Cheesy Hash Brown Casserole
This Cheesy Hash Brown Casserole is a classic Southern recipe – bulked up with veggies and creamy Monterey Jack cheese! Serve as a side dish or main course!
This Cheesy Hash Brown Casserole post is sponsored by Cabot Creamery, but the recipe and opinions are entirely my own. Thank you for supporting the brands that support Spiced!
This post may contain paid links. For more information, please see our disclosure policy.
As a kid, I spent most Easter Sundays at my grandparents’ house in upstate South Carolina. Belton, SC is a tiny town ~4 hours north of where I grew up in Charleston. With a population of about 4,000 people, Belton is not a large place. However, my sister and I loved going up to visit our grandparents and cousins…and of course we always looked forward to the annual Easter egg hunt.
We had a bunch of cousins and relatives who all lived in the Belton area, and everyone would gather at grandma’s and grandpa’s on Easter Sunday. On Easter morning, the adults would head out to the yard and hide Easter eggs all over the place. My grandparents lived on several acres, so the annual Easter Egg Hunt was kind-of a big deal. The younger kids would go to the front yard where the Easter eggs would be laying on the sidewalk while the older kids (and other non-scaredy cats) would go the back yard.
And those Easter eggs in the back yard? Not easy to find. In hindsight, I bet the adults had a good time hiding some of those eggs. I also bet some of those eggs are probably still out there. I totally remember finding random Easter eggs months after Easter when I was exploring the hen house or the old barn. (As a kid, the barn offered an endless amount of opportunity to find hidden pirate treasure! The hen house? It smelled kinda funny, so I avoided it.)
Cheesy Hash Brown Casserole
Cheesy Hash Brown CasseroleOnce the Easter egg hunt was over, we all returned indoors for Easter lunch. Throughout the year, you could always count on my grandma whipping up peach cobblers, blackberry cobblers, homemade biscuits and fried fish. However, on Easter? Her Cheesy Hash Brown Casserole was always one of my favorites!
This casserole is a classic Southern dish, and it couldn’t be easier to make. Hash browns, cream of mushroom soup, sour cream and cheese. Delicious! It’s one of those dump-it-all-in-a-bowl and stir type of recipes. I recently took grandma’s recipe and put a slight twist on it by adding a couple bags of frozen veggies. I didn’t do anything too crazy to the flavor profile here. I wanted to keep this casserole just like I remembered as a kid, but I did want to bulk up the volume with the veggies. It worked! And I dare say that this veggified (I just made up that term!) version might become the new standard from here on out.
Cheesy Hash Brown Casserole is the ultimate comfort food. Think cheesy mashed potatoes…in casserole form. Yum! I used Cabot’s Monterey Jack for this recipe, and it was perfect. The inside of this casserole was creamy and cheesy while the top was perfectly crispy. In fact, we ate this casserole for dinner one night by itself. (It would make for an excellent brunch recipe or side dish, too…but we enjoyed it as a main dish thanks to the added veggies.)
I am a huge fan of all of Cabot’s cheeses, and their Monterey Jack was particularly tasty in this recipe. Cabot’s Monterey Jack is one of my go-to’s whenever I need a good, melty cheese. If I’m in the mood for a bit of spice, then I’ll use Cabot’s Pepper Jack instead – or perhaps a combination of Monterey Jack and Pepper Jack. If you aren’t familiar with Cabot Creamery, then you need to be!
Cabot Creamery is a co-op owned by farm families all over New York and New England. Most folks don’t realize it, but there are a lot of dairy farms in upstate New York. Years ago, I had the opportunity to visit a local Cabot dairy farm as part of their Open Farm Sunday program. Since then, I’ve become friends with Farmer Terri, and Robbie and I visit her farm (and her cows!) at least once or twice a year. It’s always a highlight of our summer.
Robbie finds it really cool that the blocks of Cabot cheese we purchase in the grocery store might have been made with milk from Renee or Cupcake – his “favorite” cows. Personally, I find that pretty cool, too!
I hope you enjoy this Cheesy Hash Brown Casserole as much as we do – I hadn’t made this recipe in a few years, but it was a huge hit here in our house. I suspect this casserole will be making an appearance more often around here. Cheers!
Did you bake this Cheesy Hash Brown Casserole at home? Leave a comment or snap a photo and tag me (@Spicedblog) and Cabot (@CabotCheese) on Instagram – we’d love to see your version!
Cheesy Hash Brown Casserole
Ingredients
- 1 32-oz. bag frozen shredded hashbrowns, thawed
- 1 16-oz. bag frozen broccoli florets
- 1 16-oz. bag frozen carrots, peas and green beans
- 4 Tbsp unsalted butter melted
- 1 10.5-oz. can cream of mushroom soup
- 16 oz. sour cream
- ½ cup diced yellow onions
- 2 cups shredded Cabot Pepper Jack or Monterey Jack cheese
- 1 tsp black pepper
- chopped green onions
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375°F.
- Spray a 9”x13” casserole dish with nonstick baking spray; set dish aside.
- Using a very large mixing bowl, add all of the ingredients; stir until well combined.
- Bake for 35-40 minutes, or until mixture is fully cooked.
- {Optional} Broil for 3-5 minutes, or until top is golden brown.
- Garnish with chopped green onions before serving.
Looking for more tasty cheesy recipes? Check out these other favorites, too:
Will be making this soon with few subs i love mushroom soup and mushrooms sooooooooooooooo much i never had cheesy hash brown casserole before will dm you if i make this and let you know how it goes Thanks Ramya
This is a classic recipe in the Southern part of the United States, Ramya…and it’s a classic for good reason. It’s delicious! It’s quite easy to make, and I love how you can vary this recipe with additional veggies to bulk it up a bit. Enjoy!
What great memories and what a great casserole! This looks delicious and is perfect for Easter dinner. I love the addition of all the veggies too! So fun that you guys were able to visit the cows! Pretty cool!
Thanks so much, Kathy! This casserole is a classic for a reason…it’s delicious! And I really enjoyed the chance to go back and make an old family favorite. The added veggies and cheese makes such a big difference, too!
I absolutely LOVE the cheesiness of this. A while back, when I couldn’t use my hands well enough to cut up vegetables, I bought some frozen ones, and my god they were horrible. It took me hours to get the water out of them. Is there a brand you recommend?
Ah, yes, I can totally identify with you here, Mimi. We’ve found that name-brand frozen veggies are WAY better than the store-brands. I believe I used Bird’s Eye brand for this casserole, and it didn’t turn out watery at all – although that could be due to the hash browns soaking up liquid as they bake? I’m not sure there, but I do know this recipe is basically cheesy mashed potatoes in a casserole form. We couldn’t get enough of it!
I love old, family recipes like this, David. And who can’t resist potatoes and cheese in any form? Not I. I’m also all for veggification!
Exactly! Cheesy mashed potatoes in a casserole form? Sign me up! And the extra veggies helped bulk it up, too. Thanks, Jeff!
This looks amazing David! I love recipes that are delicious and have amazing family memories. Your Easters growing up sound absolutely perfect! What a gorgeous hash brown casserole this is. Loving all the veggies! And with that creamy Cabot Monterey Jack, I can taste the deliciousness through these pics! 😋
This casserole was a huge hit here, Shannon! The hash browns basically turn into mashed potatoes as they bake, so you end up with a cheesy mashed potato casserole. Delicious! 🙂
Easter Egg hunt is such a lovely tradition. When I was growing up, we didn’t have any similar fun activity (Orthodox Easter is much stricter and canonical with not much room left for fun.) But now living in Canada, I’m catching up. Well, I’ve simplified the process. No egg hunt – just eating them from a bowl! Lol This casserole looks and sounds delicious. I’ve never used cream of mushroom soup in a recipe; that’s a smart idea. And loaded with lots of cheese? Yes please!
Haha – maybe Andrey can hide the bowl of Easter egg candy, and you can go hunt for them? If that’s too easy, then perhaps he can mix some prosciutto in the bowl of candy…and then you can race Daisy to see who finds it first?? 🙂
I highly recommend this recipe, Ben! It’s basically cheesy mashed potatoes in a casserole form. It’s comfort food at its best!
I like your idea with Daisy, but with the warmer days and all those squirrels and chipmunks waking up, I am afraid she prefers chasing them instead of prosciutto lol.
This is one of the cheeses I dearly miss, Monterey Jack, its quite hard to find it in NZ. Now you made me crave for it
Interesting! I didn’t realize Monterey Jack is difficult to find over there. It truly is one of my favorite cheeses when I need a flavorful, melting cheese. Guess you’ll just need to plan a trip back to the States! 🙂
the frozen hash browns we buy here are pre-cooked and you basically are just heating them up again. are yours the same? or are they uncooked? i made a casserole a while ago with homemade has browns on top. so delish!
So our frozen hash browns are uncooked, Sherry. (They’re basically shredded raw potatoes.) When used in this casserole, they basically break down into mashed potatoes…which means you end up with a cheesy mashed potato casserole. Talk about some good comfort food!!
You know, I don’t think I’ve ever had an Easter egg hunt! Crazy, huh? But I do have fond Easter memories, usually involving food, lol. This casserole looks like a delicious addition. Love how cheesy it is and I could happily sit down with just this and be quite content. Also, can you believe it’s almost Easter??!
Wait. You’ve never had an Easter egg hunt!? Stop everything. Tell your husband to hide some Easter eggs in the yard…then go find them! 🙂
Seriously, though, this casserole is indeed delicious. It’s basically cheesy, mashed potatoes in a casserole form…perfect comfort food right there! Thanks, Dawn!
You made me laugh out loud thinking of some of those hidden eggs still being out there!
What a perfect Easter casserole, David! I’d gladly enjoy this for any meal of the day – including having any leftovers warmed up for breakfast and topped with a fried egg!
Oh, I’m nearly certain that some of those Easter eggs are still hidden out there! I’d check the rafters of the old hen house first. Haha! That house was sold years ago now, and I wonder if the new owners ever found any hidden eggs? Haha!
In other news, this casserole is amazing, Marissa! And I like your idea of serving this as breakfast leftovers. Yum!
Such wonderful memories of the Easter egg hunt! This hashbrown casserole looks so good! Perfect for Sunday brunch, Easter or not! 🙂
Yes, those Easter egg hunt memories still stick with me…even 30 years later. 🙂 Funny enough, the casserole memories stick with me, too! Thanks, Michelle!
Oh my – those were some epic Easter egg hunts y’all used to have! Speaking of SC we just got back from there – it was so quiet on the beach – partly because of a gail warning – which we ignored. Also awww that picture of Robbie feeding that cow is too cute. And, being on the subject of feel-good awws – David, this hash brown casserole is comfort food at its finest! I only have one problem with it – now I want some hash browns for breakfast!
Oh, I would’ve ignored that gail warning, too, Shashi! Where did y’all go? Hilton Head? We have a vacation planned for Charleston in early June, and I absolutely cannot wait!!
I say give in to your craving and make hash browns for breakfast. And then get some more to make this casserole – it’s like cheesy mashed potatoes, and it’s quite delicious! Thanks, Shashi!
What a comforting and super delicious dish. Perfect for brunch (perhaps with a pastry and coffee on the side)! And that’s such a cute photo of your son. So sweet to see little kids with animals. 🙂 ~Valentina
This casserole truly is perfect for brunch, Valentina! It could serve as a savory breakfast meal or as a main dish…thus, brunch! 🙂 Thanks so much, my friend!
Love the back story and Easters at your grandmother’s house. It is nice to take those memories and create a similar dish to what she would make.
I’m with ya, Karen. The older I get, the more I appreciate the childhood memories. Funny how that works, huh? This casserole was a staple of Easter brunches, and it really took me back! Thanks so much!
I love a good casserole David. I can imagine that this cheesy hash brown casserole went down a treat after all that Easter Egg hunting! Love how you’ve added even more veggies to it, making it even more kid friendly!
You make a good point here, Neil. I added the veggies as a way to bulk up the recipe and make a meal out of it, but it’s also a good way to sneak veggies into kid’s meals. Thanks so much, my friend!