This oven baked 4-ingredients hash brown pie is exactly the kind of recipe you’d expect to find clipped from a 1950s magazine and tucked into a church cookbook—simple, economical, and endlessly dependable. It bakes up into a golden, crispy pie with a tender, layered potato interior, all in a clear glass pie dish so you can see the browned edges. With just frozen hash browns, butter, sour cream, and shredded cheese, it’s the kind of side dish that shows up at Easter once and then gets requested every single year afterward because everyone remembers “that potato pie” more than the ham.
Ingredients
4 cups frozen shredded hash browns, thawed and well drained
1 cup sour cream
1 1/2 cups shredded sharp cheddar cheese, divided
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted, plus a little extra for greasing the dish
Directions
Preheat your oven to 375°F (190°C). Lightly grease a 9-inch glass pie dish with a bit of butter, making sure to coat the bottom and sides so the potatoes don’t stick and the edges can crisp.
Thaw the frozen shredded hash browns completely. Spread them out on a clean kitchen towel or paper towels and press firmly to remove as much excess moisture as possible. This step is key to getting that golden, crisp exterior instead of a soggy pie.
In a large mixing bowl, stir together the thawed, well-drained hash browns, sour cream, 1 cup of the shredded cheddar cheese, and the melted butter. Mix until everything is evenly combined and the potatoes are well coated, but don’t overwork it; you want the shreds to stay distinct for a nice layered texture.
Transfer the potato mixture to the prepared glass pie dish. Gently press it into an even layer, smoothing the top and making sure the mixture reaches all the way to the edges and up the sides just slightly. This helps form that classic pie shape and ensures the edges brown nicely.
Sprinkle the remaining 1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese evenly over the top of the pie. This top layer will melt, bubble, and brown, giving you that old-fashioned, magazine-worthy golden crust when it comes out of the oven.
Place the pie dish on the center rack of the preheated oven and bake for 35–45 minutes, or until the top is deeply golden and crisp, the edges are browned, and you can see a bit of bubbling around the sides through the glass. Ovens vary, so start checking at about 30 minutes and continue until the color looks rich and toasty.
Remove the hash brown pie from the oven and let it rest on a cooling rack for at least 10 minutes. This short rest allows the layers to set up so you can cut clean wedges that show the interior shreds instead of collapsing into a scoop.