Skinny Cheesy Potato Casserole
on Apr 01, 2015, Updated Aug 01, 2024
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This Skinny Cheesy Potato Casserole is a lightened up version of my favorite cheesy potatoes. It has all the flavor of the original potato casserole and is the perfect side dish for your next dinner or holiday meal!
Looking for an alternative to potatoes? Try this cheesy cauliflower casserole!
This post has been updated since it was originally published on 4/1/2015
Table of Contents
- Why I love these potatoes
- The ingredients
- How to make cheesy potato casserole
- What to serve with cheesy potatoes
- Can I freeze the skinny cheesy potato casserole?
- Can frozen hash browns be used for cheesy potato casserole?
- Can I use full fat ingredients in this potato casserole?
- More side dish recipes
- Skinny Cheesy Potato Casserole Recipe
Why I love these potatoes
Cheesy potatoes – I’m pretty sure cheese and potatoes were made for each other. This potato casserole uses both cream cheese and cheddar cheese and it makes them rich and decadent!
Lightened up – Sometimes you want the real deal full fat version of a recipe and other times you want something a little lighter. This cheesy potato casserole swaps out several ingredients for their lower fat and calorie alternatives, but doesn’t sacrifice any of the flavor.
Holiday side dish – Growing up we always had this casserole with Easter dinner. It would also be a great alternative to mashed potatoes at Thanksgiving or the perfect potatoes to serve with Christmas dinner.
The ingredients
- Potatoes – Russet potatoes are what I generally use for this casserole, but you could also use Yukon Gold potatoes.
- Green onion – Adds a mild onion flavor. Yellow onion would be too harsh in flavor.
- Butter – Even though you don’t use very much, th butter adds a little richness to the casserole.
- Cream cheese – Low fat cream cheese, also labeled as 1/3 less fat or Neufchatel cheese is what the recipe calls for. Full fat may be used, but I don’t recommend non-fat.
- Greek yogurt – Plain Greek yogurt is used as an alternative to sour cream. It adds creaminess, tang, and protein to the potatoes.
- Milk – Non-fat, low-fat, or whole milk can be used. The higher the fat content the richer the flavor.
- Mozzarella and cheddar cheese – I like the combination of these two cheeses for the best flavor, but also as a way to cut down on fat as mozzarella is considered a lower fat cheese in comparison to some.
How to make cheesy potato casserole
Boil the potatoes – Wash and peel the potatoes then cut them in half and add them to a large pot of salted water. Bring them to a boil and cook them until they’re al dente. They shouldn’t be so tender that they can be mashed.
Shred the potatoes – Let the potatoes cool for a few minutes and then use a the largest grate on a box grater to shred them.
Combine ingredients – In a large bowl whisk together the melted butter, cream cheese, Greek yogurt, milk, salt, and pepper. Add in the shredded potatoes, green onions, and 1/2 a cup each of the mozzarella and cheddar.
Stir everything together until combined then put the potato mixture into a baking dish sprayed with cooking oil. Add the remaining cheese to the top of the casserole.
Bake – Bake the potato casserole at 375° F. for 30 minutes or until the cheese is melted and bubbly.
What to serve with cheesy potatoes
Potatoes and chicken are always a delicious combination. This casserole would go great paired with baked lemon pepper chicken, slow cooker barbecue chicken, or this creamy mushroom chicken.
If you’re planning to serve this at the holidays, it pairs nicely with ham, turkey, and lamb chops. Some other holiday side dishes I recommend serving with the potatoes are whole wheat dinner rolls, honey roasted carrots with goat cheese and thyme, and this Autumn apple pear salad.
Can I freeze the skinny cheesy potato casserole?
I don’t recommend freezing this casserole because of all the dairy in it. It will likely change the texture and make the casserole watery.
Can frozen hash browns be used for cheesy potato casserole?
Yes. If you’re in a hurry frozen hash browns can be used. I recommend getting a 24 ounce bag. Let them defrost before combining with all of the other ingredients. The texture won’t be exactly the same, but similar.
The remaining changes to the recipe were using skim milk, cutting back on some of the cheese used, and replacing half of the amount of sharp cheddar cheese with part skim mozzarella. The potatoes were amazingly creamy and cheesy even with all the substitutions!
Can I use full fat ingredients in this potato casserole?
Yes. If making a lightened up casserole isn’t important to you feel free to use full fat cream cheese, Greek yogurt, and milk.
More side dish recipes
- Herb Roasted Potatoes with Blue Cheese
- Berry Fruit Salad
- Balsamic Maple Roasted Brussels Sprouts with Bacon
- Berries and Feta Salad
- Parmesan Pesto Roasted Cauliflower
Did you make this skinny cheesy potato casserole? I’d love if you’d leave a recipe rating and review below.
Skinny Cheesy Potato Casserole
Ingredients
- 3 1/2 pounds russet potatoes washed and peeled
- 1/2 cup finely chopped green onions
- 1 tablespoon butter melted
- 2 ounces low fat cream cheese room temperature
- 1 1/2 cups plain 2% or non-fat Greek yogurt
- 1/2 cup low fat milk
- 1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
- 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- 3/4 cup shredded part skim mozzarella divided
- 3/4 cup shredded sharp cheddar cheese divided
Instructions
- Spray a 3 quart casserole dish or a 9×13 dish with cooking oil and set aside.
- Wash and peel the potatoes, then cut them in half and add them to a large pot of salted water. Bring the potatoes to a boil and cook for 8-10 minutes. They should be nearly tender, but still have some bite to them. Let the potatoes cool until you are able to handle them, then using a box grater shred them using the largest grate.
- In a large bowl whisk together the melted butter, cream cheese, Greek yogurt, milk, salt, and pepper. Add in the shredded potatoes, green onions, and 1/2 a cup each of the shredded mozzarella and cheddar cheese. Taste for seasoning and add more salt if needed.
- Fold everything together until combined then pour the potatoes into the prepared casserole dish. Top with the remaining cheese. Bake the potatoes at 375° F. for about 30 minutes or until the cheese is melted and bubbly.
Video
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
I didn’t have cream cheese and this was still super yummy! Great way to use up some potatoes :)
Happy to hear you liked the potatoes Crystal, thanks for trying them out!
Hi Danae!
Greek yogurt brands taste very different to me. Could you tell me which brand of plain Greek yogurt you used? I would love to try this recipe out! Thank you for sharing!
Sincerely,
Susan
Hi Susan! I always use Fage plain Greek yogurt. I love the thick consistency and taste.
Have you ever frozen these potatoes? I have a lot of potatoes (got 10 lb for $2!!) to use up. I know you can freeze mashed potatoes and this looks like it might work the same way.
Holy cow Ami, what a steal on the potatoes! I’m always a little weary about freezing stuff that contains dairy because it tends to mess with the texture or separate when you defrost it. However, what you could do is shred those potatoes and freeze them flat in freezer bags. I’ve had other readers tell me they’ve used the frozen shredded potatoes you can buy at the store for this recipe. Doing that would at least save you the shredding step of the recipe (which is what take the longest).
These were really good! I only had 2% milk and yogurt, and used a sauteed leek in place of the onion. And I left the skins on the potatoes. Awesome dinner with a salad. Thanks for posting!
Thanks Laurie and I’m glad you liked them! They’re one of my favorite potato dishes. :-)
Just made these for Easter & they were a hit! Do you have nutrition facts?
This is a lot like a recipe that is always a must for our Christmas, New Years, and Easter. We boil the the potatoes and then let cool for several hours or overnight and then grate. We use sour cream and butter. The recipe uses cheddar cheese and a cream of chicken or mushroom soup. It was given to us by a dear old lady who was a Grandma type figure to our family. She’s long since passed. The crazy thing is most of my siblings use her recipe for family gatherings and my brother made it for a teacher who was sick and she’s since made it.
Hi Christy!
Your recipe sounds almost identical to my mom’s version that I adapted this from, how funny! It’s a tradition that we have it every year with Easter dinner.
I just found this recipe on Pinterest and it will be making an appearance at this year’s Thanksgiving dinner. My taste testers will flip for this. And yes I don’t like using the word skinny in a title but whatever works for traffic. You’ve got the right idea! You want people to find the recipe. The photos are great!
Thanks so much Theresa! It will be on my Thanksgiving table as well! :-)
I made your your Skinny Cheesy Potato Casserole this past week and it was super yummy and a family favorite! It will be going in my rotation for sure!!!! I made the recipe without changing a thing, and it was perfect!!
Hi Eileen, I’m so happy to hear you and your family enjoyed the potato casserole! It’s one of our favorites as well and my husband always requests it to have with holiday dinner. Thanks for trying the recipe!
If I wanted to use frozen hash browns to save time, how much would I use for this recipe? I’m excited to lighten it up using Greek yogurt.
Hi Dawn! I’m excited you’re trying out the recipe. I haven’t ever made the potato casserole using frozen hash browns so I can’t tell you for sure how much to use, but if I had to guess I would say approximately 6-7 cups. Hope this helps!
I tried using frozen hash browns and used 6 cups. It was the perfect amount!
Awesome Chelsea! I’m glad the hash browns worked and thanks for sharing the time saving tip!
These look so good. It makes me want to eat some now and it’s only breakfast time now.
I see nothing wrong with cheesy potatoes for breakfast Stephanie! ;-)