Crock Pot Hash Brown Casserole

JUMP TO RECIPE

Crock Pot Hash Brown Casserole is cheesy, comforting, and incredibly easy to make. It’s creamy and perfect as a side dish!

A DUMP AND GO CASSEROLE

This Crock Pot Hash Brown Casserole is the ultimate set-it-and-forget-it comforting side dish. It’s rich, creamy, and loaded with melted cheese. With simple ingredients and hardly any prep, this family friendly side dish is one you’ll be whipping out any time you’ve got a main dish that needs a simple yet super satisfying side kick. Add some ground beef or chicken and make it a whole meal!

A serving utensil getting a big scoop of Hash Brown Casserole from the Slow Cooker.

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS:

Can I make this casserole in the oven instead?

You certainly can. I would probably brown the hash browns a bit before I tossed it all in a baking dish and into the oven, but it is not absolutely necessary.
You can absolutely bake this Hash Brown Casserole instead of using a Crock Pot! Just follow these simple steps:
Preheat the oven to 350°F. Prepare the casserole mixture, mix together the melted butter, sour cream, cream of chicken soup, seasonings, thawed hash browns, and 2 cups of the shredded Colby Jack cheese.
Spread the mixture evenly into a greased 9×13-inch baking dish.
Top with the remaining cheese.
Bake uncovered for 45-55 minutes, or until the potatoes are tender and the casserole is bubbling around the edges.
If you want a slightly browned top, broil for 1-2 minutes at the end (watch closely!).
Optional: Sprinkle dried parsley on top before serving.
Tip: If baking straight from a cold fridge (such as after prepping the night before), add an extra 10-15 minutes to the bake time.

What to serve this casserole with?

This Crock Pot Hash Brown Casserole is a great side dish to serve with any of your favorite mains, like Pork Chops, Salisbury Steak, Fried Chicken, etc. Additionally, this is a great recipe to serve as a side for breakfast dishes likes scrambled eggs and sausage too. You could even add cooked breakfast sausage to this to make it an all-in-one meal!

Can I make this the night before?

Yes, this is a great casserole to prep the night before. You may need to add a little on to the cooking time since you’re starting it from cold.

What else can I add to this casserole?

You can add diced bell peppers, crumbled bacon, sausage, or ham to the casserole.

What is the best way to keep leftover Hash Brown Casserole?

Keep the leftovers in the fridge, in an airtight container, for up to 3 days.

A serving utensil getting a scoop from a Crock Pot Hash Brown Casserole.

INGREDIENTS NEEDED: (SEE RECIPE CARD BELOW FOR THE FULL RECIPE)

salted butter– you can use unsalted butter if that’s all you have or you are worried about sodium intake.
sour cream– if you aren’t a fan of sour cream, don’t worry, you don’t really taste this as its own ingredient, it just adds a creamy factor. My husband hates sour cream but has no idea it’s even in here. If you really needed to swap it out, you could try some plain Greek yogurt or some creme fraiche. Maybe mayonnaise? I haven’t tried that though.
cream of chicken soup– grab a can of your favorite cream of chicken soup, or if you don’t like to use the canned stuff, make some Homemade Cream of Chicken Soup. You could swap it out for Cream of Mushroom Soup, cream of cheddar soup, or any other cream of something soup that you enjoy.
onion powder – feel free to play with the seasonings here. If you want, try adding about a teaspoon of garlic powder as well.
dried minced onion – these are those small bits of dried onion flakes. If you don’t have this, just skip it.
shredded Colby Jack cheese– I used Colby Jack, but you could use a blend or a mix of Colby Jack/Cheddar, Colby Jack/Mozzarella, Mozzarella/Monterey Jack or any pre-shredded cheese blend.
shredded frozen hash browns– thawed. You can shred your own hash browns if you want to. You’ll need to squeeze as much of the liquid out of the potatoes as you possibly can when you use them for this casserole so you don’t end up with watery, messy casserole. Additionally, you can use thawed, frozen cubed potatoes instead of hash browns.

Shredded hashbrowns, melted butter, sour cream, cream of chicken soup, onion powder, dried minced onion, kosher salt, ground pepper, shredded Colby Jack cheese, and dried parsley.

HOW TO MAKE CROCK POT HASH BROWN CASSEROLE

The night before, place the hashbrowns in the fridge. You can also defrost them in the microwave. Place them in a bowl and cook in 30-second increments and stir after each interval until mostly defrosted. Or just leave them out on the counter for about 45 minutes before you make it. It’s ok if they are still a little cool, just not frozen. Pour the melted butter into the bottom of a 4-6 quart oval crock pot. Add in the sour cream, cream of chicken soup, and dried seasoning to the crock pot. Mix to combine all ingredients.

Melted butter and cheese sauce ingredients in a Slow Cooker.

Add in the thawed hashbrowns and 2 cups shredded cheese. Mix so all the ingredients are well blended. Spread out evenly. Note: If you prefer, you can mix all the ingredients (butter, sour cream, cream of chicken soup, thawed hash browns, seasoning and cheese) in a bowl then transfer to the crock pot.

Sprinkle the remaining cup of shredded cheese on top. Close the lid and cook on low for 4-5 hours or high for 2-3 hours or until the potatoes are nice and tender. Optional: sprinkle dried parsley on top.