Last Updated on 22nd April 2022 by
Everything is better with cheese, right? Cheesy potatoes is one of my favorite easy dishes, and it’s typically something I make as a casserole. Essentially, cheesy potatoes are mashed potatoes with cheese and maybe a few seasonings or herbs added for color and flavor, and then baked until you get a crispy top layer.
Let me share with you a few options for making cheesy potatoes, whether you’re looking to make them in the oven or the crockpot, or you want to make them mashed or scalloped.
What to Eat with Cheesy Potatoes?
Anything you would normally serve up with mashed potatoes is a good pairing with cheesy potatoes. I like to serve them alongside fried chicken, green beans, cornbread, biscuits, and a lot of those southern staples you would normally find in a KFC but that you can make at home in a much healthier way.
They pair well with just about any kind of meat, and they’re a good pairing with foods that are of a different texture. You have the creamy, slightly crispy cheesy potatoes, and then you compare that with something that’s crunchy, chewy, or bread-like.
As much as I love cheese, I don’t want to put it on everything, so I consider cheesy potatoes to be my one cheese dish, and then I find other foods to go with it that you don’t need to include cheese in for them to be tasty.
What goes with cheesy potatoes will depend on your preferences, but it’s best when served with other hot foods like those I’ve mentioned, as well as maybe a cold food like a vegetable salad, potato salad, or pasta salad.
How to Make Cheesy Potatoes in the Oven
How do you make cheesy potatoes? You can boil it down to two simple steps. You’re making mashed potatoes first of all, and then you’re adding cheese on top of that and putting it into a baking dish to bake in the oven for a little while. That’s really all there is to it when you’re using the oven baking method.
How to make cheesy mashed potatoes? You start by peeling all the potatoes you want to use and then slicing them small. Boil a pot of water with a little salt in it and throw the potatoes in there once the water is boiling. Allow the potatoes to cook until they’re very soft and then drain out the water.
Put the potatoes into a mixing bowl add a little milk and butter to give them flavor and a smooth texture when mashed, and then use a hand mixer to blend the potatoes until they’re smooth. You can add more milk as necessary, and make sure you get rid of all the chunks in the potatoes, if you want a really smooth mashed potato dish.
Add a little shredded cheese to the potatoes while they’re still hot, and then you have cheesy mashed potatoes.
From there, it is simple matter of pouring your cheesy mashed potatoes into a baking dish. I would then sprinkle more cheese on top of the mashed potatoes once it’s in the baking dish. I prefer cheddar cheese to give it a little color on top.
You’ll need to preheat your oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit, and then once it’s warm, you can put the baking dish of mashed potatoes inside the oven and bake for 45 minutes. When the potato casserole is done cooking, the top layer should be crispy and should have darkened slightly.
This isn’t a dish you need to ensure cooks all the way through so that it’s safe to eat. You can leave it in for any length of time as long as you don’t burn it, but what you’re trying to achieve is a crispy top layer.
So, how long to bake cheesy potatoes is up to you. 45 minutes will be long enough to solidify everything and make it easy to cut the cheesy potatoes into squares, but you don’t have to cook it that long if you want the dish quicker.
How to Make Cheesy Scalloped Potatoes
I love scalloped potatoes as well, and they really have to have cheese to get that traditional flavor. To make this dish, you’ll be slicing the potatoes into rounds, laying the potato on its side and cutting straight down to create slices that are about half an inch thick.
You’ll want to layer these into a baking pan and pour in a mixture of milk, butter, and shredded cheese. Shred some more cheese on top, add seasonings to taste, like salt, pepper, and parsley, and then bake it in the oven.
How long do you cook cheesy potatoes when making them scalloped? Because you’re not pre-cooking the potatoes to soften them like you would with cheesy mashed potatoes, it will take longer to bake in the oven. They should bake for about an hour and 20 minutes.
How To Make Cheesy Potatoes in a Crock Pot
You could also make cheesy potatoes on your countertop in a crock pot. This can be a slow cooking process that takes a while, but if you have the time, it’s a good alternative to baking.
To make a really rich and creamy cheesy potato dish in the crockpot, try adding sour cream or heavy whipping cream. You can add a little chicken broth as well to flavor it.
You won’t be precooking these potatoes at all for this dish. Just prepare the slow cooker by spraying the bottom of it with cooking spray and then put in all of your ingredients besides the cheese. Mix everything together and cook your potatoes on low for 5-6 hours.
Mix the potatoes about halfway through. If you’re cooking on high, allow the potatoes to cook for 3-4 hours and mix partly through. Then, you can add the cheese at the end, and it will melt into the hot potatoes and can be stirred in as it melts.
What Meat Goes with Cheesy Potatoes?
If you’re mixing a meat into the cheesy potatoes, I definitely suggest small cuts of ham. If you want to serve a dish with the potatoes, grilled or fried chicken, grilled salmon, and roast beef all make good pairings.
I'm Pauline, a mother of four grown children, my passion for cooking stemmed from the joy i get cooking for my family. I love to try new dishes, especially when dining out but creating and sharing my own recipes is my favourite thing to do!
