Note: This is a republication of a post that I shared in March. With the Thanksgiving season upon us, I thought a few of you might want to see it again. Happy Thanksgiving!
Bacon? Check. Cheese? Check. Tons of flavor? Absolutely. See, these are the easiest potatoes I think I’ve ever made, and they’re a hit with everyone. I mean, who doesn’t love cheesy potatoes with bacon?
One of the many recipes that came from the family recipe box, this handwritten recipe with an unknown source simply stated “They’re named for the famous river because they’re LONG on taste and MIGHTY good!” Well, they didn’t disappoint, anyway! Cheesy potatoes get a big punch with this recipe because of the added bacon, the creaminess, and the green onions.
Start with some ingredients you may already have– 8 to 10 cups of potatoes, diced, 1 cup of Mayonnaise (the real deal, not salad dressing), about a teaspoon each of salt and pepper, a 16 ounce block of cheddar, diced (or the equivalent in shredded cheddar), 1/2 a cup of green onions, chopped, and a package of bacon. You can add half a cup of olives if you’d like to, but why ruin perfectly good potatoes? (Unless you’re an olive fan, in which case, you probably don’t see that as ruining them).
Start by slicing your bacon into pieces. Don’t look at me with that shocked face that I get every time someone sees me do this… you can TOTALLY bacon your bits instead of bitting your bacon. This method gets a lot less grease on your hands because there’s no tearing it up post-fry… if you do the cutting first, your bacon will be in perfect bite sized bits when you’re done. I promise. Just trust me– cutting bacon is NOT bacon blasphemy, no matter what anyone tells you.
Put that in a pan and cook it, trying not to eat too much bacon as the smell fills the air. Seriously, bacon is so hard to resist. That’s why there is bacon everything. While the bacon cooks, start peeling and dicing your potatoes, dicing your cheese, and chopping your green onions.
Delicious! Finish getting your other ingredients chopped and ready.
In a 9×13 pan or a 3 quart casserole dish, mix the green onions, cheese, bacon, and potatoes. If you’re adding olives, now is the time to do that, too.
Toss the ingredients with mayonnaise, coating well. Bake for an hour and a half, or until the potatoes are tender, in a 325 degree oven.
Enjoy that bubbly, bacon-y, cheesy potato side dish. You could even add in some hamburger meat or chicken and make it a main dish, if you wanted to.
- 8-10 Cups potatoes, diced finely
- 16 ounces cheddar cheese, cubed or shredded
- 1 Cup mayonnaise (real)
- 1 package bacon, cooked and torn into large bits
- 1/2 Cup green onions, chopped
- In a 9x13 pan or 3 quart casserole dish, mix potatoes, cheddar cheese, bacon, and green onions.
- Stir in mayonnaise.
- Bake at 325 for an hour and a half or until potatoes are tender. Top with additional cheese if desired.
If you love the combo of cheese and potatoes, you will want to check out the cheesy potatoes in this Hearty Cheeseburger Soup!
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Oh Yum! this looks fantastic. This is a must save.
Yummy! Looking forward to trying this!!
What brand of Mayonnaise did you use?
I used Heinz for this post, but I’ve also used Hellmans in the past. Pretty much any mayonnaise, provided it’s real mayo and not Miracle Whip, will work perfectly for the recipe. (As for Miracle Whip, it may also work, but I haven’t tried that so I can’t vouch for that).
Can you use four cream instead of the mayo?
I haven’t tested this recipe using anything other than mayonnaise, so I honestly don’t know if you can substitute it to the same result. I would think that flavor-wise, it would be a great substitution, but I simply don’t know for sure. If you do attempt it, please let me know how it turned out for you!
I imagine it would be like cheesy hash browns 🙂
Can you use frozen diced potatoes?
Frozen diced potatoes should work just fine, as would a southern style hashbrown. I think most potato products would substitute well, flavor-wise, but you may have to adjust cooking time slightly. The cooking time I’ve listed is to ensure the potatoes cook fully– a faster-cooking product would take less time, so it may not take the full hour and a half. If you try it, let me know how it works out for you! 🙂
Can you tell me how many this feeds – I’m doing potatoes for a huge group and love the sound of this recipe, but need to do some math to be able to serve the whole group. Thanks
Hi, Sylvia! As a side dish, we usually get about 12-14 servings from these potatoes. They’re pretty hearty! I hope you enjoy them!
Has anyone tried par boiling the potatoes? Need to cut cooking time, but want to ensure potatoes are cooked.
While I haven’t tried parboiling the potatoes for this recipe, it should work fine to cut down that cooking time and still hold up well. I’ve heard emails from others who have successfully swapped southern-style (cube-type) hashbrowns for the potatoes in this, also, so that may be another way to cut down that time a bit! If you do try parboiling the potatoes in this recipe, please let me know how it turns out!
Have these in my oven now 🙂 Looking forward to trying them!
I hope they turned out well for you! 🙂
Omg I’m making this for dinner tonight looks Delicious!!
How many Servings is this??
We can usually get a good 12-16 servings as a side dish, or we add more meat to it (like ground beef) and get 6-8 servings as a main dish. It’s pretty hearty, but a lot depends on what you’re serving it with!
The great thing about this dish is it’s scaleable. If you want to make less, you can do so easily– just reduce the amount of potatoes and other ingredients you use. It’s one of those great dishes for dinner for two OR dinner for a crowd because it’s SO easy to scale up or down.
I hope you enjoy!
Hello, your recipe looks amazing! Going to serve it for Easter Beaster this year. However, I need oven space. Have you ever tried this in a large crock pot? If so… How long? Thanks for sharing!
So sorry, I have not tried this recipe in the crock pot yet! If you do give it a go, I’d do it on low and just watch until the potatoes are tender. I hope it works out for you well! Let me know how it goes!
Do u cover the potatoes with foil in the oven or leave open?
I keep them open for the best browning on top. I think the recipe would work fine with foil to prevent over-browning, but they are perfect left open!
forgot to cook the bacon, just mixed it all up together. It too late now to try and take all the bacon pieces out so I will just have to find out how it goes. 🙂
But bacon and potatoes good anyway you fix it haha
Let me know how it goes! Luckily, the cooking time should allow for the bacon to be cooked thoroughly, it just may not be quite as crispy! Enjoy.
I made these for dinner today. Success! Very easy to make and so delicious. Try for posting this recipe! I will make this again and again!
I am so glad they worked out for you! Thank you for stopping by to let me know they were a success!
I just came across this recipe in Pinterest….YUMMMMM. Big potato lover here, so you can bet I’ll be fixing this real soon. Thanks so much for sharing, your new fan, Sister From the South, LindY G
Let me know what you think! Love that!
Can you use bacon bits?
Hi, Selena! I’m certain bacon bits would be a great time-saving substitute in this recipe. I suggest adding them to your personal taste preference. Another time-saver would be to use fully cooked bacon strips, cut into pieces. If you try it, let me know how it turns out!
can I mix it up the day before and cook it tomorrow?
I would assume that it could work, but my fear is that the potatoes will get over-brown. If you try it, let me know how it turns out!
Is there an equivalent crock pot time for this recipe and do the ingredients change at all if there is? I’m not a big fan of using my oven in the summer but this looks delicious!
I haven’t tried the recipe in a crock pot yet, so if you try it, let me know! A friend of mine uses his crock pot that has a “burner” setting, so you may have more success with that. Let me know how it goes! Good luck!
I was desperate and hungry for potatoes; we don’t keep raw potatoes due to carbs. I used two cans of drained sliced potatoes, real bacon bits, half the cheese, lite mayo, and chives instead of green onions. I cooked at same time and temp. Hubby scarfed them down; so did I!
Wow, that’s great to know, that this substitution worked! It sounds amazing!
I would love to try this recipe with hamburger or sausage. How much would you recommend using with the amount of ingredients in your recipe?
This looks awesome!
Thank you.
I would suggest about a pound of beef or sausage for this recipe… but you may want to tweak it depending on your personal taste!
Have you ever used frozen hashbrowns for this? I’d like to avoid cutting up all those potatoes.
I haven’t personally tried it, but I have heard others try it with success– for the most similar results, I’d suggest the Southern Style (cube style) of hashbrowns! If you do try it, let me know how it goes!
Normally when I make a recipe for the first time I strictly follow the recipe. Alas, I was missing a an ounce or two of a couple ingredients, so I boosted my mayo with a bit of sour cream and boosted the cheddar with a bit of cream cheese. It’s all your fault! Your recipe had me seriously craving cheesy potatoes, the oven was already hot, it was fate?..I can’t wait for them to come out of the oven!
Those sound like some AWESOME modifications! I’ll definitely have to try it your way soon!
Has anyone one tried to freeze this recipe? Going on a girls weekend and looking for something that you can make ahead and freeze and just heat up.
What about salt & pepper?
You can definitely salt and pepper to taste– many people think the existing bacon is salt enough, but I just do a sprinkling of salt and pepper before baking and add more if needed after.
So I prepared these the night before and used Yukon Gold potatoes. The potatoes did not turn brown from sitting overnight and came out delicious.
I’m so glad to hear that it worked well for you! Thanks for letting me know your thoughts. 🙂
I want to have this for Thanksgiving, and need to know if it freezes well. Thank you.
Hi, Lou Anne. I haven’t personally tried freezing it, so I’m not sure… I hope you decide to try it and let me know how it goes! Have a happy Thanksgiving!
This looks amazing! Roughly how many potatoes did you use to get to the 8-10 cups diced? Thanks for your help!!
It took me about 6-8 smallish potatoes. Depending on the size of your potatoes, you may not need quite as many.
I just made these using red potatoes as that was all I had at home today. They are in the oven and look amazing. I hope they are yummy! It was an easy last minute side dish to whip up.
Red potatoes would be a delicious substitute! I hope they turned out well. Thank you so much for the kind words!
Can I make them and cook halfway today and finish cooking tomorrow? Don’t have time tomorrow to make. Thank you
I actually haven’t tried it, so I can’t tell you for sure, but I am assuming it would work just fine if you cover and cool it between bakes… The bake time is largely for the potatoes to cook, so if you get them mostly cooked today, they should reheat in the oven well tomorrow! If you do try it, let me know how it goes! 🙂
My 22 year old & 17 year old sons found this recipe and made these for the Mother’s Day dinner they cooked for our family back in May. They were delicious! I made them again during the summer for a cookout, and they’re on the menu again tonight for a dinner party. Thank you for sharing this easy and yummy recipe that even the picky eaters in my family love!
I’m so glad to hear that you all love them so much!