Utah Funeral Potatoes (Cheesy Potato Casserole with Corn Flake Crust)
The Utah potluck and after-funeral classic: shredded potatoes in a creamy sour cream and cheddar sauce under a buttery corn flake crust, enough for a crowd of twelve.
Edited by JP Lambiase
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Funeral potatoes are shredded or cubed potatoes baked with cheese, onion, cream soup or a cream sauce and sour cream under butter and corn flakes, crackers or potato chips; they are popular in the Intermountain West and the Midwest and served at the dinners that follow funerals (Wikipedia:). They are linked with members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Wikipedia quotes Epicurious that the dish emerged in Utah's Mormon community in the late 19th century, says recipes appear in Relief Society cookbooks from the early 20th century, and says that by the mid-20th century the recipes called for convenience foods, which made the dish quick, cheap and big enough for a crowd.
The Deseret News has written about the dish for decades. In 2002, food editor Valerie Phillips found that most Utahns had started calling it "Funeral Potatoes" only in the previous five years or so; that Marilyn Child of Layton, who organized after-funeral dinners as a Relief Society president, first ate it at a wedding breakfast as "Sour Cream Potatoes"; that the same casserole was "Party Potatoes" in New Jersey and "Church Social Potato Casserole" in a Virginia cookbook; and that the potato pin made for the 2002 Salt Lake City Winter Olympics was, its maker said, never officially called Funeral Potatoes. In 2023 the paper said no one knows who created it, that the Relief Society gets the credit for serving it at luncheons, and that the dish had its own Olympic pin (Hanna Seariac:). The 2023 article also repeats a Salt Lake Magazine interview in which a third-generation Utahn remembered her grandmother making it with a homemade white sauce and no exact recipe, which is the version here.
🇺🇸 This one is American
The Utah potluck and after-funeral classic: shredded potatoes in a creamy sour cream and cheddar sauce under a buttery corn flake crust, enough for a crowd of twelve.
🇬🇧 The original
Britain's shepherd's pie is lamb under a mashed potato crust, and the beef version is properly called cottage pie. See the British Shepherd's Pie (Lamb, with a Cottage Pie Option) recipe.
Why it works the kitchen science
Boil whole, then shred
Potatoes cooked in their skins and cooled firm up, so they shred into separate strands that hold their shape in the sauce instead of turning to paste.
Sour cream plus a white sauce
The flour-thickened sauce keeps the sour cream from splitting in the oven, and the sour cream keeps the sauce tangy instead of floury.
🧰 You'll need 11 items
Everything the steps call for. Tick off what you have before you start.
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Step by step
- Step 1
Put the whole potatoes in a large pot, cover with cold salted water and bring to a boil. Boil 20 to 25 minutes, until a knife slides in with a little resistance at the center. Drain and cool at least 30 minutes (or refrigerate overnight).
- Step 2
Peel the potatoes with your fingers or a paring knife and shred them on the large holes of a box grater.
- Step 3
Heat the oven to 350°F and butter a 9x13-inch baking dish. Melt 3 tbsp butter in a saucepan over medium heat, whisk in the flour and cook 1 minute. Whisk in the broth and milk and cook 4 to 5 minutes, whisking, until thick. Take it off the heat.
- Step 4
In a large bowl, stir the warm sauce with the onion, sour cream, cheddar, salt and pepper (and ham, if using). Fold in the shredded potatoes gently and spread in the dish.
- Step 5
Toss the crushed corn flakes with the melted butter and scatter over the top.
- Step 6
Bake uncovered 45 to 55 minutes, until bubbling at the edges, the crust is deep golden and the center reads 165°F. Rest 10 minutes before serving.
Utah Funeral Potatoes (Cheesy Potato Casserole with Corn Flake Crust)
Serves 12 · one 9x13-inch pan · 2 hr 5 min total
Potatoes
- 2 1/2 lb (1,134 g) russet potatoes, about 5 medium, scrubbed and left whole
- Salt, for the water
Creamy sauce (replaces 2 cans of condensed cream soup)
- 3 tbsp (42 g) butter
- 3 tbsp (23 g) all-purpose flour
- 1 cup (240 g) chicken broth
- 1 cup (244 g) whole milk
Mix-ins
- 1/2 cup (80 g) finely chopped onion
- 2 cups (454 g) sour cream
- 1 cup (4 oz / 113 g) shredded sharp cheddar
- 1 tsp kosher salt
- 1/2 tsp black pepper
- 2 cups (300 g) diced cooked ham, optional, to make it supper
Corn flake crust
- 4 tbsp (56 g) butter, melted
- 2 cups (56 g) corn flakes, lightly crushed to about 1 cup
Equipment: Oven, 9x13-inch baking dish, Large pot, Saucepan, Instant-read thermometer, Chef's knife and cutting board, Measuring cups and spoons, Mixing bowls, Whisk, Grater (box or rasp), Vegetable peeler
Method
- Put the whole potatoes in a large pot, cover with cold salted water and bring to a boil. Boil 20 to 25 minutes, until a knife slides in with a little resistance at the center. Drain and cool at least 30 minutes (or refrigerate overnight).
- Peel the potatoes with your fingers or a paring knife and shred them on the large holes of a box grater.
- Heat the oven to 350°F and butter a 9x13-inch baking dish. Melt 3 tbsp butter in a saucepan over medium heat, whisk in the flour and cook 1 minute. Whisk in the broth and milk and cook 4 to 5 minutes, whisking, until thick. Take it off the heat.
- In a large bowl, stir the warm sauce with the onion, sour cream, cheddar, salt and pepper (and ham, if using). Fold in the shredded potatoes gently and spread in the dish.
- Toss the crushed corn flakes with the melted butter and scatter over the top.
- Bake uncovered 45 to 55 minutes, until bubbling at the edges, the crust is deep golden and the center reads 165°F. Rest 10 minutes before serving.
Adapted from "Funeral Potatoes" in Valerie Phillips, "Potatoes to die for", Deseret News, January 15, 2002. We follow its proportions and bake (a pint of sour cream, cheddar, onion, about 2 lb of potatoes, melted butter and crushed corn flakes; 9x13; 350°F uncovered for 45 minutes to 1 hour) and its option of boiled, shredded potatoes instead of frozen hash browns. Our changes: a 5-minute white sauce of butter, flour, broth and milk replaces the cans of condensed cream of chicken and cream of celery soup (the homemade-sauce idea is from the 2023 Deseret News history); cheddar fixed at 1 cup; salt added. The 165°F check is ours. Estimated cost: about $9.07 for the pan, about $0.76 a serving; with the optional ham, about $1.06. deseret.com. Ingredient list follows the source; the method is in our own words.
All sources (3)
Tips
- Shortcut potatoes: use a 2-lb bag of frozen shredded hash browns, thawed 30 minutes, instead of steps 1 and 2. It saves about an hour and adds about $0.33 a serving at the site's hash brown price.
- Canned shortcut (the Deseret News 2002 way): skip step 3 and use 1 can condensed cream of chicken soup and 1 can condensed cream of celery soup.
- Make ahead: assemble through step 4, cover and refrigerate up to 24 hours (house rule); add the corn flake crust just before baking and add 10 to 15 minutes. Kentucky Extension warns sour cream does not freeze well, so this one is best refrigerated, not frozen.
- Leftovers keep 3 to 4 days refrigerated; reheat to 165°F.
- As a side it feeds 12; with the ham it is supper for 8.
The rules people argue about
What the sources agree on, what they don't, and what is just a good story.
- It was born in Utah's Mormon community in the late 1800s. Disputed: Epicurious, as quoted by Wikipedia, says so; the Deseret News (2023) says no one knows who created it and gives other possible roots in the American South, the Midwest and French potatoes au gratin; the Deseret News (2002) found the same casserole under other names from Wisconsin to Florida.
- The 2002 Olympics made a Funeral Potatoes pin. Disputed: the Deseret News (2023) says the dish had its own pin; the pin's maker told the Deseret News in 2002 that it was never officially called Funeral Potatoes, only a potato casserole, and that collectors gave it the name.
- The name is old. Disputed: Wikipedia ties it to after-funeral dinners; the Deseret News (2002) found most Utahns had used "Funeral Potatoes" only for about five years.
- It must have a corn flake crust. Folklore: Wikipedia lists corn flakes, crushed crackers or potato chips.
- Funeral potatoes freeze well. Disputed: Wikipedia says families often keep a pan on hand; Kentucky Extension says sour cream does not freeze well.
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