Creamy Potluck Potatoes

Creamy Potluck Potatoes are total comfort food!  Cheesy and savory, this is the perfect casserole side dish to serve a crowd, whether it’s a holiday dinner, family reunion, or church potluck!

With Easter happening this weekend, I thought I would share one last component of our typical Easter dinner (along with a baked ham and this vintage Lemon Pineapple Jell-O) – these Creamy Potluck Potatoes.  My friend Ginny shared this recipe with me years ago and they quickly became a family favorite, replacing the macabre named and often bland (in my opinion) “funeral potatoes” and the more labor and time intensive scalloped or au gratin potatoes.  

I love the brightness of the green onions with the richness of the cheddar cheese and creamy sauce coating the chunks of Yukon Gold potatoes.  Creamy potluck potatoes are comfort food at it’s best – warm and savory and rich and just right paired with a ham or a brisket.

Plus, it’s easy to double this recipe if you are feeding a crowd (I mean, it has “potluck” in the name after all!).  It always get rave reviews and I have gotten multiple requests for the recipe when taking it to social functions.

When making creamy potluck potatoes, be sure not to overcook your potatoes.  Since you peel and dice the potatoes into bite-size chunks before cooking them, it doesn’t take very long for them to get tender in the boiling water – only about 10 minutes.  You just want to be able to stick a fork in the potatoes without them falling apart, and then you need to drain the water and rinse the potatoes with cold water to stop the cooking process.

Part of what I love about this dish is the texture of the tender potato chunks coated in the creamy sauce and if you cook the potatoes too long they will break apart and thicken the sauce too much when you combine the two together.  Then it’s more of a mashed potato dish, which is still good, but just not quite what you are going for here.

In all honesty, I was distracted the day I photographed this pan of potatoes and went a little too far cooking my potatoes so they broke down more than I would have liked when I combined the potatoes and sauce.  But I didn’t want to wait until AFTER Easter to post this when I could remake the re-photograph the potatoes so I just went with it.  Just try not to boil the heck out of your potatoes.  Cool?

5 from 1 vote

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Creamy Potluck Potatoes

Prep Time

10 mins

Cook Time

40 mins

Total Time

50 mins

 

Servings: 8 people

Ingredients

• 3 lbs. Yukon gold potatoes, peeled and diced into bite-size pieces (about 6 cups)
• 1 (10 ounce) can cream of chicken soup
• 1/2 cup sour cream
• 4 ounces cream cheese, softened
• 2 tablespoons butter, melted
• 3/4 cup medium cheddar cheese, freshly grated
• 1/3 cup chopped green onions
• 1/4 cup milk
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
• 1/8 teaspoon garlic powder

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
2. Fill a large pot with salted water and add the potatoes. Bring to a boil and cook for 10 to 12 minutes, just until the potatoes are tender. Be careful not to overcook the potatoes or they will fall apart when added to the other ingredients. Drain to potatoes and rinse with cold water to stop the cooking process, then drain again.
3. In a large bowl, combine the cream of chicken soup, sour cream, cream cheese, and butter. Add in 1/4 cup of the cheddar cheese, all but 1 tablespoon of the green onions, the milk, garlic powder, salt and pepper and stir until everything is mixed together. Gently stir in the cooked potatoes, trying not to mash them too much. Pour the creamy potatoes into a large rectangular baking dish and transfer to the oven.
4. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, until the potatoes are completely heated through. Remove the potatoes from the oven and immediately sprinkle with the remaining 1/2 cheddar cheese, which will melt after just a couple of minutes. Sprinkle the creamy potluck potatoes with the remaining 1 tablespoon of chopped green onion and serve.