Delicious Hash Brown Bake
This recipe is a great quick and easy way to use leftovers! You can add fried sausage, crumbled bacon or diced ham to this recipe and use it for breakfast. If you have leftover hamburger, toss it or some veggies in for dinner.
Years ago, one of the mainstays of people’s diets was hash, which is all the leftovers from the previous day thrown together with some finely diced or grated potatoes and fried in a pan. I wonder if that is why they are called “hash” browns because it was what everyone used for hash?
-Jill
Hash Brown Bake
2 lbs. frozen hash browns (slightly thawed)
1/2 cup melted butter
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. pepper
1/2 cup chopped onion
1 can cream of chicken or celery soup
8 oz. sour cream
2 cups shredded Cheddar cheese
3/4 cup crushed potato chips
Combine all except 1/2 cup cheese and potato chips. Place in a 9×13 baking dish. Cover with remaining cheese and potato chips. Bake for 1 1/4 hours at 350°.
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photo by: lindstorm
TheNormalMiddle
My recipe is almost identical, except I use frosted flakes on the top instead of chips. This makes it especially good for breakfast/brunch because it adds a sweeter taste but still the good crunch topping.
JeannaMO
I make this recipe as well but I have substituted the sour cream with homemade yogurt. I don’t always have the whole 2 cups of grated cheese, but it turns out delicious every time! My very, very picky husband who would NEVER eat any kind of yogurt, never knows its in here! Just a little money saver if you already make yogurt or have plain yogurt at home.
Bea
This recipe looks yummy. It would be a good recipe for Lent or Fridays. I am Catholic and those are meatless times, so this recipe would work out nicely.
Jill
Bea you might be sure and check out next weeks Thursday newsletter. I have a good and easy veggie soup menu I am posting you might like. I don’t live veggie soup but this one sounds good even to me. :)
Bea
I will look forward to that soup, Jill. I’m starting to look for recipes for this upcoming Lent. So thanks
rose
me too jill .. i am also looking forward to the soup recipe ..
and this one looks delish! .. :D
thanks for posting this :D
Alicia Webster
Yum, yum, yum…lordy loo, that hash brown bake sure looks tasty!! It is next on my list for sure–
grandma
Bea, I always heard that for Catholics it was fish on Friday. You say meatless.
Has that fish rule changed?
I was raised united and always wanted to be Catholic only after I heard they had to eat fish on Friday.
So just curious.
Jill
Grandma I’m not sure because I’m not Catholic but I think it is you aren’t allowed to eat meat but what many Catholics did was substitute fish in place of their meat that day.
Judy in Maine
This is a fantastic recipe. Someone brought it to our house for a pot luck meal about 5 years ago and its been a favorite ever since. I serve it with a salad and a nice bread for a tasty meal. My vegetarian daughter-in-law loved it. I must admit we all sometimes call it “Naughty Casserole” because of all the butter, sour cream, and cheese. It is so good.
Mari
This sounds like real good “comfort food” for the winter season….I might just have a go at this tomorrow, for a kind of Sunday brunch! :)
Mari
Just noticing the time on your website – it’s round about lunchtime for you, whereas over here in England it’s a very dark, dismal and rainy 6.30pm!
Jill
Ok Mari now I’m creeped out. As I was answering your other post I thought I’m going to ask Mari what time it is there out of curiosity. I clicked the refresh button and couldn’t believe what I read. It was like you were reading my mind. Too creepy.
Mari
WHOOOO how spooky!!!! Great minds think alike, they say…LOL! xx
Jill
I just e mailed you before I saw this and guess what quote I used. Ya great minds think alike.:)
Mari
Sounds like we must be on the same wavelength Jill!!!
I don’t suppose you have any crockpot tips – the only reason being, whenever I make anything in mine it tastes really overdone, like it’s been cooking way too long…I do put it on the low setting, and I’ve even tried putting one of those timers on my plug socket, so it starts cooking later, but it still has this same overdone taste.
Reading this hash brown recipe has jogged my memory, because I remember trying a crockpot hash brown recipe a while back!
Jill
Mari it may be your crock pot. I have known many people who had had that problem and there are some crock pots which just cook too hot even on it’s low setting which causes things to taste and be over done.
I use my crock pot and like to do things in it but some one mentioned the other day and I have noticed it myself as good as things are in a crock pot slow cooking in the oven just tastes better. The low temp on most crock pots is about the same as 250 degrees in an oven and the high is 350 degrees so I just cook my stuff in the oven at those temps and get the same results.I especially like to use my oven this time of year because it really does warm up my kitchen now in the summer it is different of course.
Bea
Jill, You answered Grandma’s question correctly. Fridays are meatless, except for fish. I like to eat meals beside just fish on Fridays, so I look for other kinds of meatless meals. Lent is suppose to be mostly meatless too. Not all people follow that rule though. Just like in any denomination people do what the world does and don’t think anything about it. They don’t like sacrifice or self-discipline so the excuses come out.
Jill
So this old Baptist would make a good Catholic huh Bea. :) :) :)???
Mari
Aha – so other people have the same problem with their crockpots then? I didn’t know that, I thought it was something I’d done, like put too little liquid in, or too much seasoning, the list goes on…yes I think you’re right about that Jill…I don’t really use ready made sauces, but they were on offer a few months back and I thought, they’ll be good for my new crockpot, so I bought about 12 of them. The first day I set the thing going on low before I left for work, and when I got home I eagerly tried the meal, and it tasted “plasticky” and overcooked. OK, I thought, I’ll try another flavour sauce tomorrow, so I did…as soon as I came in the door I could smell that same plasticky smell (although it was a totally different recipe!!) and after one mouthful I threw it all away. My friend Audrey says that the meat cooked in it seems to have all the goodness cooked out of it – although it’s tender, there’s no substance to it. So I’ve been a bit disappointed with the results to say the least. I’ve never tried it on “hot” so I dread to think of the results!! What a good idea, to use the oven on low and leave it on all day! I’ve got plenty of lidded oven dishes I can use. I do agree that food cooked slowly in the oven is so much tastier than something whipped up in a shorter time, and of course you get the benefit of the heat in your kitchen, as you say! :)
Jill
I’m glad you thought to mention of that but yes don’t forget when you do slow cooking in the oven to cover things because other wise you will end up with beef jerky!
Bea
Yes you would Jill. You have many of the self-sacrificing and discipling habits of the Saints. I think St. Francis would love you. He is one of my favorite Saints. Some mastery of the body and it’s excess wants is a good thing. Fasting and abstinence at certain times help us focus on God. St. Francis loved what he called “Lady Poverty. He is inspiring to read about.
grandma
When I was young my mother didn’t have a slow cooker but she would use one of her largest pots with a really tight fitting lid put everything into it and turn the gas stove on to the lowest setting. She could leave it all day and come home to a cooked dinner.
Can’t seem to do it with my lighter pans and an electric stove.
But oh those were great smells and meals to come home to in the winter.
Jill
You know grandma I have an article partially written about smells and almost everyone I know and have heard from usually one of their good memories is of mom, grandma or a favorite aunt and the smells they smelt coming home and from the kitchen. I don’t know why but those smells always make most humans think of warmth and comfort.
I don’t expect everyone out there to fall into the “Miss Molly Homemaker” category but I do know there is something comforting and soothing to a family coming home to those smells.
Mari
Yes I love the smell of good food cooking – don’t get that often in my house LOL….only joking :)
I am definitely going to try and cook something all day long in the oven tomorrow! I’m home all day (I work in the week) so I can keep an eye on it, just in case. Once I know it’s OK then I’ll be happy to leave it all day when I’m at work. Hopefully it won’t turn out as beef jerky! I’ll try it tomorrow with something and let you know how I get on.
Talking of smells, when I was a child I used to go to a sweet shop up the road called Cordingly’s. I can always remember the smell as I first went in the door…the smell of sweets (candy), all kinds of wonderful smells all mixed up together. I can still remember exactly what it smelled like and sometimes I go by the pick and mix and catch a whiff of that same smell…. :)
Mari
Hi Jill – just trying to slow cooked thingy in the oven as we speak (see my post above). I didn’t have time last week. Just checked to convert from fahrenheit to celcius and it looks like it’s about 120 degrees so I’ll try that. I’ve done 1lb of minced beef (which I browned very slightly in a pan first), onion, leek, mushrooms, a sprinkle of garlic powder, a tin of baked beans and about three quarters of a pint of beef stock. I mixed it all up and poured the stock on last, stirring again. Then I put a tight lid on and put it in about half an hour ago. Hopefully it will be ready for about 5pm or so! I’ll let you know how it goes xx
Mari
OOOOPS that should read “the” slow cooked thingy, not “to”!
grandma
mari I am reading a book about life in a small irish village they are talking food in parts and for the most part I know what it is.
this one has me sort of stumped. I you or anyone can tell me what the dish is I would appreciate it.
potatoe apple fadge.
she put it in the oven to grill.
this one has me very curious.
Jill
Mari can probably answer you better grandma but I think fadge is like an unleavened type bread where most of the flour is replaced with potato although it does use a bit of flour the recipes vary. It can be cooked on the grill or oven. For your recipe I’m not sure but maybe she added apple to it like we would a blueberry pancake or something.
Mari will know more.