Those of you that know me personally, know that I love potatoes! I really love potatoes. Cracker Barrel's Hashbrown Casserole is no exception! It's one of my favorites. So much so, that I am sure to order it no matter what time of day we are there!
Since we're not real close to a Cracker Barrel, we don't have the opportunity to enjoy their menu as often as I would like. Last year, while chatting with my friend Lisa about our Christmas menus, we both decided we wanted to find a copycat recipe for Hashbrown Casserole.
As we both searched, we were getting a little discouraged. We kept finding recipes that used some "cream of" soup and we knew that just couldn't be right. Don't get me wrong, I love the convenience of adding those condensed soups to recipes. But that wasn't the flavor either of us were going for in our casseroles.
At the end of our search, we both emailed the recipe that I'm sharing with you today to each other. Great minds, right? (Sorry, I don't have the link to the original recipe.)
Hashbrown Casserole
Ingredients:
- 26 oz. bag country-style hashbrowns
- 2 cups Colby-Jack Cheese, shredded
- 1/4 cup onion, minced
- 1 cup milk
- 1/2 cup beef stock or canned broth
- 2 Tbs. butter, melted
- dash garlic powder
- 1 tsp. salt
- 1/4 tsp. pepper
- Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
- In a large bowl, combine hashbrowns, cheese, and onions.
- Combine, in a separate bowl, the milk, broth, 1/2 of the butter, garlic powder, salt and pepper. Mix well, then pour over the hashbrown/cheese mixture and mix well.
- Heat the remaining butter in a skillet.
- When the skillet is hot, spoon in the potato mixture.
- Cook hashbrowns, stirring occasionally, until heated through and all cheese is melted. (about 7 minutes)
- Transfer to a baking dish and put in the oven to bake for 45 minutes to an hour.
On Christmas morning, Joe and I made up two batches of the recipe only making one change. We used Colby-Jack Cheese instead of the suggested Colby Cheese, since that's what we were able to get our hands on. When we made a third batch a few days later, we again followed the recipe with our one simple change.
I'm really surprised that this hasn't been a part of our menu plan since the holidays. I'm including it in this week's menu plan and I'm sure we'll be serving this for our Christmas Brunch again this year!
I'm linking this post to the following blog carnivals and linky parties:
- Delicious Dishes
- Made From Scratch Tuesday
- Slightly Indulgent Tuesday
- Making a Home
- Tempt My Tummy Tuesday
- Tasty Tuesdays
- Let's Do Brunch
- Your Whims Wednesday
- What's Cooking Wednesday
- Miz Helen's Full Plate Thursday
- Ultimate Recipe Swap
- Turning the Table Thursday
I love hashbrown casserole but I don't like the "cream of" soups either. I'm going to try this with some ham leftovers next week, thanks!
ReplyDeleteThere is milk listed in the instructions but not in the ingredients?
ReplyDelete@Debbi, I don't mind the condensed soups, I use them for a few quick dinners and family favorites. I just knew that's not what I wanted for the hashbrowns, though.
ReplyDelete@Chef Becky, thanks for catching that. I typed this up super-late last night and must have just skipped the milk! I've fixed it! Thanks again!
I made this tonight--and I HATE to cook but sounded good and easy. Thank you so much--I loved it! I will make it many more times. The flavor is really yummy. Thanks so much for sharing!
ReplyDeleteI'd love to make this for a morning tailgate. However, seeing that it is morning I am wondering if I can cut a few corners. Do you think it would work if I simply mixed it all together and baked for 45 minutes? Or possbily put it in the crockpot on low overnight? It looks so good!
ReplyDelete@Shabby chic Sandy
ReplyDeleteI'm so happy you enjoyed it!
@Kristin
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure about converting it to the crock pot. If you do it, I'd love for you to come back and let us know how it turns out!
When I made this for brunch, we had a small portion leftover and it was still great re-heated! When I made it again, there was too much for just the two of us, so we ate it for several days....still yummy!
Your hash brown casserole sounds scrumptious! I like that it is made with a proper sauce instead of cream of something soup. Thank you for sharing it with Let's Do Brunch.
ReplyDeleteYour Casserole looks delicious, we would really enjoy it! Thank you so much for sharing your fabulous recipe with Full Plate Thursday. Hope you are having a great week end and please come back soon.
ReplyDeleteMiz Helen