Our Beer Cheese Potato Casserole is the side dish you need for holidays and parties! Tender, thin sliced potatoes in a creamy, cheesy sauce infused with your favorite beer. This potato casserole goes wonderfully with most main courses, including your holiday ham and your roast turkey.
What Makes This Beer Cheese Potato Casserole So Good?
For one, the flavor can’t be beat – If you like beer and cheese, you’re in the right place. Also be sure to check out our homemade Beer Cheese Dip (also awesome for parties) and our insanely good Beer Cheese Sloppy Joes!
- Make Ahead Side Dish Recipe: You can make this potato casserole the day before and then pop it into the oven when you’re ready.
- Unique & Fun Flavors: What’s more fun than beer-infused food for parties? Just like scalloped potatoes but way more fun and tasty.
- Perfect for Holidays or Everyday Meals: Of course we’re making these potatoes for parties and holidays, but you can also make them on a weekend and have leftovers during the week.
Ingredients
These beer cheese potatoes likely use what you already have in your kitchen! You can use your favorite beer in this recipe, but note that a whole can (12 ounces) goes into these potatoes so you will taste it in the recipe.
- Yellow Potatoes: You can peel them or not, we often don’t. But you do need to use a mandoline slicer to get super thin potato slices.
- Yellow Onion: Sweet yellow onion is best, white onion will work as well.
- Seasonings: We’re using garlic powder and paprika in addition to salt and pepper. You can also use fresh garlic, or both (we often do). Sweet paprika works best for our flavors, but you can use a smoky paprika as well.
- Beer: A light lager or pilsner works best for this casserole. Do keep in mind that you do taste the beer in these potatoes so make sure it’s not too heavy.
- Heavy Cream: Helps bring the cheese sauce together and give it a creamy feel.
- Cheese: Nutty parmesan cheese and sharp cheddar are our favorites. You can use all parmesan cheese if you like, or swap out some other varieties.
- Butter: For cooking the onions and adding flavor to the sauce.
- Flour: Thickens the cheese sauce and holds it together.
- Cook diced onions in a skillet with butter for 5 minutes. Add salt, pepper, garlic powder and paprika to the onions along with flour. Stir and cook 1 minute longer.
- Pour in the beer and let reduce. Add heavy cream and bring to a simmer. Stir in both cheeses until smooth. Layer 1/3 of the potatoes in a 9″ x 13″ baking dish with the cheese sauce poured on top. Repeat with the rest of the potatoes, ending with the cheese sauce. Cover with foil and bake for 1 hour, remove foil and bake for 25 minutes.
Tips For Best Results
This beer cheese potato casserole is really easy to make, we’re sure it’ll become one of your family favorite recipes. Here’s a few tips to ensure best results!
- Make sure to use a mandoline: You really can’t get the potatoes thin enough, or cut uniformly with a knife. If the potatoes are sliced too thick they won’t cook through, or if you have some slices that are bigger than others.
- Let the casserole rest: After removing this potato casserole from the oven, let it rest for at least 15 minutes, uncovered. If you see little pools of buttery juices from the cheese, grab a large spoon or a spatula and scoop under the potatoes to let it seep in. We actually like to “chop” the potatoes up a bit for texture after baking, this also helps the sauce absorb.
- Use a beer you like the flavor of: You will taste the beer in these potatoes so make sure it’s one you like! We don’t recommend using a dark beer or a stout, as that will overpower the dish.
- Use heavy duty aluminum foil: Heavy duty foil with really lock in the heat, steaming the potatoes perfectly tender.
Is This Potato Casserole A Make Ahead Recipe?
Yes! You can make this potato side dish the day before and have it ready to go when you need it. You will have to take the casserole out of the refrigerator 30 minutes before baking to bring the ingredients up to room temperature.
We don’t recommend baking the day before and then heating back up because the cheese sauce will become slightly greasy. But we will say that leftovers are absolutely delicious! Heating up smaller portions in the microwave turns out perfectly, making these potatoes great for meal prepping.
Looking For More Potato Side Dishes?
- Cheesy Crock Pot Potatoes
- Potatoes Romanoff
- Twice Baked Potatoes
- Garlic Dill Roasted Potatoes
- Twice Baked Potato Casserole
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Beer Cheese Potato Casserole
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 1 hour 25 minutes
- Total Time: 1 hour 35 minutes
- Yield: 8 Servings 1x
Print Recipe
Pin RecipeOur Beer Cheese Potato Casserole is the side dish you need for holidays and parties! Tender, thin sliced potatoes in a creamy, cheesy sauce infused with your favorite beer. Make it ahead of time and pop it into the oven when you need it!
Ingredients
- 4 pounds yellow potatoes, thinly sliced on a mandoline (about 1/8″ thick, peeled or skins on – up to you)
- 4 tablespoons butter
- 1/2 cup finely diced yellow onion
- 2 teaspoons kosher salt
- 1 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon sweet paprika
- Freshly ground black pepper to taste
- 3 tablespoons flour
- 12 ounces of beer (a light beer like a lager so it doesn’t overpower the dish)
- 1 cup heavy cream
- 3/4 cup grated parmesan cheese
- 1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
- Make the cheese sauce: Melt the butter in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the onions and cook for 5 minutes until softened. Add the salt, pepper, garlic powder and paprika along with the flour, stirring until the flour is absorbed. Let cook for 1 minute, the slowly pour in the beer while whisking. Bring to a simmer and let reduce for 3-4 minutes, then add the cream and bring back to a simmer. Add the parmesan cheese and whisk until smooth, followed by the cheddar cheese, whisking until smooth. Taste for seasonings, adjust if needed and then turn off the heat.
- Spray a 9″ x 13″ baking dish with non-stick cooking spray. Layer 1/3 of the potatoes into the dish in an even layer and season with a thin layer of salt and pepper. Pour 1/3 of the cheese sauce over the potatoes and spread out to cover the potatoes. Repeat with another 1/3 of the potatoes, salt and pepper and 1/3 of the cheese sauce. Add the last layer of potatoes and the last of the cheese sauce, spreading out to cover the potatoes.
- Cover the baking dish with heavy duty aluminum foil and bake for 1 hour. After an hour, remove the foil and place back into the oven for 25 minutes or until the potatoes are tender. Remove from the oven and let rest for 15 minutes before serving. If there are any pools of buttery juices on top of the casserole, use a large spoon to lift the potatoes up from the bottom and let them absorb into the potatoes.
Recipe Notes
A mandoline slicer is needed to make these potatoes properly. You likely won’t be able to get the potato slices thin enough or consistent enough with a knife.
You can make this dish the day before and then bring it to room temperature 30 minutes before baking.
Store: Store leftovers in an air tight container in the refrigerator for up to 5 days.
Reheat: Reheat portions of the potatoes in the microwave until warmed through.
- Category: Side Dish
- Method: Oven
- Cuisine: American
