Mama’s Hash Brown Casserole

The holiday season is here! Which means it’s time to break out all of the tried and true family recipes that are the highlight of any holiday get together. And since this season is all about giving, I think it is high time I share one of our family’s famous holiday side dish recipes.

Every Thanksgiving, Christmas, and Easter my mom makes her famous hash brown casserole. She also makes a great chocolate meringue pie, but this casserole is the most requested dish at any family festivity and the most stolen dish for leftovers. It’s my favorite post-holiday party breakfast.

Mama’s Hash Brown Casserole Recipe Walkthrough

This family recipe is one of the easiest side dishes to make that you will find in your Thanksgiving prep this year. All you need to do is to melt some creamy ingredients together, pour them over hash browns, top with corn flakes and butter, and bake!

Don’t let the easy prep fool you, this will be one of the tastiest dishes you’ll eat all day. If you want to make the dish stand out a little more, you can use hash browns O’Brien. These are hash browns that are mixed with savory diced onions and peppers. It’s a nice addition of flavor that can really elevate the flavor profile of the dish.

Step 1: Melt butter, Velveeta cheese, sour cream, and cream of chicken together.

Melt the ingredients together by microwaving in one minute intervals, stirring after each minute, until the mixture completely melts and is smooth. This will take about 5 minutes, but can be sped up if the ingredients are set out and reach room temperature.

Step 2: Pour the melted cheese mixture over the frozen hash browns and mix together.

Place the frozen hash browns in a glass 9×13 baking dish before pouring the cheese mixture over it. Mix everything together until the hash browns are completed covered and evenly mixed together.

Step 3: Top the cheesy hash browns with corn flakes and melted butter.

Top the casserole with corn flakes. Add as many or as little corn flakes as you like, as it is added to taste. Personally, I like a lot of corn flakes on my hash brown casserole.

Next, melt the remaining stick of butter before evenly pouring over the corn flakes. You want the butter to be evenly distributed over the corn flakes to ensure that the entire topping has the chance to get nice and crispy while baking.

Step 4: Bake the casserole at 350ºF for one hour.

If you notice the corn flakes starting to burn, you can pull out the casserole sooner. The goal is creamy, cheesy potatoes topped with crispy, buttery corn flakes.

Side note: Have a Traeger grill or pellet smoker? Our similar Texas hash brown casserole recipe cooks for about an hour at 425ºF on a Traeger.

And there you have it! The perfect side dish for your next holiday meal. It’s easy to make and even easier to eat! You will not regret adding this to your Thanksgiving feast.

For another great potato side dish, be sure to check out our smoked mashed potatoes recipe. Some have called them the best mashed potatoes ever.

What dishes your family always include at the holidays that you most look forward to? Let me know down in the comments below! We’d love to include some of your dishes at our next family dinner.