Hash Brown Casserole

This has been my kids favourite holiday dish for 25 years, after I got the recipe from my mother in law. I recently discovered omitting the salt and onions and adding a package of dry onion soup mix makes this even better. We’re vegetarian so we use cans of mushroom soup instead of the chicken. The beauty of the dish is how quickly it comes together, so while the homemade canned soup sounds interesting, I think I’ll stick with the canned. It’s a once a year thing.

I grew up eating (and loving) this with baked ham every Christmas. I made this recipe last weekend to see if it was just as good. Reader, IT IS. And I may have eaten 1/3 of it by myself.

I've made this, but use canned cheddar soup instead of cream of chicken, plus the sour cream and copious amounts of cheddar cheese, sometimes adding ham. Everyone always loves it, and you can top it with anything. One time I used crushed sour cream chips. I will say it usually takes about 1 1/2 to 2 hours to get it where I like it.

Frozen hash browns get a bad rep. I had the best, I mean The Best potato latkes at Fox's deli in Rochester, NY and when my SIL and I asked for the recipe, the long time owners told us they start with frozen hash browns. We tweaked it a bit and now they are the basis for our Chanukah staple. Don't knock it til you try it.

I use either canned cream of potato or cheddar cheese soup and cut down drastically on the butter and sour cream and cheese. (And believe me when I tell you I am not “that person”!) But even for me, 11 tablespoons of butter is a bridge too far, even when a lot of it is used making the soup. I use a cup of sour cream and one 8-oz package of shredded sharp cheddar. And always the cornflake topping! It’s still absolutely delicious - just not as over the top and gloppy.

I ALWAYS make these hash brown recipes with Idahoan dehydrated hash browns. Boil water, pour into the 8 oz milk carton the dehydrated spuds come in and let set for 8-10 minutes. Pour into a large mixing bowl and add all the other ingredients. These dehydrated spuds beat the frozen ones hands down. They take up less space and can be used when camping and cooked in a 3 legged Dutch oven. You can find them ( the dehydrated spud) at Costco and probably at Albertsons, or in any grocer with bulk buns.

Where is the bacon?

Never feel guilty about taking kitchen shortcuts. Some people get a little full of themselves by what they consider homemade or from scratch, like--gasp--subbing frozen hashbrowns for raw potatoes. My comeback is that these "purists" aren't digging up potatoes in their garden, churning butter, or making their own cheese. Especially if you have a hectic life or health issues, be proud of yourself for getting a home-cooked meal on the table, no matter how many shortcuts it took.

This has been a family favorite for years. The only variation is we top it with crunchy fried onion rings - store bought.

Canned soup works fine, but frozen hash browns? No, thank you. Gently boil about 6 russet potatoes until barely done. Shred after peeling or don’t peel and shred anyway. Sharp cheddar works well. This holiday dish has been known to appear in summer when a family member returns home for a visit. Great with grilled flank steak!

Very easy and pretty good for what I thought was going to be a fairly trashy dish. Obviously you could swap out the cheddar for a different cheese and get a totally different dish— say Gruyère and less sour cream. Great steakhouse-style side dish.

A version of this dish, with the addition of a pound of bulk sausage, is my family’s Christmas breakfast. Here in the deep South, grocery stores run short on frozen hash browns early in the season. We’ve discovered that frozen Tater Tots work just fine.

I make this dish from memory as the recipe got lost. We know it as heavenly potatoes and it is a stape to our holiday meals. I use boiled potatoes that are cooled and grated. Frozen hash browns work but not the same result.

I grew up eating a version of this dish. We called it 'Texas Casserole'. There was no parmesan or extra seasonings, but my mom would make it with a can of Campbell's cream of chicken soup, frozen hash browns, sour cream, cheddar, chopped white onion, and a buttery cornflake topping. I always enjoyed the bits of undercooked onion throughout the dish, and obviously we all fought over the crispy edges. Although we seldom ate processed foods growing up, this was always a favourite.

I dislike the bland sameness of color in this casserole, so I add the chopped greens from a large bunch of scallions to the potatoes before baking, and sprinkle chopped chives over the top before serving. The onions add a nice sharp bite & an oomph of extra flavor. I've also added diced ham on occasion to turn this into a dinner casserole & serve with a salad for a complete meal.