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Healthier Cheesy Potatoes

January 24, 2014

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The creamy, crunchy potato side dish we all love, just lightened up a bit.

I think cheesy potatoes might be one of America’s favorite side dishes.  I’ve heard a few different names for this sort of dish, from Crack Potatoes to Funeral Potatoes.  The cheesy potato recipe I have been making for years is called Prudence Penny’s Perfect Potatoes.  The recipe came from my aunt. I wondered who in the world Prudence Penny was, and also why she felt like her potatoes needed so much butter in them?  Not very prudent if you ask me… 

So then I did a little research and found out that Prudence Penny was a pseudonym for the cooking instructors and writers, and later the food editors, of the Dear Abby style cooking column from the Hearst Newspaper in the 1930’s.  Good to know!  I love learning the history of the recipes I have collected.

The creamy, crunchy potato side dish we all love, just lightened up a bit.

For these Healthier Cheesy Potatoes, I set out to see if I could keep the cheesiness, saltiness, and creaminess that we all love without so much of the butter, canned soup, and sour cream.  I actually halved the amount of butter the original recipe called for, substituted a simple white sauce for the canned soup, and substituted nonfat plain Greek yogurt for some of the sour cream.  I loved the way they turned out so much, I even made two batches of them for a big family get together – and they were totally devoured.

The creamy, crunchy potato side dish we all love, just lightened up a bit.

I can honestly say I prefer them made the healthier way, and if you know me this is usually not the case!  I think Prudence Penny would be proud.

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Skinny Cheesy Potatoes

  • Author: Julie
  • Prep Time: 20 minutes
  • Cook Time: 1 hour 10 minutes
  • Total Time: 1 hour 30 minutes
  • Yield: 8 1x
  • Category: Sides
  • Method: Bake
  • Cuisine: American
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Description

These healthier cheesy potatoes are still the creamy, crunchy potato side dish we all love, just lightened up a bit.


Ingredients

Scale
  • 6 tablespoons melted butter (divided)
  • 2 tablespoons flour
  • 1 cup milk
  • 1 teaspoon chicken base
  • 1 cup sour cream
  • 1 cup plain nonfat Greek yogurt
  • 1/2 teaspoon onion powder
  • 2 lbs. frozen diced hash brown potatoes, mostly thawed
  • 2 cups sharp cheddar cheese
  • 1/3 cup crushed Ritz crackers (about 1/3 of a tube)

Instructions

  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a small saucepan, on medium high heat, add 2 tablespoons of melted butter. Whisk in flour, and allow to brown and bubble, stirring constantly, for two minutes. Slowly whisk in milk and chicken base, and stir frequently while the mixture simmers and thickens slightly (about 3-4 minutes). Remove from heat.
  2. In a large bowl, mix together remaining 4 tablespoons of melted butter, sour cream, Greek yogurt, and onion powder.
  3. Add the white sauce from the saucepan into the sour cream / Greek yogurt mixture.
  4. Stir in hash browns and cheese.
  5. Pour into a greased 9 x 13 baking dish.
  6. Bake for 50 minutes. Remove the potatoes from the oven and top with crushed Ritz crackers. Put the potatoes back into the oven for 10 more minutes.


Nutrition

  • Serving Size: 1 Serving
  • Calories: 526
  • Sugar: 3.7g
  • Sodium: 521mg
  • Fat: 35g
  • Saturated Fat: 20g
  • Unsaturated Fat: 10.8g
  • Trans Fat: 1.3g
  • Carbohydrates: 32g
  • Fiber: 2.5g
  • Protein: 22g
  • Cholesterol: 100mg

Keywords: healthier cheesy potatoes, cheesy potatoes, potato side dish, potatoes

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Filed Under: Healthy, Holidays, Potatoes, Sides

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Comments

  1. Jen @ It's a Food Fetish says

    January 24, 2014 at 11:07 am

    These look magnificent, Julie! And even better that they are skinny. I can’t wait to give these a try.

    Reply
    • Julie says

      January 24, 2014 at 11:39 am

      Thanks Jen! Hope you enjoy too.

      Reply
  2. Consuelo @ Honey & Figs says

    January 24, 2014 at 2:43 pm

    These cheesy potatoes look perfect! I’d never tell they are healthier than the real thing. I bet they’re even better, actually ; ) Love the pictures, by the way! You have such a lovely blog! xx

    Reply
    • Julie says

      January 24, 2014 at 3:06 pm

      Thank you Consuelo!

      Reply
  3. Martha Artyomenko says

    February 9, 2014 at 11:05 pm

    You ever made them with real potatoes?

    Reply
    • Julie says

      February 10, 2014 at 6:53 am

      Hi Martha, I have only made this recipe with frozen hash browns. I don’t see why you couldn’t make that substitution though.

      Reply
  4. Linda says

    April 29, 2015 at 11:53 am

    Ritz crackers are not a “healthy” product.

    Reply
    • Kenzie says

      December 23, 2015 at 5:02 pm

      If you really don’t like it, you can leave them off.

      Reply
    • Whitney Clark says

      November 25, 2016 at 9:55 am

      You can use kellogs corn flakes which is a little more healthier to still get that crunch.

      Reply
    • Jenny says

      May 10, 2017 at 8:48 am

      You can also substitute reduced fat Ritz crackers.

      Reply
  5. gloria uloth says

    May 6, 2015 at 6:13 am

    Nice to see recipes without the canned soup. I am very allergic to MSG and most canned goods contain it. Keep up the good work

    Reply
    • Julie says

      May 6, 2015 at 2:11 pm

      Thank you Gloria! Glad I could help.

      Reply
  6. Anna says

    May 7, 2015 at 3:37 pm

    I am so glad to see that somebody besides me hates the canned soup! I have made my own cream of whatever soups for years and used just a cheese sauce for these. I hadn’t thought about how much butter, however, or the Greek yogurt! I thank you for your insights and I’m going to go make a batch right now. With fresh russet potatoes.

    Reply
    • Julie says

      May 7, 2015 at 6:41 pm

      Sounds good Anna!

      Reply
  7. Danielle says

    November 23, 2015 at 7:47 pm

    Any thoughts on this being in the crock pot?

    Reply
    • Julie says

      November 23, 2015 at 9:27 pm

      I haven’t tried this in the crockpot, but I think it could be done. Just not sure how long it would take to cook. Let me know how it goes if you decided to try it!

      Reply
  8. bridget says

    December 16, 2019 at 1:14 pm

    can you make this the night before?

    Reply
  9. Ellen says

    March 6, 2021 at 1:03 pm

    This sounds tasty, but what is “chicken base”?

    Reply
    • Julie says

      March 6, 2021 at 1:31 pm

      Ellen, chicken base is like a very concentrated chicken stock paste. You can use it like a chicken bullion cube, but it is better! I get “Better Than Bullion” chicken base at Costco and never use regular stock anymore.

      Reply

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Hi I'm Julie, and I spend a lot of time in my lovely little kitchen. I love gathering my family around simple delicious food. This is how I do it. Learn more →

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