extra flavor with chopped chives, scallions, and/or parsley. Make it spicy by adding jalapenos or other chili peppers.
Nutrition
Calories: 408kcal | Carbohydrates: 28g | Protein: 16g | Fat: 26g | Saturated Fat: 14g | Cholesterol: 65mg | Sodium: 346mg | Potassium: 515mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 4g | Vitamin A: 765IU | Vitamin C: 11.3mg | Calcium: 423mg | Iron: 1.7mg
Tried this recipe?Mention @willcookforsmiles or tag #willcookforsmiles!
Some More Comforting Side Dishes
Originally published on Will Cook For Smiles on December 20, 2018.
Categories:
Breakfast Recipes, Brunch Recipes, Christmas Dinner Recipes, Easter Recipes, Most Popular Recipes, Potatoes, Side Dishes, Thanksgiving Dinner Recipes,All images and text ©Lyubov Brooke for ©Will Cook For Smiles. Please do not use my images without prior permission. If using my posts in collections and features, please link back to this post for the recipe.
Disclaimer: Nutrition information shown is not guaranteed to be 100% accurate as most ingredients and brands have variations.
Can you make this ahead and freeze to cook later?
Absolutely. You can prepare the casserole completely up to the baking step and refrigerate overnight. Make sure to cover the prepared casserole dish with plastic wrap before putting it in the fridge. Take the dish out of the refrigerator about 30 minutes before baking and let it sit on the counter to warm up. Discard the plastic wrap and bake at 350° but add extra 5 minutes or so since the casserole will start out cold. I hope you enjoy it! 🙂
I precooked them for 10 min then shredded. Worked great
So glad you liked it, Vivian!
Excellent recipe! Thanks!! I did use my own shredded potatoes I precooked them for 10 min then shredded. Worked great! I love that you don’t have to use condensed soup in this recipe
Hi Becky,
I am so glad you liked it! 🙂
Any chance you have tried it with reduced fat milk and cheese? Or sauteed the onions in chicken broth with 1/2 the oil? Just wondering if anyone has tried lightening it up at all?
Hi Michelle,
Hashbrown casserole is an indulgent side dish because of the potatoes so the small substitutions will not reduce the fact that they are potatoes and carbs. 😉 That said you could use reduced-fat milk or even fat-free but as far as cheese reduced-fat cheese often does not come out well or comes out with a grainy texture. If you have a nonstick pan you can reduce the oil without needed to add chicken broth. I hope you still try it even with having to use full-fat cheese, it is a delicious indulgent every once in awhile. 🙂
Hi, I think you could substitute greek yogurt for the sour cream and save a ton of fat. Lyubas recipes are always delicious.
Thank you, Christine! I am so glad you like my recipes 🙂
Can you freeze this?
My family really enjoyed this last night as a special side dish to Chicken Cordon Bleu! Easy to prepare, and we’re sure leftovers will reheat well. Just delicious!! Thank you for sharing, this recipe is being moved to my “Favorites” board!
So glad your family enjoyed it, Laura! Thanks for stopping by!
What’s the best way to thaw the potatoes? Let them sit in the fridge?
Hi Heather,
Yes I would let them sit in the fridge overnight to thaw. I hope you like them!
It was easy and most delicious hash brown casserole recipe ever! Thank you! 😊🙏🏻
Plus we added mushrooms and ham!! 😋😋
Thank you! So glad you liked it! 🙂
I want to make this however I am confused on cheese amounts. As the ingredients say 8 oz cheese then bottom of ingredients say 1 cup of cheese for topping. Then in directions there are 3 times you add cheese. One is in the sauce. Then more to stir in with hash browns. Then more for top. Would be nice if directions detailed how much cheese to add for each of the 3 times. Also if I look at the beautiful picture It would appear as though there was a whole 8 oz block just on the top. Looks so good. But without more specific directions I have to stick to my soup based hash browns :0(
Hi Michelle!
I’m sorry the instructions aren’t coming off clear, I will add the amount in instructions as well. There are two times that you add the cheese, one in the cheese sauce and one on top. You would mix the whole 8 oz block into the cheese sauce. For the topping, you are welcome to use more than one cup of shredded cheese, if you want it cheesier. It won’t hurt at all! I really hope you will enjoy it!
I used fresh potaties to make my own hashbrowns. It came out delicious not watery or soupy at all. I used 6 small potaties to make 30 oz. I washed them poked holes on both sides put on a plate for 10 minutes let cool peel and shred. I didnt have frozen hashbrowns on hand so I had to improvise. I hope this helps. Thanks for this delicious recipe👍😃
I bet that was good! I am glad you liked it!
Oh my. I made a double batch of this for Christmas brunch tomorrow morning and decided to bake a small dish of it tonight to try it out. It is so very good! I would say it’s even better than the hash brown casserole at Cracker Barrel. I can’t wait to share it with family tomorrow and will definitely be saving this recipe for the future!
I am so glad you liked it! 🙂
Can I double the recipe?
Hi, Donna! You can absolutely double it!