The Ultimate Funeral Potato Recipe

Funeral Potatoes are a staple in Mormon cultural foods. I have been in charge of making this dish at family get togethers for many years, and so back in 2018 I set out to create The Ultimate Funeral Potato Recipe! To begin, I gathered 14 different recipes – including from the Lion house Cookbook – and laid them out in a spreadsheet here. I looked at the commonalities amongst them, and synthesized them together to create this fabled recipe.

This recipe has gone through a couple of modifications over the years, and it just keeps getting better. This is where the recipe stands at today:


Ingredients 

  • 24-30 ounces of hashbrowns
  • (Optional) 1/4 stick of butter
  • 1 can cream of chicken or mushroom soup
  • 2 cups sour cream
  • 2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
  • 1 3/4 cups crushed corn flakes
  • 1/2 cup cubed ham
  • 1/2 cup shredded parmesan
  • 1/2 cup onion
  • 3 tsp of garlic
  • 2 tsp salt
  • 2 tsp pepper

Instructions

  1. Thaw hashbrowns
  2. Optional: soak hashbrowns in hot water for up to 3 hours to remove starch from the potatoes. This makes the recipe a little healthier and crispier. After this soak is finished, remove the water from the potatoes by gently squeezing and wringing them – this prevents the potatoes from being too soggy.
  3. Preheat oven to 350°
  4. Sauté or caramelize onion and garlic until onion is translucent and garlic is fragrant, set aside all for later mixing
  5. Fry cubed ham
  6. Mix together hashbrowns, onions, garlic, ham, sour cream, cream of mushroom/chicken, cheddar cheese, salt, and pepper.
  7. grease baking pan/dish.
  8. Put mixture into the GREASED pan/dish
  9. (Optional) Melt 2 tablespoons / 1/4 stick of melted butter
  10. Put the pan/dish in the oven. It is finished cooking when the center is hot, bubbly throughout, and the corn flakes are golden brown. This usually takes around 40-50 minutes.
  11. Crush corn flakes and put them on top of the mixture. (Optional: paint melted butter on top of corn flakes) and then coat with shredded parmesan.
  12. Broil for crispy topping. Watch like a hawk.
  13. Allow to cool before serving