Hash Brown Casserole With a Cornflake Crust and Bacon on Top

It is 8:05 on a Sunday morning, eight people are coming at ten, and the oven is already warm. This hash brown casserole is shredded potato, cheddar, sour cream and cream of chicken soup baked for 45 to 50 minutes until the top turns the colour of a good sunset, and then scattered with bacon. It has no interest in your diet, and it knows you came back for seconds anyway.

One bowl, one dish, and a cornflake lid that crunches.

The dish is a stir-and-bake: one big bowl, one 9x13 baking dish, and a crunchy cornflake lid for the top. Bake it uncovered at 350F for 45 to 50 minutes, fry the bacon while it goes, and rest the whole pan for 5 minutes before anyone touches it. Serves 8, and it comes with eggs on the side, so brunch is handled in one oven and one skillet. Bring it to a potluck and someone will ask for the recipe. You decide whether to tell them how easy it was.

How to make it

1. Preheat the oven to 350F and grease a 9x13 inch baking dish with some of the 0.25 cup melted butter.
2. In a large bowl combine the 30 oz bag frozen hash browns, 10.5 oz can cream of chicken soup, 1 cup sour cream, remaining melted butter, 1 tsp onion powder, salt, and black pepper.
3. Stir in 1.5 cups of the 2 cups shredded cheddar, then spread the mixture evenly in the prepared dish.
4. Sprinkle the remaining 0.5 cups shredded cheddar over the top.
5. Crush the 1 cup cornflakes, toss with a little melted butter if desired, and scatter over the cheese.
6. Bake uncovered for 45 to 50 minutes until bubbly around the edges and golden on top.
7. Cook the 8 strips bacon in a skillet until crisp, then crumble and scatter over the casserole before serving.
8. Let the casserole rest 5 minutes, then serve with the 8 eggs cooked as desired.

Notes

Cooked leftovers keep three to four days refrigerated, per USDA FSIS. Cut the remaining casserole into squares so it reheats evenly, and warm it in the oven rather than the microwave if you want the top to stay crisp.

Hash brown casserole is good on day two, firm enough to cut into clean squares and just as cheesy. Reheated bacon does not stay crisp, so keep the strips separate and add them again right before serving.

It can be frozen in squares, though the creamy sauce may loosen as it thaws. Thaw it overnight in the fridge and reheat in the oven until hot through.

The method starts with greasing the 9x13 dish with some of the melted quarter cup of butter, and that butter is spoken for three times: the dish, the mix and the cornflakes. Melt it once, brush the dish first, then stir what is left through the hash browns and toss a little more with the crushed cornflakes if you like.

Use a 30 oz bag of frozen hash browns, and go straight from the bag into the bowl with the soup, sour cream, butter, onion powder, salt and black pepper. Stir it well, because the point is that every shred ends up coated in the creamy mix.

Hold back 0.5 cup of the cheddar for the top. The other 1.5 cups go through the mix. That split matters: some cheese inside makes it rich, and the cheese on top is what browns and blisters into the crust.

Crush 1 cup of cornflakes with your hand in a bowl, but not to dust. The big pieces give you the crunch. They go on last, over the cheese, and bake with the rest.

A casserole this rich has no interest in your diet, and it will not text tomorrow to ask how you feel about it. The agent, meanwhile, will happily put a second bag of hash browns in next week's cart.

Cook the 8 strips of bacon in a skillet until crisp while the casserole bakes, then crumble them over the top once it is out. They go on after baking so they stay crisp.

Swaps that actually work

The cheddar is the point of a hash brown casserole. A sharp cheddar gives the crust its flavour. Shred it from a block if you can, since it can melt more smoothly than the pre-shredded kind, and leave it as the main cheese.

Cream of chicken soup can become cream of mushroom or cream of celery if that is what the cupboard holds. The flavour shifts a little, but the job, which is holding the potatoes together, stays the same.

Sour cream can be plain Greek yogurt. The mix will be a bit tangier and slightly looser, so bake toward the longer end of the time.

Cornflakes can become crushed crackers or crispy fried onions. Use something that will brown rather than soften, and add it at the end as the method does.

Bacon is optional if you need a vegetarian dish, though the soup in the mix is made with chicken. Skip the bacon, and add chives or sliced scallions on top for something green.

The swap that costs you the dish is skipping the crust. Without the cheese on top and the cornflakes, you have a perfectly good bowl of creamy potatoes with no reason for anyone to hover near the oven.

If it goes wrong

The middle is loose or soupy. It came out too early, or the dish was too full. Bake it another 10 minutes until it bubbles around the edges, then give it the full 5-minute rest. It firms up as it sits.

The top is dark before the middle is done. Your oven runs hot or the dish sits too close to the heat. Tent it with foil for the last part of the bake and keep going until the edges bubble.

It is greasy. The cheddar and butter have separated a little. Blot the top gently with a paper towel before you serve, and drain the bacon on paper towels instead of crumbling it straight from the skillet.

It tastes flat. The soup and cheese carry plenty of salt, so the missing flavour is usually pepper and onion. Finish with fresh black pepper, and salt the eggs and bacon separately so the plate comes together.

What to serve with it

The default for hash brown casserole is what the recipe asks for: the 8 eggs, cooked however each person likes them. Fried with a runny yolk is hard to beat next to something this creamy.

The better version of the default is fruit, a bowl of something cold and sharp like berries or sliced oranges. It resets your palate between bites.

The thing in the fridge that lifts it is hot sauce, or chopped chives, or a spoon of salsa. Any of them will cut through the richness.

It works as lunch the next day, and on a cold afternoon it makes a very respectable dinner with a green salad next to it.

Why this one earns its place

A hash brown casserole that feeds 8 with five minutes of prep is how you host without looking like you are hosting. You mix, you bake, you put your feet up.

It is also forgiving, which is why it has a place when you are cooking for people you want to impress. Swipe it into your week and the agent shops the hash browns, soup and cheddar in one pass. If you are chasing the restaurant version, homemade Cracker Barrel hashbrown casserole is the same family, biscuits and gravy is the natural companion, and firecracker bacon egg breakfast pizza is the other brunch swipe.

More like this: all American recipes in Crave Corner.