Funeral Potatoes
While not strictly a Moonwater Café recipe, this side dish uses Cyrus’ favorite food as an ingredient—cornflakes. As a fellow cornflake-lover, I declare funeral potatoes one of the very, very few acceptable uses for cornflakes outside eating them as-is.
What are funeral potatoes, and why do they have that creepy name? Well, chances are you’ve actually had something like funeral potatoes before. Potatoes plus cheese plus creamy ingredients plus crunchy toping isn’t exactly a culinary revolution. The name, however, seems to be pretty much a Utah thing. Why are they called funeral potatoes? Because we eat them at funeral luncheons, of course! Well, not always, but they are a traditional side dish at funeral luncheons in Utah.
They’re not only eaten after funerals, though, or even mainly eaten after funerals. Ham served with funeral potatoes is a traditional meal for Christmas and Easter dinners. Funeral potatoes are likewise a frequent sight as a Thanksgiving side, in addition to mashed potatoes and sweet potatoes.
So, there are a few ideas for you. Here’s my mom’s fabulous funeral potato recipe.
Ingredients
33 oz Hash Browns (Shredded, from a frozen package is easiest)
2 cans Cream of Chicken Soup
2 cups Sour Cream
1 heaping cup Grated Cheese
1/2 cup Butter (Melted)
2 Tbsp-1/4 cup Yellow Onion
Topping Ingredients:
4 cups Cornflakes
1/4-1/3 cup Butter (Melted)
Instructions
Mix the cream of chicken, sour cream, cheese, and butter.
Add the hashbrowns and onion and mix.
Spread and pack down in a glass, greased 9x13 dish.
Crush the cornflakes slightly and mix with the melted butter.
Spread the cornflake mixture evenly over the top of the potato mixture.
Bake at 350° degrees for 30 minutes to an hour, until bubbly. Watch to make sure the cornflakes don’t burn, and cover with foil if they seem to be getting too dark.