Funeral Potatoes
Funeral Potatoes are an appetizing dish to serve at a funeral or other gathering. They are uncomplicated to make and can be doubled or tripled to feed a large crowd. Just avoid doubling the topping if doubling the recipe.
Funeral Potatoes are an appetizing dish to serve at a funeral or other gathering. They are uncomplicated to make and can be doubled or tripled to feed a large crowd. Just avoid doubling the topping if doubling the recipe.
- Carbohydrate 33.7780831584038 g
- Cholesterol 63.1540000151656 mg
- Fat 23.7115750823656 g
- Fiber 2.60811722846689 g
- Protein 9.5225111261449 g
- Saturated Fat 14.2789580283366 g
- Serving Size 1 1 Serving (251g)
- Sodium 256.067728548267 mg
- Sugar 31.1699659299369 g
- Trans Fat 2.10008608991771 g
- Calories 378 calories
Step-by-step
- Grease 9x13 baking dish and preheat oven to 350
- In large bowl combine soups, sour cream, cheese, onions, and the 1/2 cup of melted butter.
- Gently fold hash browns into mixture.
- Pour mixture into pan.
- Combine crushed corn flakes and the 2 Tbs. of melted butter and sprinkle on top of potato mixture.
- Bake for 30 minutes.
- *If wanting to, you can use cubed potatoes instead of hash browns but you will need to increase baking time to 55 minutes.
Gently folding frozen shredded potatoes into the thick dairy and soup base prevents the fragile starches from breaking down into a gluey paste while ensuring even distribution throughout the 9x13 baking dish. Regional potluck traditions across the Intermountain West popularized this casserole format during the mid-twentieth century, substituting commercially processed convenience items like condensed soups and frozen tubers for scratch-made white sauces and parboiled spuds.
The Physics of the Crunch
Achieving structural contrast requires deliberate management of moisture barriers, because heavy cream of chicken soup and sour cream release significant liquid during the thermal transfer of baking. Crushed corn flakes mixed with precisely two tablespoons of melted butter create a hydrophobic protective layer that shields the underlying dairy and starches from burning while browning into a shattering crust under sustained heat. When substituting cubed potatoes for shredded hash browns, extend the oven duration from thirty minutes to fifty-five minutes to allow the denser interior mass to reach safe internal temperatures without scorching the exterior lipids.Dairy Stability Under Heat
Sharp cheddar cheese contributes low moisture and high fat content, melting uniformly into the sour cream and soup emulsion without separating into oily pools. Maintaining the cereal topping ratio is critical when scaling the base; doubling the potato and dairy quantities without scaling the corn flakes prevents the crust from becoming overly thick and damp. Preheating the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit ensures the butter in the topping immediately begins frying the cereal flakes rather than slowly absorbing into them and causing premature softening.
