CHEESY HASHBROWNS FOR A CROWD

Cheesy Hashbrowns for a Crowd image

This is the recipe we used for the Legion District meeting today. One recipe of this will make an electric roaster full--about 75 servings. There is no salt added to this recipe. I do not usually add salt when cooking and it can be added at the table.

Provided by Sheila Kremer

Time 3h30m

Number Of Ingredients 8

Ingredients

12 lb shredded hashbrowns
6 can(s) (10 oz. each) cream of chicken soup
4 16 oz. cartons, sour cream
2 c 2% milk
8 c shredded cheddar cheese
2 Tbsp garlic powder
2 Tbsp onion powder
2 Tbsp pepper

Steps:

1. Line electric roaster pan with roaster liner. Spray liner with non-stick cooking spray. Be sure you use a roaster liner as there is nothing worse than cleaning an electric roaster pan that has baked on hashbrowns!
2. Stir together cream of chicken soup, sour cream, milk, garlic powder, onion powder and pepper in a large bowl until well blended.
3. Pour half of the hashbrowns into roaster pan. Add all of the soup mixture and stir well. Use a wooden spoon to stir so as not to tear the roaster liner.
4. Add in remaining hashbrowns and stir well. Pour in about 1/4 of the cheese at a time and mix well until you have stirred in all of the cheese.
5. At this point, you can cover the hashbrown mixture with Saran wrap and then aluminum foil and refrigerate overnight if you have access to a commercial refrigerator or remove the drawers from the bottom of your refrigerator and set the roaster pan in the bottom of the fridge.
6. When you are ready to bake the hashbrowns, remove from refrigerator, put some hot water in the bottom of the electric roaster (about 2-3 cups) and set the roaster pan into the roaster. Remove Saran Wrap and foil and put cover on roaster.
7. Set roaster at 350--check and stir after half an hour--if the hashbrowns seem to be bubbling along the edges of the pan, turn the roaster down to 275. Continue to cook for about 3-4 hours, checking and stirring every half hour. Be sure you stir with a silicone spatula or wooden spoon as a metal spoon will rip the roaster liner and you will have a mess!
8. For the Legion convention meal, we doubled this recipe and made it in two electric roasters. We served this with a 4 oz. portion scoop and got 75 servings from each roaster.