Funeral Potatoes
Funeral Potatoes are a creamy, cheesy potato casserole recipe topped with buttery crunchy cornflakes. Some people call this casserole side gooey potatoes or party potatoes.
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FUNERAL POTATOES
Everyone has a recipe for gooey potatoes but this is my favorite version. My friends the Clarks introduced me to them. Whether it’s Christmas dinner, Easter, or a summertime barbecue, you can be assured that these cheesy potatoes will be on our dinner table at family gatherings at holiday dinners.
I feel like mashed potatoes and gravy are reserved for Thanksgiving. If you are looking for an alternative to that, this is always a popular dish with great flavor.
WHY ARE THEY CALLED FUNERAL POTATOES?
This recipe is known as funeral potatoes because it’s traditionally served at funeral dinners. It’s a great dish for that occasion because of its ease and ability to serve a crowd. It’s the ultimate comfort food and suitable for funeral luncheons and special occasions.
INGREDIENTS
- HASHBROWNS – every funeral potatoes recipe has hash browns in them. Usually I use a bag of frozen potatoes but you could use fresh real potatoes. I prefer shredded hash browns here but you can use diced hash browns as well.
- CREAM OF CHICKEN SOUP – cream of mushroom soup can be substituted.
- MELTED BUTTER – nothing is better than buttery corn flakes. Melt butter and mix it with cornflakes to make these super crunchy!
- CORN FLAKES – these give this casserole its great crunchy topping. Some people even use potato chips.
- GREEN ONIONS
- SHARP CHEDDAR CHEESE – lots of cheese makes this super gooey.
- SOUR CREAM
HOW TO MAKE FUNERAL POTATOES
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- Mix sour cream, cheddar cheese, cream of chicken soup, melted butter, and green onions in a large bowl.
- Add the hash browns and mix together thoroughly.
- Crush corn flakes lightly in a ziploc bag. Stir together the corn flakes and butter. Reserve for later.
- Pour potatoes into a 9×13 casserole dish. Cover with aluminum foil and bake potatoes at 350 degrees for 40-50 minutes.
- Sprinkle top with cornflake topping and bake an additional 15 minutes until potatoes are bubbling and top of the potatoes has browned.
CAN I MAKE FUNERAL POTATOES FROM SCRATCH?
Sure! Just replace the frozen hash browns with fresh grated potatoes.
CAN YOU FREEZE FUNERAL POTATOES?
- Yes, you can freeze funeral potatoes. Simple freeze them without the corn flake topping.
- When ready to use, thaw in the fridge overnight and bake with the corn flake topping.
OTHER POTATO RECIPES:
- Ultimate Twice Baked Potatoes
- Instant Pot Mashed Potatoes
- Confetti Bacon Hash Brown Casserole
- Jalapeno Popper Mashed Potatoes
- Loaded Mashed Potatoes
- Ruth’s Chris Sweet Potato Casserole
- Scalloped Potatoes
- Italian Mashed Potatoes
- Creamy Potato Soup
Funeral Potatoes
Ingredients
- 1 (2 lb) bag of frozen cubed or shredded hash browns, thawed
- 2 cups sour cream
- 2 cups shredded sharp cheese
- 1 (10.5 ounce) can cream of chicken soup, (see note)
- 1/2 cup butter, melted
- (optional) Small bunch of green onions, sliced
TOPPING:
- 2-3 cups Corn flakes
- 1/4 cup butter, melted
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- In a large bowl, add the hash browns, sour cream, cheddar cheese, cream of chicken soup, melted butter and green onions (if using). Mix together well.
- For the Topping: Crush corn flakes lightly in a ziploc bag. Mix corn flakes and butter together. Reserve for later for topping.
- Pour potatoes into a 9x13 baking dish. Cover and bake potatoes at 350 degrees for 50-60 minutes. Cover top of casserole with corn flake mixture and bake an additional 15 minutes until potatoes are bubbling and top has browned. Adjust bake time as needed so that the potatoes are tender. There's nothing worse than crunchy potatoes.
Video
Notes
Food is love. I’m so hungry…
Thank you sweet heart 🍪
Thank you!
Hello! Can you use this with elbow MACARONI instead? I’m looking for a really good macaroni and cheese recipe, and I LOVE these potatoes, so I thought maybe use this recipe for Mac n Cheese?
What do you think? 🙂
Could work but I haven’t tried it.
I’m a little confused. Do you thaw the frozen shredded potatoes first?
Yes you thaw them
Question: The recipe calls for 1/2 c melted butter in the potato mixture. I didn’t see any butter added to the potato mixture in the video, just in the cornflakes. Is it necessary to add 1/2 c butter to the potato mixture? Also, it doesn’t specify, but how much cheese do you add to the cornflakes and butter mixture? Thanks 😊
It looks as though you have a type o in your recipe. It reads add corn flakes and cheese mixture. The first time I made the potatoes I had to re read thinking I was missing something. 😆
The potatoes turned out just okay. I used shredded potatoes and it was all very mushy. Next batch I made, I cubed my own Yukon gold potatoes, skins on, which probably made it a 10 minute recipe instead of your 5, Still a super quick potatoe dish to make and even make ahead the night before. Great flavors and texture. I have made a few of your recipes and they are all good, thanks for sharing.
Sandi,
I’m sorry. I’m not sure what you are referring to? I’m not seeing it
How many servings do you get from one batch?
12 servings. Servings are on the top left of the recipe card
Do you have to use frozen potatoes or can you cut your own.
You can cut your own
Make these with shredded hashbrowns and I use green peppers instead of green onions
Do you keep them covered after you put in the cornflake mixture?
No I like to uncover them.
I’m an idiot. The bag says 1 lb 14 oz… so it’s almond 2 lbs.
No worries. Glad you figured it out.
I don’t understand this recipe. I just sent my husband to the grocery store to get another ONE POUND bag of hash browns because I misread the ingredients. It said one TWO POUND bag. But when I added the first bag to my large bowl, there isn’t possibly enough room for a second bag. And you couldn’t fit two pounds in a 9×13 baking dish! So did I just add too much sour cream, soup and cheese to my one pound bag of hash browns??? Hopefully this works out. Disappointed because the recipe makes no sense.
Made these for a potluck with my roommates and neighbors. Super good but did find them lacking a bit in seasoning/were kind of bland, but we left out the green onions so may have been that!
Yes, the onions definitely add a lot.
Can these potatoes be made the day before and not bake them till next day
Yes, absolutely!
I’m looking to make these but I want to do them in a crock pot. Do you have any suggestions for changing it to work well in the crock pot?
You can make them in the crockpot but the topping won’t be crispy.
I baked my casserole in the crock in the oven. I used the crockpot to reheat them at work for a potluck. They were a success, not a crumb left.
Hello! If the potatoes are thawed does it make a difference in baking time? Also can you make the potatoes according to the package and then add them to the other ingredients? If so how long would you bake the casserole? Thank you in advance.
YEs, they will cook faster if the potatoes are thawed. You could make them ahead of them if you wanted.I would just bake until bubbly around 20 minutes.
Just made these and they’re amazing! To make it vegetarian friendly I used cream of potato soup. Added extra onions and a little extra cheese. I love the crunch of the cornflakes so in hindsight I would have added more but they’re pretty much perfect!
So happy you liked them!
Clearly funeral potatoes cuz you’d only serve it to a dead bitch.
That was very rude. Disrespectful. These are delicious.
Perhaps it was the cook dear. I made recipe exactly as written and it’s delicious. Was a crowd pleaser at our neighborhood potluck. This is the BEST funeral potatoes recipe I’ve tried. Thank you TGWAE for sharing the Clark’s recipe with us.
One of my coworkers requested I make this recipe again for Thanksgiving because she loved it so much!
Awesome to hear!
I add chopped green chili to this recipe. Delicious!
I grew up calling these Church potatoes. I heard someone call them funeral potatoes in college and didn’t realize they were the same thing at first. We used to top them with corn flakes or potato chip, but a caterer topped them with Cheese Nips crackers and now we always do that. You can’t go wrong with a bit or extra cheesiness!
I like church potatoes much butter as the name!
Looks perfect (and easy) for all of the upcoming holiday potlucks. I don’t think I can call them funeral potatoes though!
I don’t blame you.
One of my family’s favorites! However, we make one small change—crushed potato chips instead of cornflakes! You should try it!
Ooh yum!
My husband makes, but adds celery and uses crushed Ritz crackers. Delicious!
Yum!
For some reason here in the Midwest, these are called Sorority potatoes and I have been making them for years for family gatherings. We make them with a large container of french onion dip instead of the sour cream and it adds plenty of flavor without adding extra onions or flavoring. We have also always used crushed saltines for the topping but I think I will try with potato chips this week since I am now eating gluten free and am not a big fan of corn flakes.
How funny? So many names for one little dish!
OH, Yummy – these are my fav!!
Thanks!
Hi Christy! Are these ok to make the night before and then bake the next day? Thank you!
Yes, absolutely!
We call them sinful potatoes..😈
That’s a good name!
Instead of frozen potatoes, could you use fresh ones such as red skin or fingerling?
Oh yes. For sure David.
DO YOU USE SIMPLY POTATOES (FRESH) OR FROZEN (THAWED i.e., house brand or Orida ?
I use frozen but you could use either.
I am tired of wanting to print a recipe that requires 7 sheets of paper. I would like to see this site improved.
Go to print or file on your computer and go to print preview. When you get to the recipe, select current page only and you should be able to print recipe only.
Thanks David for the help!
I’m a vegetarian so I use either cream of celery or cream of mushroom soup
It would be nice if I could get the recipe to print
Hi Christy! Love this recipe, any ideas on how to make it vegetarian? What soup would you replace the cream of chicken with? I have vegetarian guests quite often. Thanks!
You could use cream of celery or mushroom. Totally would work.
We know this as “famous potatoes”. My sister makes it with velvetta rather than sharp cheddar. I prefer the sharp cheddar myself, but we don’t put the cheese on the top we use the corn flakes.
We layer the potatoes then add the mixture to the top. Shredded potatoes cook faster.
This didn’t turn out great for me, I put into one 13×9 dish and it took over an hour to cook, with the potatoes still under cooked! The recipe doesn’t say the dish sized you used, in the picture looks really small, but the quantity the ingredients in the recipe made was way too much for that small dish. I would have halved the recipe and used a much smaller cooking dish next time. I can tell it would be yummy!
I’m sorry it didn’t work out for you! I’ve been making it in a 9×13 for years and it’s definitely very full but it still works. Sorry!
I let the frozen potatoes thaw in frig before mixing casserole. Helps with stirring and cooking time
Probably because the way the recipe is typed looks deceiving. It looks like it says 12 (Twelve) pounds of potatoes when in fact it is ONE 2 lb bag of potatoes.
I transferred my recipes to another plugin and it looks like the formatting was off. Sorry!
ONG OK!! I was losing it, thinking 36cups of taters!? 🤣
I used Simply Potatoes Southwest hash browns and sautéd them first so they were partially cooked. I have also used the Simply Potatoes cubes with onion and did the same thing.
my next recpie
I use obrien potatoes, with onions and peppers instead of shredded potatoes. Extra ingredients give it a great taste.
This is going with me to the next potluck dinner. How can you go wrong and it is so easy!
Cheesy potatoes, in my book.
We call these Funeral Potatoes or Party Potatoes! Requested quite often.
This recipe is an OrIda Hashbrown classic. My Mom has made this a lot. Its a family favorite
This is an amazing recipe, I love to cook this because is really easy and simple, and of course delicious, thanks for sharing
We know them as “Hashbrown Casserole”.
Gooey Potatoes are so delicious, these food is spectacular, I have eaten it many times in my life, in my opinion the real thing is that we need some good potatoes to cooked the recipe!22dd
I is a great recipe, and I also use French’s Fried Onions instead of the cornflakes. That gives it that little bit of extra something.
This looks great to make. A very nice mashed potatoes variation. Thanks for the inspiration.
I love this casserole so much! Used to make it all the time, but forgot about it.
Nothing like killing yourself with potatoes and sour cream, and cheese…don’t forget the cheese!
I make this into 2 casseroles and freeze one.Also I use it for a main course.