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posted by Christy Denneyon Apr 2, 2022 (updated Aug 11, 2023) 82 comments »
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Funeral Potatoes are a creamy, cheesy potato casserole recipe topped with buttery crunchy cornflakes. Some people call this casserole sidegooey potatoes or party potatoes.
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 Funeral 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.
You can honestly throw these together in under five minutes!
I like using green onions because then there’s no need to saute them before baking.
Some people like to use cubed potatoes and some like the shredded. It’s really just personal preference.
The only way to mess up these potatoes is if you undercook them. I don’t know anyone that likes crunchy potatoes unless it’s a French fry.
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
4.38 from 153 votes
Funeral Potatoes - creamy, cheesy potatoes topped with buttery crunchy corn flakes. Some people call these funeral potatoes butthey are also called gooey potatoes or party potatoes.
PrintPinRate
Prep Time: 10 minutes mins
Cook Time: 50 minutes mins
Total Time: 1 hour hr
Servings: 12 servings
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
Source: My friends Ryan and Heidi Clark. I did add butter to the corn flakes on top.
I have adjusted this recipe to use just one can of cream of chicken soup.
Serving: 1grams
Cuisine: American
Course: Side Dish
Author: Christy Denney
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originally published on Apr 2, 2022 (last updated Aug 11, 2023)
82 comments Leave a comment »
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82 comments on “Funeral Potatoes”
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Sharon Stein — Reply
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? 🙂-
Christy Denney — Reply
Could work but I haven’t tried it.
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WH — Reply
I’m a little confused. Do you thaw the frozen shredded potatoes first?
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Christy Denney — Reply
Yes you thaw them
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Christine Thorp — Reply
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 😊
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Sandi — Reply
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.-
Christy Denney — Reply
Sandi,
I’m sorry. I’m not sure what you are referring to? I’m not seeing it
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Ed Dart — Reply
How many servings do you get from one batch?
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Christy Denney — Reply
12 servings. Servings are on the top left of the recipe card
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Kristy — Reply
Do you have to use frozen potatoes or can you cut your own.
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Christy Denney — Reply
You can cut your own
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Brandee — Reply
Make these with shredded hashbrowns and I use green peppers instead of green onions
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Kim — Reply
Do you keep them covered after you put in the cornflake mixture?
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Christy Denney — Reply
No I like to uncover them.
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Sarah — Reply
I’m an idiot. The bag says 1 lb 14 oz… so it’s almond 2 lbs.
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Christy Denney — Reply
No worries. Glad you figured it out.
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Sarah — Reply
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.
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britt — Reply
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!
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Christy Denney — Reply
Yes, the onions definitely add a lot.
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Marlene — Reply
Can these potatoes be made the day before and not bake them till next day
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Christy Denney — Reply
Yes, absolutely!
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Deanna Trautmann — Reply
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?
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Christy Denney — Reply
You can make them in the crockpot but the topping won’t be crispy.
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Char — Reply
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.
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Christy Denney — Reply
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.
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Tara — Reply
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!
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Christy Denney — Reply
So happy you liked them!
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Shaniqua — Reply
Clearly funeral potatoes cuz you’d only serve it to a dead bitch.
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Amanda Crowther — Reply
That was very rude. Disrespectful. These are delicious.
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PD — Reply
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.
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Barb — Reply
One of my coworkers requested I make this recipe again for Thanksgiving because she loved it so much!
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Christy Denney — Reply
Awesome to hear!
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Sally — Reply
I add chopped green chili to this recipe. Delicious!
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Katrin — Reply
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!
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Christy Denney — Reply
I like church potatoes much butter as the name!
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Janet Fazio — Reply
Looks perfect (and easy) for all of the upcoming holiday potlucks. I don’t think I can call them funeral potatoes though!
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Christy Denney — Reply
I don’t blame you.
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Beth — Reply
One of my family’s favorites! However, we make one small change—crushed potato chips instead of cornflakes! You should try it!
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Christy Denney — Reply
Ooh yum!
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Marilyn — Reply
My husband makes, but adds celery and uses crushed Ritz crackers. Delicious!
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Christy Denney — Reply
Yum!
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Mary Beth — Reply
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.
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Christy Denney — Reply
How funny? So many names for one little dish!
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Bharat Ratna Winners — Reply
OH, Yummy – these are my fav!!
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Christy Denney — Reply
Thanks!
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karen — Reply
Hi Christy! Are these ok to make the night before and then bake the next day? Thank you!
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Christy Denney — Reply
Yes, absolutely!
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Tally erp 9 — Reply
We call them sinful potatoes..😈
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Christy Denney — Reply
That’s a good name!
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David Frederick — Reply
Instead of frozen potatoes, could you use fresh ones such as red skin or fingerling?
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Christy Denney — Reply
Oh yes. For sure David.
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Carly — Reply
DO YOU USE SIMPLY POTATOES (FRESH) OR FROZEN (THAWED i.e., house brand or Orida ?
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Christy Denney — Reply
I use frozen but you could use either.
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Carol Ann Korpinen — Reply
I am tired of wanting to print a recipe that requires 7 sheets of paper. I would like to see this site improved.
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David Frederick — Reply
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.
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Christy Denney — Reply
Thanks David for the help!
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Lindsay — Reply
I’m a vegetarian so I use either cream of celery or cream of mushroom soup
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David Booth — Reply
It would be nice if I could get the recipe to print
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Elaine — Reply
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!
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Christy {The Girl Who Ate Everything} — Reply
You could use cream of celery or mushroom. Totally would work.
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Cathleen — Reply
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.
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Cathleen — Reply
We layer the potatoes then add the mixture to the top. Shredded potatoes cook faster.
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Cprice542 — Reply
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!
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Christy {The Girl Who Ate Everything} — Reply
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!
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Beth — Reply
I let the frozen potatoes thaw in frig before mixing casserole. Helps with stirring and cooking time
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Lauren — Reply
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.
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Christy Denney — Reply
I transferred my recipes to another plugin and it looks like the formatting was off. Sorry!
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Karen Baum — Reply
ONG OK!! I was losing it, thinking 36cups of taters!? 🤣
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Smurf — Reply
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.
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delores — Reply
my next recpie
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Ann Garlando — Reply
I use obrien potatoes, with onions and peppers instead of shredded potatoes. Extra ingredients give it a great taste.
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Anonymous — Reply
This is going with me to the next potluck dinner. How can you go wrong and it is so easy!
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Anonymous — Reply
Cheesy potatoes, in my book.
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Lori — Reply
We call these Funeral Potatoes or Party Potatoes! Requested quite often.
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Anonymous — Reply
This recipe is an OrIda Hashbrown classic. My Mom has made this a lot. Its a family favorite
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miami web design — Reply
This is an amazing recipe, I love to cook this because is really easy and simple, and of course delicious, thanks for sharing
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Anonymous — Reply
We know them as “Hashbrown Casserole”.
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generic cialis — Reply
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
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Anonymous — Reply
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.
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The Law Office of Levinson Axelrod — Reply
This looks great to make. A very nice mashed potatoes variation. Thanks for the inspiration.
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Linda — Reply
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!
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Ded Holloway — Reply
I make this into 2 casseroles and freeze one.Also I use it for a main course.
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