Quick and Easy Cheesy Potato Casserole recipe
This simple and delicious Cheesy Potato Casserole is the perfect side dish. With just a few ingredients (including a generous amount of ranch seasoning) and minimal prep time, it’s a quick and easy recipe to complete your meal!
My favorite part of this cheesy potatoes recipe is SKIPPING all of the potato prep. Just a minute or two of measuring and you can start cooking!
Plus, this hash brown version cooks up quick enough to make for a weeknight or any time you need something quick!
Serving suggestions: We love to serve these cheesy potatoes with grilled chicken or steak and a side salad or steamed veggies. It would also go well with baby back ribs, brisket, or BBQ chicken.
Which Cheesy Potato Side Dish Should I Choose?
We have several delicious potato side dishes on our site. Wondering which one you should make?
This Cheesy Potato Casserole recipe is a great shortcut alternative to other potato sides on our site. It starts with preshredded hashbrowns, has a prominent ranch flavor, and isn’t quite as saucy as other recipes we have. It is also topped with ooey-gooey melty cheese.
In contrast, our Au Gratin Potatoes are a cheesy scalloped potato recipe that starts with fresh potatoes. After you slice the potatoes, you make up a rich, creamy cheese sauce top with a crispy panko breadcrumb topping.
This casserole recipe also shares some similarities with our Cheesy Hashbrown Casserole. (If you’re from Utah, this is our funeral potatoes recipe. If you’re not from Utah, this is a dish traditionally served at funeral luncheons, potlucks, or other large family gatherings.) That casserole is more saucy and also features a crunchy topping made from crushed potato chips and panko bread crumbs. (Potato chips over cornflakes, baby!)
Also, this recipe should be served with dinner. If you’re looking for a Breakfast Hashbrown Casserole, I have to promote the one I’ve been eating at Christmas brunches for almost three decades. It’s made with eggs, bacon, and lots of cheese over a hash brown crust.
Frequently Asked Questions about Cheesy Potato Casserole
✅ This easy recipe will work in any brand of electric pressure cooker, including the Instant Pot, Ninja Foodi, Cosori, or Power Pressure Cooker XL.
You can if you want to, though you’d lose out on the time savings. 1 pound of shredded potatoes is equal to about 3 or 4 medium white potatoes.
Yes, you should be able to halve or double the recipe with no change to the cook time.
However, if you plan to make a double batch, you’ll need to make sure that your steamer basket can hold a double batch of potatoes.
We had great results with our tall Avokado steamer basket. However, I don’t think two bags of potatoes would fit in our metal Oxo steamer.
Allow the potatoes to cool. Cover and store in the refrigerator for up to 4 days. The potatoes will continue to absorb moisture as they cool, so add a little chicken broth or water to the potatoes as you reheat them.
You can freeze them; however, be aware that the texture of the potatoes will change when they thaw. My family doesn’t care for this texture. But if it doesn’t bother you, you can store them in the freezer for up to 2 months.
Want more in-depth information about making this recipe? You can now find it below the recipe card.
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Cheesy Ranch Potato Casserole
Ingredients
- 1 cup chicken broth we used reduced-sodium
- 3 tablespoons butter
- 1/2 teaspoon salt don’t need if you’re not using low sodium broth
- 1/8 teaspoon pepper
- 1 bag (20 oz) refrigerated shredded hashbrown potatoes (we use Simply Potatoes)
- 1 tablespoon ranch seasoning mix
- 1/2 cup sour cream
- 1 cup shredded Monterrey Jack cheese divided
- 2 green onions thinly sliced (green parts only)
- 2 slices bacon cooked and crumbled (about ⅓ cup)
Instructions
Steam the Potatoes
- In the pressure cooking pot, add the chicken broth, butter, salt, and pepper.
- Place a steamer basket in the bottom of the cooking pot. Distribute the shredded hash browns evenly. Sprinkle the ranch seasoning over the hashbrowns. Lock the lid in place, select High Pressure and set the cook time for 5 minutes.
- When the cook time ends, turn off the pressure cooker and use a quick pressure release. When the valve drops, carefully remove the lid. Remove the potatoes and steamer basket from the pressure cooking pot and set aside.
- Add the sour cream and ½ cup cheese into the liquid remaining in the cooking pot. Select Saute and whisk together until the cheese has melted and is well combined.
Browning – Traditional Oven Directions
- Preheat the broiler and spray a 8×8 oven-safe baking dish with nonstick cooking spray. After pressure cooking, place the potatoes into the prepared pan.
- Pour the sour cream mixture over the potatoes. Use two forks to gently mix sauce with the potatoes. Top with the remaining ½ cup cheese.
- Broil for 5 to 7 minutes or until the cheese has melted and begun to brown.
- Top with the cooked bacon and the green onions and serve immediately.
Browning – CrispLid / Duo Crisp / Ninja Foodi Directions
- Set the potatoes aside.
- Gently add the potatoes to the sour cream mixture in small batches, carefully coating the potatoes with the cheese sauce before adding more potatoes.
- Top with remaining ½ cup ½ cup cheese, sliced green onions, and bacon. Place the crisping lid on top. Select Air Fry or Air Crisp, set temperature to 350ºF, and set the time to 5 minutes. Select Start to begin, and cook until the cheese has melted and begun to brown, checking after 3 minutes.
Notes
Nutrition
INGREDIENTS NEEDED
Just 10 basic ingredients and you’ve got everything you’ll need to make these cheesy ranch potatoes:
- Chicken broth: We prefer reduced-sodium in this recipe
- Butter: We use unsalted butter in our recipes.
- Salt: You can skip this one if you’re using regular chicken broth
- Pepper: Just a little goes a long way for this one.
- Refrigerated shredded hashbrown potatoes: We use Simply Potatoes for this. I don’t recommend substituting frozen hashbrowns because they have a much higher liquid content.
- Ranch seasoning: You can use part of a ranch packet. We actually keep a Costco bottle on hand. Make sure that you’re using the original ranch flavor. (We accidentally tested this with jalapeno ranch and it was much spicier than we liked.)
- Sour cream: This adds a little tang and makes the potatoes smooth and creamy. I prefer the fresh taste of sour cream over canned ingredients like cream of mushroom soup; however, feel free to make substitutions that suit your tastes.
- Monterrey Jack cheese: We like this with Monterrey Jack or cheddar cheese, but you can use whatever melting cheese you happen to have on hand.
- Green onions: These make a lovely garnish, and they add a nice pop of flavor to the finished potatoes.
- Bacon: This recipe calls for cooked bacon. You can saute it in the Instant Pot before moving on with the recipe. When we’re making quick meals, we often use the microwave bacon slices.
Tips for Making Cheesy Potato Casserole in an Instant Pot
We start this recipe by steaming the potatoes over the chicken broth to infuse them with flavor while they cook. Steaming the potatoes also improves their texture compared to cooking in the chicken broth directly.
After the potatoes cook, you’ll use the chicken broth in the pot as a base for the sour cream and cheese sauce. Then top them with cheese and either finish it with an air fryer lid or transfer to a baking dish and broil the cheese in a traditional oven.
When you’re broiling it, you have a choice to make. If you broil it for a short time, you get the lovely ooey-gooey cheese pulls, so each bite is softer.
If you leave it a little longer under the broiler, you’ll get a lovely browning on the cheese, which gives it a more complex flavor. Both options are delicious—go with your favorite.
MORE Side Dish Recipes
We have so many amazing Pressure Cooker Side Dish recipes on our site. Here are a few of our favorites:
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What about doing this in an oven?
To cook the whole thing in the oven instead of just finishing it under the broiler? For our family’s Funeral Potatoes recipe, which starts with the same refrigerated shredded hash browns, we preheat the oven to 350°F and bake for 50 to 60 minutes until everything is cooked golden and delicious.
I haven’t tested it with this particular mix, so you’ll want to check it frequently in the second half of the cook time to make sure it’s done the way you want it.
If you do try it, I’d love to hear what worked for you!
Can you use dehydrated hash browns
Hi Joanne! I haven’t tried it with dehydrated hash browns. I’d be worried about it throwing off the water content. Since you’re steaming them, it will definitely still come to pressure, but I don’t know if the steam will be sufficient to reconstitute them? If you test it out, I’d love to hear what worked for you!