Cheesy and delicious Funeral potatoes (aka Cheesy potatoes, Party Potatoes). This simple casserole is a potato lovers dream. With cheesy, sour cream, butter, cream of chicken and Hash Browns, these potatoes are perfect for any meal or holiday.
These potatoes are the perfect side dish for large gatherings, parties, and holidays. If you like cheesy potatoes, you’ll probably like scalloped potatoes, or loaded mashed potatoes.
what are funeral potatoes?
There are certain side dishes that have to be made on Thanksgiving in our family. Some of those include my aunt’s super yummy Ham, my mom’s famous rolls, and several side dishes, including Funeral Potatoes (also known as Cheesy Potato Casserole, Party Potatoes, Cheesy Potatoes, etc.).
Yes, we do have classic Mashed Potatoes as well, but we always have at least two pans of Funeral Potatoes. Usually one has onions in it, and the other one does not (for us picky folk).
Why are they called Funeral Potatoes? Because this dish has become a staple at funeral luncheons. And since they are so yummy, they are great to have for the holidays with some of our other favorite sides including creamed corn, green bean casserole and homemade macaroni and cheese. We also like to make this all year long because they’re that good – and simple!
I’m not going to lie… I sometimes crave these more than the regular mashed potatoes, BUT having said that I usually have both on Thanksgiving, because I’m just a potato lover!! 😀
How to Make Funeral Potatoes
Once your cubed hash browns are thawed, rinsed and drained, you’ll set them aside and make your cream mixture. This is made by mixing the sour cream, cream of chicken soup and butter. Add salt, onion and cheese to this and mix well.
Combined hash browns with the sour cream mixture and stir until it’s well combined. Pour this into a greased 9×13 pan.
Place your corn flakes in a Ziploc bag with melted butter and mix and crush until well coated. Pour this over the potatoes and bake for 350 for 40 – 50 minutes.
funeral potato variations:
There are so many ways to change this up!
- Topping – We think corn flakes work the best, but you can also use Panko or even crushed Ritz crackers. Most kind of crackers will do, but Ritz works best if you are going that route.
- Potatoes – You can use shredded potatoes too – we have a similar recipe using them for Hashbrown Casserole.
- Crock Pot – We like this version in the oven, but we do have a Slow Cooker Cheesy Potatoes recipe we love!
Cheesy Potato FAQ
Can you make funeral potatoes ahead of time? Yes, you can! If you want to make these funeral potatoes ahead of time make them as the recipe says, but don’t add the cornflake topping or butter. When you’re ready to bake, thaw in the fridge overnight. Add the butter and cornflake topping and bake as directed!
Can you freeze funeral potatoes? You will also make this to the point where you pour the potatoes into the dish. Do not add the cornflakes and instead cover with foil and place in the freezer for up to 3 months. Let thaw in fridge overnight and then add the cornflakes before baking. We also recommend making them in a disposable dish pan if you are planning to freeze.
How to store/reheat funeral potatoes? We place the potatoes in an air-tight container and leave in the fridge for up to 3 days. To reheat, just place on a plate and reheat in the microwave until heated through.
How to make funeral potatoes for 50+ people? Funeral potatoes are a great dish to make for a crowd! If you want to make this recipe for 50 or more people – just triple the recipe or more. This recipe serves about 16 people. Make sure you have a few 9×13 pans lying around to bake all the potatoes in! Or better yet – buy large disposable pans to bake them in. 😉
If you’ve ever had these Cheesy Potatoes, then I’m sure you know just how yummy they really are. The best part is that you can add ingredients like bacon bits or even a few veggies to make them just how you’d like them. 🙂
What to Serve with Funeral Potatoes:
For more potato recipes, check out:
- Twice Baked Potato Casserole
- Sweet Potato Casserole recipe
- Favorite Mashed Potatoes
- Twice Baked Potatoes
- Cheesy Mashed Potato Casserole
- Ham And Potato Casserole
COLLECTIONS: Thanksgiving Sides
Funeral Potatoes Recipe
Ingredients
Instructions
- Place your potatoes in a colander. Let set until thawed and drained.
- Combine sour cream, soup and butter in a bowl. Mix it well. Add salt, onion and cheese to this mixture and mix until all combined.
- Add potatoes to mixture and stir until all combined. Place in 9x13 pan.
- Sprinkle on butter covered crushed Corn flakes.
- Bake uncovered at 350 for 40-50 minutes.
Love how easy and fast this recipe is! So so delicious!
thank you I have been searching for this recipe
This looks great – I’m going to make it for our family Christmas party. Question – has anyone modified this to be vegetarian? I think I have a few veg. family members – maybe cream of mushroom? If it’s not a good sub, I’ll just make ’em as is 🙂 Thanks for any help!
I have always used cream of chicken, but cream of mushroom could probably work too, as far as consistency goes. It’ll just have a slightly different flavor, but I imagine would still be yummy.
I used cream of onion soup to make it vegetarian friendly and it tasted good. The recipe was way too greasy for me though.
I never use the butter and they turn out great. Not greasy at all.
Hi Raelene,
Do you leave out the butter all together or just leave it out of the potato mixture part? I’m wondering if you add it to the corn flake part.
Thanks!
I prefer it with cream of mushroom. 🙂 The entire dish is really forgiving. Childhood memories in a casserole form.
I made these for a funeral and everyone loved them. I had never heard of funeral potatoes before I was assigned to make them. I knew I could always trust a lil’Luna recipe to be a hit!!
Aw, thank you!! So glad they were a hit!
Golden mushroom soup is a good substitute for the cream of chicken. It gives it a great golden color. Also Mayo can substitute for melted butter in recipe. Of course no melting the Mayo just throw it in.
Do these have to be completely thawed before cooking ? I’ve never had to thaw before baking.
I like to thaw before baking so that there isn’t extra water/no mushy potatoes after baking. I recommend doing it, but if you want to try without thawing, you’ll have to let us know how they turn out. 🙂
I have always let them sit our for about 15min so basically still frozen, they just take a lot longer to cook. Atleast an hour. I’m going to try this recipe, I have always combined everything in one bowl together so interested in trying it this way. I put a half cup of melted butter mixed in the another half drizzled over the cornflakes on top. It is amazing.
So easy and good! I have made it several times over the last couple years, and always get rave reviews, the best they’ve had, recipe requests ( all credit to Lil’ Luna), what did I do different than others…I have no idea!
Highly recommend as written. 5 stars from Iowa!
Could I bake these in a 250 degree oven since I will have meat cooking at a lower temp
Awesome recipe!!! This was a definite hit with my family!
Can I use regular frozen hashed browns? I can’t find the cubes.
I made these for a work potluck and rhey were a hit. I had to send the recipe in our work group chat because so many people requested it. Thank you!
You’re welcome!! I’m so glad to hear they were a hit!
Hi, I made these last year and they were amazing, so I am so excited to make them again this year. But for the life of me I can’t remember if I used salted or unsalted butter in the recipe, can anyone help me out??
Thank you!!
I always use salted.
I think you can do either. If you use unsalted, you can control the amount of salt the dish has by adding how much you like. But I use salted butter for this recipe a lot and it turns out yummy!! Hope the potatoes turned out delicious!
I made it with pepper jack cheese and jalapeños. It was delicious
Could you tell me what a serving size is (in ounces?)
Thank you!
Looks good. Please specify what size chicken soup can to use. There are two sizes.
It’s just the regular 10.5 oz can. Hope you enjoy the potatoes!
So glad you asked this! I was wondering the same thing!
Hey quick question, I see that this recipe is for 16 but a 9×13 pan would serve 8-10. Also, I saw that you are supposed to have 2 bags of potatoes for this recipe. I remember making this in one pan off of a different blog with only one bag of diced potatoes and it was very rich.
Yes, so this recipe fits in one 9×13 pan. We say 16 servings because typically it is served as a side dish. If you were having this as the main dish, it may only serve 8-10. And two bags of the 12 oz potatoes. If you get a larger bag (sometimes they come in 32 oz bags), you certainly wouldn’t need two. Hopefully that helps answer your question!
Great Recipe! I couldn’t remember exactly how my mom made these but this was extremely helpful. The only real difference is my mom always used minced onions instead of onion powder and we use shredded potatoes. Try them in a shallow baking pan if you like them crispy.. it’s like an edge piece everytime lol.
Glad this recipe could help you out!! Thanks for sharing what you did.
This is delish! Sometimes I add cubed ham and peas… Very versatile!
Mmmm I bet those additions are tasty! So glad you love the dish.
Love the flavor of this dish. The hash browns were not soft still had a little crunch to them which I didn’t care for. Should I have cooked longer. The dish was bubbly hot. Has anyone else complained about this issue.
I added bacon and green onions. A big hit.
Yummy! So glad you enjoy the potatoes!
I make it all the time with cream of mushroom soup. My daughter was allergic to chicken. She is now gluten and dairy free so I have made it for her with dairy free sour cream and butter and cheese. I get a gluten free soup online and I mix it with rice milk she said it is really good.
Thanks for sharing what you do, especially making them gluten and dairy free! I’m so glad that you enjoy the potatoes!