Vegan Funeral Potatoes
Serve vegan funeral potatoes at potlucks or the meal following a funeral (thus the name). It’s creamy shredded potatoes baked until golden.
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Why are they called Funeral Potatoes?
Funeral potatoes are popular in the United States, particularly in the western and midwestern regions. Why? Because they are quick to throw together and they are a crowd favorite at potlucks, gatherings, and events such as funerals (thus the name).
Imagine frozen grated potatoes and a creamy sauce made with sour cream and all the right seasonings. I’m going to show you how to make funeral potatoes vegan. It’s easy!
I’ve got a simple quick fix to replace the creamy condensed soup, which is usually not dairy-free.
Ingredients & Substitutions
You can find the full printable recipe, including ingredient quantities, below. But first, here are some explanations of ingredients and steps to help you make this recipe perfect every time.
- Potatoes — You’ll need one package (around 4 cups) of frozen grated potatoes.
- Cheese — I prefer vegan cheddar shreds, but you can substitute vegan mozzarella shreds.
- Sour Cream — We’ll be using a half-cup of vegan sour cream. Use your favorite brand or make homemade cashew cream.
- Cream cheese — To keep things simple, we’ll use vegan cream cheese instead of cream of mushroom soup, which is not vegan.
- Seasonings — For flavor, we’ll use some nutritional yeast flakes, salt, ground black pepper, onion powder, and garlic powder. Feel Free to experiment with these seasonings to get the best flavor for you!
- Corn flakes — This cereal creates a nice, crispy topping when combined with vegan butter.
What Makes This Recipe Shine?
- EASY — With a small number of ingredients, this recipe comes together in minutes and most of the time is in the oven. That makes it an easy casserole to make!
- CREAMY — Everyone loves creamy potatoes and this recipe delivers!
- CROWD FAVORITE — Take this dish to a potluck and watch it disappear!
Cheesy Potatoes in a Slow Cooker
To adapt this recipe for a slow cooker, we’ll need to modify the cooking method slightly to ensure the ingredients meld well without burning. Here’s how you can make vegan funeral potatoes a slow cooker:
- Prepare Ingredients: Follow the same steps for thawing the potatoes and mixing all the ingredients (vegan cheddar shreds, vegan sour cream, vegan cream cheese, nutritional yeast, salt, pepper, onion powder, garlic powder) in a large bowl. If the mixture is too thick, add 1 to 3 tablespoons of plant-based milk.
- Slow Cooker Prep: Lightly grease the inside of your slow cooker with non-stick spray or vegan butter.
- Transfer: Pour the potato mixture into the greased slow cooker and spread it evenly.
- Corn Flake Topping: Prepare the cereal topping and sprinkle it over the potato mixture in the slow cooker.
- Cook: Cover and cook on low for 4-5 hours or on high for 2-3 hours. Check occasionally to make sure the edges aren’t burning.
- Serve: Once the potatoes are tender and the cheese has melted, turn off the slow cooker and let it sit for about 10-15 minutes to set before serving.
Vegan Meals with Potatoes
I love serving vegan meals with potatoes. You can serve these vegan funeral potatoes as a side dish alongside other comfort food classics. Here are some favorites:
- Vegan Meatloaf — This lentil meatloaf is perfect to serve with potatoes.
- Vegan Chicken — It may sound complicated to make your own vegan chicken, but this recipe shows it’s pretty simple!
- Vegan Turkey — You can change up the seasonings and baste it and have a tasty vegan turkey to serve with your potato dish.
- Vegan Ham — Potatoes and ham are always a great flavor combination!
- Veggie Burgers — Any veggie burger can be served with potatoes, from my Vegan Black Bean Burger to my Vegan Big Mac recipes!
Storage Tips
Store leftover potatoes in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 5 days. They can be frozen in a freezer-safe container for up to 2 months.
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Vegan Sides
If you love these dairy-free funeral potatoes, here are more tasty vegan sides to try:
Vegan Cheesy Potatoes
Ingredients
- 1 32-oz bag frozen grated potatoes, thawed
- 1 cup vegan cheddar shreds
- ½ cup vegan sour cream
- 1 cup vegan cream cheese
- 1 tablespoon nutritional yeast flakes
- 2 teaspoons salt
- ¼ teaspoon ground black pepper
- 3 teaspoons onion powder
- 1-3 teaspoons garlic powder (see notes)
Corn Flake Topping
- 2 cups corn flakes cereal
- ¼ cup vegan butter, melted
Instructions
Oven Method:
- Preheat your oven to 350°F/175°C. Grease a 9×13 pan.
- Set out frozen potatoes to thaw.
- In a large mixing bowl, combine the vegan cheddar cheese, vegan sour cream, vegan cream cheese, salt, pepper, onion powder, and garlic powder. Mix well to combine. If the mixture is too thick, stir in 1 to 3 tablespoons plant-based milk.
- Pour in the thawed potatoes.
- Stir this mixture then transfer the mixture to the prepared baking dish.
For the Potatoes Topping:
- Combine cornflakes with melted vegan butter. Stir until coated.
- Sprinkle cornflakes over the casserole. Bake uncovered in the preheated oven for 50 to 55 minutes, or until the top is golden brown and the potatoes are heated through.
- Serve the potatoes hot. Garnish them with additional grated vegan cheese and/or chopped herbs.
Slow Cooker Method:
- Prepare Ingredients: Follow the same steps for thawing the potatoes and mixing all the ingredients (vegan cheddar shreds, vegan sour cream, vegan cream cheese, nutritional yeast, salt, pepper, onion powder, garlic powder) in a large bowl. If the mixture is too thick, add 1 to 3 tablespoons of plant-based milk.
- Slow Cooker Prep: Lightly grease the inside of your slow cooker with non-stick spray or vegan butter.
- Transfer: Pour the potato mixture into the greased slow cooker and spread it evenly.
- Corn Flake Topping: Prepare the cornflake topping and sprinkle it over the top of the potato mixture in the slow cooker.
- Cook: Cover and cook on low for 4-5 hours or on high for 2-3 hours. Check occasionally to make sure the edges aren't burning.
- Serve: Once the potatoes are tender and the cheese has melted, turn off the slow cooker and let it sit for about 10-15 minutes to set before serving.
Recommended Equipment
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Notes
Make Ahead
Assemble the casserole except for the topping. Cover it and refrigerate for 1 to 2 days. When you’re ready to bake, prepare the topping, and distribute it on top of the casserole. Increase the baking time for an additional 5-10 minutes if it’s coming straight from the fridge.Thawing Potatoes
Place the frozen hash browns in the fridge the night before so they can thaw overnight.Garlic
I personally love the flavor that 3 teaspoons of garlic powder adds, but I understand that garlic can be a strong flavor for some. If you’re unsure, I recommend starting with 1 teaspoon, then adjusting to taste for future batches. That way, you can find the perfect balance for your preferences!The nutrition information shown is an estimate provided by an online nutrition calculator and should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.
About the Author
Hi! I’m Marly McMillen. I’m the founding editor, author, recipe developer, vegan home chef, and food stylist behind Namely Marly. I’m so grateful to you and every member of my audience for your support and dedication. More about Namely Marly ›
11 Responses to Vegan Funeral Potatoes
Rate / Comment
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This is one of my favorite dishes I’ve tried. I am just learning how to cook vegan for my son. This Thanksgiving I made all vegan sides and this was by far the favorite on the table. My go to plant based dairy products in our area are Violife. Very tasty!
Hi Jill! So glad you liked this recipe. How nice that you’re working on dishes for your son. During our Thanksgiving dinner I was telling the story about how I took my daughter up in a cessna (with a friend as the pilot) and since everyone knows I’m not a fan of flying they asked, why did you do this! I said, I did it because I thought it would be a great experience for my daughter. The things we do for our kids! 🙂 We have Violife here too but I have only tried it a couple of times. Thanks for your recommendation!
My family loved this. I only used a half tsp of garlic powder and half tsp of onion powder. I been trying to veganize this recipe for years, this one is the closest.
Hi Heather. So glad your family loved the recipe and you find it to be closest to the real deal. I wonder if you tried the full garlic and onion powder if it would take it all the way! It’s so nice to have an easy recipe that delivers such comfort food appeal!
Wayyyyy too much garlic. I could not eat it because the taste of the garlic. If I were to make this again I would not add any garlic or maybe just a shake. Truly would have been good if not for the garlic. My sister is worried the house is going to reek of garlic for weeks. I used the 3 teaspoons in the recipe and I even added more cheese and sour creams so really the garlic taste would have bene even more powerful if I would not have done that. For reference I LOVE garlic.
Thank you for your feedback, Grace! I totally understand that garlic can be a bit much for some, even when you love it. I created the recipe with the 3 teaspoons of garlic powder to balance out the vegan cream cheese, which can sometimes have a strong flavor. But I completely agree—everyone’s taste is different! Based on your feedback I adapted the recipe card to suggest adjusting the garlic amount, so it’s more customizable. I appreciate you letting me know how you adapted it, and I hope your sister’s house didn’t end up smelling like garlic for weeks! Thanks again for sharing your thoughts!
Have you tried this in a slow cooker? We’re having a funeral luncheon catered and the caterers are bringing cheesy potatos/ funeral potatos. I was hoping to make a vegan version for the plant based and dairy free people in the crowd, but won’t have an oven available to me. If I had more time before the funeral I would just test it out, but I’m running short on time so I thought I’d see if you have tried it in a slow cooker!
Hi Katie. First, let me say I’m sorry for your loss! Second, your comment is timely because I’ve been wanting to add a slow cooker method to this recipe. I just added it to the recipe card. I have not tested this myself, but I had a family member who did so I adapted it based on their recommendations. I’ll be thinking of you and your family at this time.
I would like to try to make this for a church dinner (to give me something to eat). Do you have any recommendations about the best brands of vegan cream cheese and sour cream to use in your recipe? I like Violife cheddar shreds, so I’ll probably use those. Most of the vegan cream cheese brands are very stiff and hard to measure. I’m still looking for a good substitute for regular sour cream. Thanks!
Hi Jim. This is a great plan – we do this a lot when we’re going to dinners (bring our own so we have something to eat!). I think Tofutti has the best flavor when it comes to vegan cream cheese. I think Daiya cream cheese is a bit wonky tasting, but I usually can add a bit more garlic to cover it up! But some people can’t get over that taste. If that’s you, then you might want to go with Tofutti. Philadelphia is supposed to have a plant-based cream cheese, but I haven’t tried it yet. Regarding sour cream, I really really like Forager. Such a great flavor, but not always easy to find and it can be pricey. I usually buy it when it’s on sale. Tofutti’s sour cream is really good too. I have a much easier time with sour cream – most of them are pretty good. I also will use Forager’s plain yogurt in place of sour cream. Sprouts has a store brand coconut plain yogurt that is super creamy like sour cream. I hope this is helpful. Let me know if you have more questions!
I’m so glad you liked it Janine!