Cracker Barrel Cheesy Potatoes with a crispy topping mixed with a creamy filling - YUM! This delicious copycat recipe is the BEST cheesy potato casserole ever! It's so easy to make and a real crowd pleaser. Perfect side dish for dinner and yummy for breakfast or brunch!
Another delicious southern side dish is this collard greens recipe - it's amazing, super savory and easy to make, SO GOOD!
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❤️ Why you'll love this recipe
I even remember the first time I went to Cracker Barrel - it was when I lived in Virginia and I thought I died and went to food-coma heaven!
Chicken fried steak and cheesy hash brown potatoes and I think about 45 minutes later I rolled out of the restaurant.
It's been a favorite ever since!
If you love a great cheesy casserole then this easy recipe can be made in the comfort of your own home. It will be a family favorite! This is the perfect dinner side dish (or meal, if you're like me and really like potatoes!) and it's super easy to make with freezer and pantry staples.
What's not to love?!!!
🗒️ Ingredients
For the exact measurements, for the Cracker Barrel Hash Brown Casserole recipe please refer to the recipe card at the bottom of the post.
- shredded frozen hash browns - I love this easy shortcut of using frozen vegetables. Though you could certainly use cooked shredded or diced potatoes.
- cheese - use store bought shredded cheddar cheese or Colby cheese, what can be easier?!!
- cream of chicken soup - Substitute with cream of celery or cream of mushroom soup.
- sour cream - low fat or the full flavor version, both will work and give this casserole great flavor, buttermilk is also an option!
- melted butter - just a tablespoon.
- salt and pepper - to add flavor.
- optional garnish - green onions
🔪 Instructions
This is an overview of the instructions for this delicious recipe. For the complete directions just scroll down to the bottom. You're going to love how simple this recipe is to make!
- Put the thawed hash brown to a large mixing bowl, pour in diced onions.
- Add in sour cream.
- Next goes the cream of chicken soup.
- Add the cheddar cheese.
- Pour in the butter.
- Sprinkle with salt and pepper.
- Mix, mix, mix everything really well!
- Prepare the baking dish, spraying it with non-stick spray.
- Pour all of the ingredients into the pan - place into the preheated oven and bake until hot and bubbly and the top of the casserole is golden brown.
🙋♀️ FAQ's
This recipe uses less butter than most that you'll see, but it doesn't loose any of the flavor! In my opinion the excess butter just makes it greasy.
Yes, you can! And it doesn't make it less flavorful. This cheesy potato casserole recipe has the best flavoring with half the fat!
Yes, you'll want to thaw the potatoes first before making the Cracker Barrel cheesy hash brown casserole.
Absolutely! If you'd like to take the time to peel the potatoes and grate them, that works too. Just be sure to squeeze the excess water from them.
Yes! This casserole freezes well. Mix all of the ingredients together and store in an airtight, freezer-safe container - I use a ziplock bag. You can store it up to 3 months. Thaw in the refrigerator overnight and then bake as directed.
Absolutely! Spray your crockpot with non-stick cooking spray. Mix the ingredients for the cheesy potato casserole together and place them in the slow cooker. Cook on low for 3-4 hours.
👍 Tips
If you want to prep the Cracker Barrel Cheesy Potatoes Casserole the day before, remove the hash browns from the freezer and mix all of the ingredients together and refrigerate overnight. The potatoes will thaw and the next day pour the mixture into the prepared casserole dish and bake as directed.
Don't press the ingredients into the pan, it may cause it to stick to the pan. Just gently fill the casserole dish.
Variations
There are several variations for the Cracker Barrel Cheesy Potato Casserole - here are some easy substitutes to consider for your menu.
- Add one pound cooked breakfast sausage or ground beef to the mixture for an easy complete meal. An extra cup of shredded cheese will bring everything together.
- Next time top it with crushed potato chips, corn flakes or Panko bread crumbs mixed with a touch of parmesan cheese will create a super crispy topping. You'll need about 1 ½ cups of chips or bread crumbs mixed with about ½ of cheese.
- Got Ritz Crackers - crushed crackers make a great buttery topping!
- Dare I say bacon? It does make everything better! Cook one pound of bacon until crispy, drain will. Crumble it and combine with the mixture, saving about ¼ cup to sprinkle on the top. What's not to love?!!!
Storage
Refrigerate - Allow leftovers to cool completely to room temperature. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate or place in an airtight container.
Freezer - This delicious dish also freezes well up to three months.
Reheat - This cheesy potato casserole recipe is simple to reheat as well. Simple tuck the dish (uncovered) into the preheated oven and bake until heated through - 25-30 minutes.
Related recipes
I've said more times than not - potatoes were BIG when we were growing up and are still some of my favorite recipes. They can be epic, like smashed potatoes or colcannon potatoes - literally a meal by themselves. Or your everyday side dish - I mean nothing beats a baked potato, right?
- This cheesy hashbrown casserole is the best combination of flavors. It definitely deserves rotation in your menu planning!
- This Potato Soup Recipe is the most popular soup on the blog! It's so easy to make and creamy!
- This recipe for Copycat Cracker Barrel Fried Apples is another family favorite on blog. I hope you give it a try soon!
- Still hungry for more yummy side dishes? Be surer to check out Holiday Side Dish Recipes next. And when I say holiday, it means T-Day, Christmas, New Years, Easter, you name it. Easy recipes that aren't complicated and always delicious!
There's a TON of recipes all centered around potatoes on the blog - just type the word "potato" in search and you'll find them all!
Serving suggestions
The easy answer is lots of things! Oh... you're looking for ideas, I gotcha! If you're serving a fancy meal or your holiday meal, this is a real winner.
- Serve with Prime Rib, Holiday Turkey or this Glazed Ham Recipe. the Copycat Cracker Barrel Hashbrown Casserole is a great side and much easier to make than twice baked potatoes.
- Serve it with these fried chicken tenders - what a great combination!
- Delicious served with Ritz Cracker Chicken Casserole - you can use the cheesy gravy to top the potatoes, yum!
- It's super yummy for casual meals too - slow cooker pork chops, meatballs or steaks on the grill - YUM!!
Don't forget to check out my Amazon storefront for some of my favorite products! 🛍️
If you love this recipe please leave a ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ rating!
Cracker Barrel Cheesy Potatoes
Ingredients
- 30 oz. frozen hash brown potatoes thawed
- 2 cups cheddar cheese shredded
- 10.75 oz. condensed cream of chicken soup fat free is delicious!
- 1 cup sour cream low fat works here
- 1 cup yellow onion finely chopped
- 2 tablespoon melted butter
- 1 teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon ground black pepper
- optional garnish - green onions
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Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- Spray 9x13 inch pan with non-stick cooking spray or coat with butter.
- In a large bowl, combine all of the ingredients. Mix gently and pour into prepared pan.
- Bake in the preheated oven - no need to cover or top with foil. Bake until bubbly and brown, about 35 minutes.
- Serve and enjoy!!!
Becky
I was wondering if you could use Tater tots, thawed, and crumbled up instead of the shredded hashbrowns? Has anyone tried this? Thanks!
Bowl Me Over
Sure you could Becky! If you have an excess of tater tots, why not? Thaw the tater tots, there's no need to crumble them, they just might take a little longer to cook, say 5-10 minutes. Enjoy the recipe!
Rhonda
This is a very simple yet tasty recipe! Love it 😍
Bowl Me Over
Wonderful, I just love those cheesy potatoes!
Kathy
Question, can you substitute cream of cheese instead of cream of chicken?k
Bowl Me Over
I haven't tried that combination, but it sounds good and cheesy! I would add a few tablespoons of milk to make the cream cheese easily mixable with the remaining sauce ingredients. Enjoy the casserole Kathy!
Kathy
We had these potatoes for thanksgiving,I did substitute cheese soup instead of cream of chicken BIG hit! Everyone wants it for Christmas dinner as well
Nicole
We had a honey baked ham gift certificate to use, and I wanted to make easy sides that would travel to my Mother-in-Love’s house.
This was such an easy recipe and I already had everything but the shredded potatoes.
We had a beautiful lunch, and every single person after their first bite of potatoes said how delicious they were. Then, when it was time for seconds, so many people came back with only these potatoes on their plate. “I had to go back and just get a little more of these potatoes.” - in their most polite Texas drawl.
Two things I really appreciate about how this recipe is written:
1. You said “one cup of onion” , not “one medium onion” - I had two of the smallest onions ever, so the direct measurement helps a ton!
2. The tip about not pressing the casserole down into the baking dish…which was my first instinct. I caught myself doing it, but then remembered reading not to do that.
Wonderful! A new staple!
Bowl Me Over
I'm so glad you and your family enjoyed this recipe! That dinner sounds just amazing, what a great family gathering. Thank you so much for coming back to review the recipe!!
Lois
I made this for dinner this evening and it was just wonderful we really enjoyed them. So good.
Bowl Me Over
That's great - we really love this recipe too Lois, it freezes great as well!
Julie Menghini
Oh heavens, I made this dish last night and we couldn't get enough of it. It's just delicious
! Best of all it made enough for tonights dinner too! Thank you for a delicious potato recipe!
Bowl Me Over
You're so welcome Julie - I'm so glad you loved this dish too!!!