These gluten free cheesy potatoes (AKA Funeral Potatoes) are made with frozen hash browns, cornflakes, and a secret ingredient that makes them to die for!
Have you ever had funeral potatoes?
They’re kind of the best thing ever.
Let me explain about putting cornflakes on top of your potato hotdish…
What are Funeral Potatoes?
Funeral potatoes are a heavenly creation.
You layer frozen hashbrowns with a cream of soup mix and shredded cheese.
Then you top it off with cornflakes drizzled with butter.
Pop it into the oven and bake until the potatoes are hot and the cornflakes are golden.
What can go wrong with that combo, right?!
Today I’m sharing a gluten free version of this cheesy potato casserole.
I included instructions for making your own cream of mushroom soup so there’s no canned soup in this recipe!
Plus I added a secret ingredient that makes this to die for. More on that in a bit…
Okay, let me show you how to make it!
Ingredients:
First, the cast of characters.
Here’s everything you’ll need to make these gluten free cheesy potatoes:
- 10 tablespoons of butter (you heard me)
- 6 ounces of baby Portobello mushrooms (button mushrooms would work as well)
- 1/4 cup of finely chopped yellow onion
- 3/4 teaspoon unrefined sea salt
- 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- 3/4 cup chicken broth
- 3/4 cup whipping cream
- 2 tablespoon cornstarch (cornstarch is a wonderful gluten free alternative for thickening)
- 1 tub French onion dip (uh-huh…that’s the secret ingredient!)
- 2 pounds frozen hashbrowns (make sure they’re gluten free!)
- 3 cups shredded cheddar cheese (freshly shredded is best!)
- 2 1/2 cups gluten free cornflakes
Oh, and you’ll also need some green onions.
The Secret Ingredient:
Let’s chat about French onion dip for a minute.
Did y’all hear that Kalona SuperNatural released an organic French onion dip?
It’s pretty amazing because not only is it yummy for your taste buds, it’s made with high quality ingredients like certified organic, grass-fed milk. And it’s free of artificial colors, stabilizers, gums, pesticides, hormones, and antibiotics.
This is the secret ingredient that makes these gluten free cheesy potatoes crazy good!
Okay, let’s jump back in to making the casserole…
Making the Soup Base:
Chop 6 ounces of the baby Portobello mushrooms finely.
You don’t want huge chunks of mushrooms in funeral potatoes.
Trust me.
Finely chop 1/4 cup of yellow onion.
You want the onion chopped pretty fine so it cooks at the same rate as the mushrooms.
Chop the green onions and set them aside.
You won’t need them until the end, but you might as well chop them while you’re in veggie processing mode.
Melt 1/4 of butter in a medium saucepan over medium heat.
Add the chopped mushrooms and onions, give them a good stir, and let them cook and soften.
It should take about 8 minutes for the onions to fully soften.
Add the salt and pepper.
Whisk together the cream, chicken broth, and cornstarch.
Pour this mixture over the cooked mushrooms and onions.
Bring to a boil and boil for 1 minute.
It will thicken and emulsify as it cooks.
Remove from heat and allow to cool for a few minutes.
Add the French onion dip.
Oh man, this is the magic!
Then add the chopped green onions.
Stir everything together well.
Now you’ve got yourself some flavor sauce!
Assembling the Casserole:
Melt 4 tablespoons of butter.
Measure out 2 1/2 cups of cornflakes into a bowl.
Crush them using the bottom of a cup.
You don’t want any whole pieces of cornflakes, but you don’t want them crushed to a powder either.
1 ) Pour the melted butter into a 13×9 inch casserole dish.
The dimensions of the pan I used here aren’t quite 13×9 inches, but the volume is very similar.
2 ) Next, spread one package (1 pound) of frozen hashbrowns on top of the butter.
3 ) Then spread half of the soup base on top of the hashbrowns.
4 ) Finally, sprinkle half of the cheese on top of the soup base.
Repeat the previous steps:
1 ) Dump the second bag of hashbrowns on top of the cheese layer.
2 ) Then spread the remaining soup base on top of the hashbrowns.
3 ) Sprinkle the remaining cheese on top.
4 ) Finish off with the crushed cornflakes.
Melt 2 more tablespoons of butter.
Drizzle that on top of the cornflakes.
Bake in a 375° F (190° C) oven for 1 hour and 10 minutes.
You want these gluten free cheesy potatoes to be nice and golden brown on top.
The reason they take so long to bake is because you want the potatoes to get cooked.
No cold potatoes in the middle, please!
Plus, that extra time in the oven allows the cornflakes to get beautifully golden and crispy.
Allow the potatoes to cool in the pan for 5-10 minutes before serving.
I mean, how can you argue with that?!
Crispy on the top, creamy and dreamy on the bottom.
What Goes with Funeral Potatoes?
These would go perfectly with steaks, burgers, BBQ chicken, a roast meal, Thanksgiving dinner, Christmas dinner, Easter dinner, you name it!
Basically, use it to replace mashed, boiled, or baked potatoes in a meal.
Obviously this is more of a rustic/kitschy dish, so it wouldn’t go super well with a fancy dinner.
Notes:
- If you have a gluten allergy, make sure all of the ingredients are certified gluten free. Most cornflakes are gluten free, but not all of them are certified.
- You could substitute a gluten free canned cream of mushroom soup to make this recipe even easier. Don’t add the salt until after you’ve added the French onion dip because canned soup might be saltier than the soup base recipe.
- The flavor in the bottom half of these gluten free cheesy potatoes actually gets better the next day. But the cornflake topping does tend to get less crispy.
More Side Dish Recipes:
- Cream Cheese and Bacon Corn
- Butternut Squash Mac & Cheese
- Sour Cream and Dill Mashed Potatoes
- Green Bean Casserole From Scratch
- Crispy Potato Casserole
- Simple Sage Stuffing From Scratch
- Oven Roasted Brussels Sprouts
Many thanks to the folks at Kalona SuperNatural for sponsoring this post! 🖤
Gluten Free Cheesy Potatoes
Also known as funeral potatoes, this casserole is to die for!
Ingredients
For the Soup Base:
- ¼ cup Kalona SuperNatural lightly salted butter, melted
- 6 oz baby portobello mushrooms, finely chopped
- ¼ cup finely chopped yellow onion
- ¾ tsp unrefined sea salt
- ¼ tsp freshly ground black pepper
- ¾ cup Kalona SuperNatural whipping cream
- ¾ cup chicken broth (homemade or lower sodium)
- 2 tbsp organic cornstarch
- 1 tub (12 ounces) Kalona SuperNatural French Onion Dip
- ½ cup chopped green onion
For the Casserole:
- 6 tbsp Kalona SuperNatural lightly salted butter, melted, divided
- 2 lbs organic frozen hashbrowns
- 2 ½ cups gluten free organic cornflakes, lightly crushed
- 3 cups shredded raw sharp cheddar cheese, divided
Instructions
For the Soup Base:
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Melt the butter in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Add the mushrooms and onions and cook until tender, about 8 minutes. Season with the salt and pepper (see note).
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Meanwhile, whisk together the cream, chicken broth, and cornstarch. Add to the cooked mushrooms and onions. Bring to a boil and boil for 1 minute. The mixture will thicken and emulsify.
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Set aside to cool for a few minutes. Stir in the French onion dip and green onions.
To Assemble the Casserole:
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Preheat oven to 375° F (190° C).
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Pour 4 tablespoons of the melted butter in the bottom of a 13x9 inch baking dish.
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Place 1 pound of frozen hashbrowns on top of the melted butter. Spread half of the soup base on top of the hashbrowns, then half of the shredded cheese on top of that.
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Place the remaining 1 pound of hashbrowns on top of the cheese, followed by the remaining soup base and shredded cheese.
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Top the casserole with the crushed cornflakes. Drizzle the remaining 2 tablespoons of melted butter on top of the cornflakes.
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Bake in preheated oven for 1 hour and 10 minutes, or until the potatoes are cooked through and hot and the cornflakes are golden and crispy.
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Allow to cool in the pan for 10 minutes before serving.
Recipe Notes
- If you use a chicken broth that is very salty, you may wish to wait to add the salt until the end so you can taste the mixture to determine how much extra salt it needs. It should be quite salty since it's seasoning the potatoes, but don't go overboard.
Jill Koegel
Saturday 2nd of April 2022
What brand of cornflakes are gluten free? Malt is an ingredient in every brand you can find at a grocery store, and that has gluten.
Erica Kastner
Monday 4th of April 2022
Field Day Organic doesn't have malt, and the Whole Foods brand (365) also doesn't have malt. I don't know if they're certified gluten free, though!
Jane
Monday 21st of March 2022
I plan to use this cream of mushroom soup recipe with other recipes that call for soup! Thank you!