Cracker Barrel Hash Brown Casserole

By srumbel

Those who know Cracker Barrel love the restaurant for its delicious home-style breakfasts. This casserole, made with hash brown-sliced potatoes, Colby cheese, milk, beef broth, and spices is served with many of the classic breakfast dishes at the restaurant. The recipe here is designed for a skillet that is also safe to put in the oven (so no plastic handles). If you don't have one of those, you can easily transfer the casserole to a baking dish after it is done cooking on the stove.
from Source Top Secret Restaurant Recipes by Todd Wilbur.

Ingredients

• 1 26-ounce bag frozen country-style hash browns
• 2 cups shredded Colby cheese
• 1/4 cup minced onion
• 1 cup milk
• 1/2 cup canned beef broth
• 2 tablespoons butter, melted
• Pinch garlic powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper

Preparation

Step 1

1. Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F.

2. Combine the frozen hash browns, cheese, and onion in a large bowl.

3. Combine the milk, beef broth, half the melted butter, the garlic powder, salt and black pepper in another bowl. Mix until well blended, then pour the mixture over the hash browns and mix well.

4. Heat the remaining butter in a large, ovenproof skillet over high heat.

5. When the skillet is hot, spoon in the hash brown mixture. Cook the hash browns, stirring occasionally, until hot and all of the cheese has melted (about 7 minutes).

6. Put the skillet into the oven and bake for 45 to 60 minutes or until the surface of the hash browns is golden brown.

Serves 4 to 6 as a side dish.

Tidbits: If your skillet isn't ovenproof (because it has a plastic handle, for example), you can also spoon the potatoes into a glass 8x8-inch baking dish and microwave the potatoes until they are hot and the cheese has melted. Then put that baking dish into the 425 degrees F oven until the surface of the hash browns has browned. If you can't find Colby cheese, you can also use Cheddar cheese for this recipe.