What could be better than bubbling potatoes & cheese underneath
seasoned breadcrumbs? Also known as Funeral Potatoes, Christmas
Potatoes will steal the show at any holiday meal.
When I was a kid, I saw “Funeral Pat” on my mom’s grocery list. Pat is my grandmother’s name, so 9-year-old me got very distressed! Turns out that my mom had actually written “Funeral Pot,” which was short for funeral potatoes, but there was no actual funeral involved. (Although the phrase “Funeral Pot” raises some other questions.)
Funeral potatoes are a Western regional variation of a potato casserole. The name comes from how often it’s brought to funerals, but my mom prefers to call them “Christmas potatoes” because that’s less depressing and they’re just as welcome at a gathering with a decorated tree as they are at one with a casket. If you don’t like either of those names, you can claim the one my roommate used when she was trying to remember the dish: graveyard casserole. (I like that one, myself, but “Christmas” seemed more appropriate right now. It’s graveyard casserole in October.)
Whatever this dish is called, it’s spectacular. Frozen potatoes, sour cream, cream of chicken soup, and a lot of cheese mixed together, topped with breadcrumbs and baked is a pretty delicious combination.
To be honest, I am having a hard time thinking of a snappy way to describe Christmas Potatoes. It’s hard to explain the devotion people have for them or the feeling of contentment I feel when I crack the crispy, bacony breadcrumb surface to get to the still-bubbling cheese beneath. This isn’t something you eat in delicate slivers. Christmas Potatoes are scooped and spooned and slapped generously onto plates and nibbled at while you talk around the table after dinner. You can serve them with chicken or roast or whatever you want, but this will be the real star of the show. Take them to a family or church gathering if you have a nemesis you’d like to embarrass. Your dry, bland little potatoes have nothing on mine, Tracy!
You can easily make them vegetarian, too, which I’ve made a note of in the recipe. Just swap out the cream of chicken for cream of mushroom and ditch the bacon.
Not to brag, but every time I eat someone else’s Christmas Potatoes, I’m reminded that mine are superior. So really, I’m doing you a favor by posting these when I should keep the recipe to myself. You’re welcome.
Christmas Potatoes (Funeral potatoes)
time: ~1 hour (nearly all of it is oven time)
serves 8-10
ingredients
1 lb frozen shredded hash browns preferably thawed
1 can cream of chicken soup or cream of mushroom
1 ½ cups sour cream
8 tablespoons of butter, melted, divided
½ small yellow onion, diced*
1 tsp salt
3 cups extra sharp cheddar, divided
3 cups mozzarella and provolone blend, divided
6 strips bacon (preferably thick-cut) optional
1 cup panko
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tbsp Lawry’s seasoning salt
1 tbsp dried parsley
¼ tsp pepper
*If you use onion powder instead, proceed with caution. Please do not google “what is the equivalent of ½ onion in onion powder.” I have done it. You will have very oniony potatoes and a lot of regrets.
directions
- Make bacon. Cook bacon however you prefer to. I like to do it in the oven (on a parchment-lined baking sheet) for about 20 minutes at 400F. Drain & let cool while you’re doing the rest.
- Make potatoes. In a large mixing bowl, thoroughly combine the hash browns, soup, sour cream, 4 tablespoons of melted butter, onion, salt, and half of each cheese. The mixture should be wet to the touch but not soupy. If it seems too dry, add more sour cream, butter, or soup. Whichever one you’ve got on hand. If you don’t have any of those, some milk or cream would not go amiss. You’ll want to be sure to mix it well.
- Make breadcrumbs. Crumble the bacon. In a small bowl, combine panko with garlic powder, seasoning salt, and parsley. Mix with four tablespoons melted butter and bacon.
- Bake. Spoon potato mixture into an ungreased 9×13 pan and even it out. Top with one cup of each type of cheese and the breadcrumb and bacon mixture. Bake at 350 for 30-35 minutes, or until browned and bubbling.
I hope you love christmas potatoes as much as I do! If you’re looking for other tasty side dishes, try gruyere & crescent dough bites, guacamole, or bread with roasted garlic herb butter.
christmas potatoes
Ingredients
Method
- Cook bacon however you prefer to. I like to do it in the oven (on a foil-lined baking sheet) for about 20 minutes at 400F. Drain & let cool while you’re doing the rest.
- In a large mixing bowl, combine the hash browns, soup, sour cream, 4 tablespoons of melted butter, onion, salt, and half the cheeses until thoroughly combined. The mixture should be wet to the touch but not soupy. If it seems too dry, add more sour cream, butter, or soup. Whichever one you’ve got on hand. If you don’t have any of those, some milk or cream would not go amiss.
- Crumble the bacon. In a small bowl, combine panko with garlic powder, seasoning salt, and parsley. Mix with 4 tablespoons melted butter and bacon.
- Spoon potato mixture into an ungreased 9×13 pan and even it out. Top with one cup of each type of cheese and the breadcrumb and bacon mixture. Bake at 350 for 30-35 minutes, or until browned and bubbling.
Looked like you had saffron in it. We use saffron a lot here in sweden during Christmas, but mostly for baking and other sweets 🙂
It does look like saffron, doesn’t it? It’s just the art filter I use, though! I’m not sure how I’d feel about saffron and cheese!