Description
Hearty slow cooker cowboy potato casserole brings rustic ranch-style comfort to your dinner table. Creamy potatoes, savory meats, and bold seasonings blend into a soul-warming dish you’ll crave again and again.
Ingredients
Scale
Protein:
- 1 lb (450 g) ground beef (or sausage)
- ½ cup chopped cooked bacon (optional)
Vegetables and Seasonings:
- 1 small onion, diced
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- ½ cup chopped green onions (optional, for garnish)
- 1 teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon black pepper
- ½ teaspoon smoked paprika (optional)
- ½ teaspoon chili powder (optional, for a little kick)
Dairy and Soup Base:
- 1 can (10.5 ounces or 297 grams) cream of mushroom or cream of cheddar soup
- ½ cup (120 milliliters) sour cream
- ½ cup (120 milliliters) milk
- 1 ½ cups shredded cheddar cheese (divided)
Potatoes:
- 3 cups frozen or fresh diced potatoes (hash browns or cubed russet potatoes)
Instructions
- Brown ground beef and onions in a skillet, ensuring meat is thoroughly cooked and onions become translucent and soft.
- Infuse the meat mixture with aromatic garlic and a blend of spices, stirring continuously to evenly distribute the seasonings and enhance the flavor profile.
- Carefully eliminate excess fat from the meat mixture by draining, creating a leaner foundation for the casserole.
- Transfer the seasoned beef and onion mixture into the slow cooker, creating an even layer as the base of the dish.
- Layer diced potatoes systematically over the meat, ensuring complete coverage and uniform distribution across the cooking surface.
- Sprinkle shredded cheese generously over the potato layer, allowing it to melt and create a rich, creamy texture during cooking.
- Drizzle cream of mushroom soup evenly across the entire casserole, which will provide moisture and bind the ingredients together.
- Incorporate crumbled bacon on top, which will add a smoky crunch and additional depth of flavor to the dish.
- Cover the slow cooker and set to low heat, allowing the ingredients to meld and cook gently for several hours until potatoes are tender and cheese is perfectly melted.
- Once cooking is complete, let the casserole rest for a few minutes before serving to allow flavors to settle and make portioning easier.
Notes
- Trim excess fat from ground beef to reduce overall dish greasiness and create a leaner protein base.
- Opt for lean ground beef (90/10 or 93/7) to minimize fat content while maintaining rich flavor profile.
- Consider swapping ground beef with ground turkey for a lower-calorie, healthier alternative that still delivers robust taste.
- When sautéing onions and beef, ensure high enough heat to achieve proper caramelization and develop deeper, more complex flavor notes.
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 5 hours 45 minutes
- Category: Dinner, Lunch
- Method: Sautéing
- Cuisine: American
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 6
- Calories: 450
- Sugar: 2 g
- Sodium: 800 mg
- Fat: 25 g
- Saturated Fat: 12 g
- Unsaturated Fat: 10 g
- Trans Fat: 1 g
- Carbohydrates: 35 g
- Fiber: 3 g
- Protein: 20 g
- Cholesterol: 80 mg