Crack Potatoes – the ORIGINAL recipe!! Potato casserole made with sour cream, cheddar cheese, real bacon bits, ranch dip mix, frozen shredded hash brown potatoes. Can make ahead and freeze for later. Everyone RAVES about these yummy potatoes! SO good!! Make them tonight!
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Pin This RecipeOne of our favorite dips is Cheddar Bacon Ranch dip, or what I refer to as “Crack“. I usually only make it during football season because it is HIGHLY addictive. I only made this once this football season and I forgot to take it to the tailgate. I left it in my parent’s refrigerator! I was devastated!
I took the dip back home and started thinking about what to do with it – other than eat it all by myself. I decided to mix the dip into a big bag of frozen hash browns. The result? A fantastic potato casserole! We absolutely love this! Chicken Legs requests this all the time. I divided the potatoes up into 3 disposable foil pans and froze them so we always have potatoes when we need them. We just finished off the last pan, so I guess I need to add this to my grocery list this week.
Crack Potatoes
Ingredients:
- 2 (16-oz) containers sour cream
- 2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
- 1½ cups cooked chopped bacon (about 1½ pounds bacon)
- 2 (1-oz) packages Ranch Dressing mix
- 1 (32-oz) bag frozen shredded hash brown potatoes
Instructions:
- Preheat oven to 400ºF. Lightly spray a 9×13-inch pan with cooking spray.
- Combine sour cream, cheese, cooked bacon and ranch mix. Stir in hash browns and mix well. Pour into prepared pan.
- Bake uncovered for 45 to 60 minutes.
Notes:
Steph
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Can I use dried hashbrowns instead of frozen?
Can this be made with fresh grated potatoes?
I’m sure it could
When my son was playing high school football some years ago I made a casserole that was very similar to this but used canned sliced potatoes. The parents fed the football team every week before their games and I ended up making about 8-10 lbs of potatoes just so the boys got their fill. It holds well in a buffet line and reheats very well if there are leftovers(hardly every happened). It’s known in that small town as “Ranch Potatoes”.
hi – going to make them for xmas dinner and would like to make them ahead of time – do i thaw the hash browns and mix it up or do i use them frozen? and if i thaw them, can i re-freeze them? thanks
I don’t usually thaw the hash browns ahead of time.
I’m not a fan of ranch dressing, what else could I use.
whatever you want – not sure what you like ??
Do you use the dry ranch envelopes ?
yes
I have left over baked potatoes sometimes, could I shred them and make this or best to use uncooked potatoes?
You can give it a try
Can I use fresh shredded potatoes. How much cooking time should I allow for freshly shredded potatoes?
I’m sure you can. I’ve never made this with fresh shredded potatoes so I can not advise on the cooking time. As always, please use your best judgment regarding substitutions and modifications.
Do you thaw the hash browns before you mix them?
I don’t, but you can if you would like.
I’ve made this with cubed ham or sausage meat or ground chicken or turkey plus I add red and green peppers onions . Sometimes change up the cheese taste for the topping.
I’ve used ham cubed or fried sausage meat or ground chicken or turkey plus red and green peppers and onions with regular hash browns it is good.
Anything we can sub for the sour cream? Could I use cream cheese? For some reason my daughter is sensitive to sour cream (and some dairy’s) but not cheeses.
This is my go to for friends and family get togethers.. Never have any leftovers… We all love it..I also add a bunch of chopped scallions and reserve cheese and bacon bits to top it off after it comes out of the oven.. Big HIT!!!
YAY! SO glad you are enjoying them, Kelli!
has anybody actually tried this recipe …we would like to know if it is any good or not…we can see how it looks
I’ve tried it and it is GREAT! We always have pans of the potatoes in the freezer for a quick side.
What was the old recipe that had the packages of bacon pieces? I don’t remember the oz and I don’t have time to cook the bacon this go around.
I made these and didn't have all the sour cream I needed, so I added 1/2 sour cream 1/2 cottage cheese. I was amazing!
I made these for Christmas and they were gone before anything else. I also make a fantastic corn casserole that everyone loved. I am making the potatoes for dinner tonight, again. Yummy.
Well, it seems I need to go to the grocery store tomorrow. These look stupendous and I cannot wait to try them!