I wish I had a cute story behind this not-so-cute dish, but the truth is that I saw a hash brown casserole recipe online and wanted to fat-free veganize it. So I did.
I threw out all the butter, the cheese, the sour cream, the cream of chicken-parts soup, as well as the corn flakes on top, and what I had left was a package of hash brown potatoes–and the need for a really good sauce. So I turned to my favorite cheesy sauce, which can magically transform even the most mundane ingredients into instant comfort food.
As you know, I can’t resist the impulse to turn side dishes into one-pot meals, so I chopped up some kale and added a can of chickpeas, which resulted in one of the least attractive casseroles I’ve ever seen (and casseroles aren’t generally known for their beauty). But it tasted rich and comforting, with less than half of the fat of the original (even though my servings are much larger) and none of the cholesterol. And as an added bonus, it’s gluten-free!
Besides being a great main dish, consider this the perfect choice for your next brunch or hearty breakfast. Leftovers keep well—just reheat gently in the oven or taster oven.
For more casseroles (some of them pretty nice looking!) check out my Casseroles Archive of 40+ recipes.
Healthy Hash Brown Casserole
Ingredients
Sauce
- 1 1/4 cups water
- 1 cup plain sugar-free non-dairy milk
- 3/4 cup nutritional yeast
- 1/4 cup raw cashews or 2 tablespoons tahini optional
- 3 tablespoons potato starch or cornstarch
- 1 1/2 tablespoons lemon juice
- 1 - 1 1/2 teaspoons salt omit for low-sodium diets
- 1 teaspoon dry mustard
- 1 teaspoon smoked paprika
- 1/2 teaspoon turmeric
- 1/8 - 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper optional
- black pepper to taste
Casserole
- 1 large onion chopped
- 3-4 cloves garlic minced
- 12 ounces kale stems removed and leaves chopped
- 16 ounces frozen Southern-style hash brown potatoes thawed (see notes below)
- 1 15- ounce can chickpeas rinsed and drained
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 F. Oil a 11x9-inch baking dish.
- Place sauce ingredients in blender and blend at high speed until smooth.
- Heat a large, deep non-stick skillet or wok over medium-high heat. Add the onion and cook, stirring, until softened, about 3 minutes. (Add water by the tablespoon if needed to prevent sticking.) Stir in the garlic, kale, and 2 tablespoons of water; cover tightly. Cook, stirring every 60 seconds, until kale has wilted to about half its volume.
- Add the sauce, hash browns, and chickpeas. Cook, stirring constantly, until the sauce begins to thicken.
- Pour into prepared baking dish. Cover with foil and bake for 40 minutes. Uncover and bake until casserole is set (no longer liquid in the middle), 10-15 minutes. Serve hot.
Recipe Notes
To make a more traditional style casserole, leave out the kale and chickpeas and use a 32-ounce package of hash browns instead.
Be sure to buy diced hash browns with no oil added. They should contain about 70 calories and no fat per serving. If they aren't available, peel and cut regular potatoes into 1/2-inch cubes.
Nutrition, per serving, without cashews or tahini: 209 calories, 21 calories from fat, 2.6g total fat, 0mg cholesterol, 489.6mg sodium, 764.1mg potassium, 37.3g carbohydrates, 8g fiber, less than 1g sugar, 13g protein.
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Enjoy!
Diane Maree
12 ounces, 16 ounces – we’re in metric here. How many cups would this be please? Thank you.
Krys
Thank you for such a great recipe! This was the first recipe I saw when I turned on the computer this morning and it looked so delicious I just had to make it.. DELICIOUS! Love your blog 🙂
Emily
This was insanely, deliciously good – thank you soooooo much for this recipe!!! This will definitely make it into the regular rotation in my house!!!
Louistine
I just finished cooking your Healthy Hash Brown Potatoes. They were slamming. Thanks for your wonderful recipes. I’m originally from the south and your recipes call to me. They are the most delicious I’ve found!!
salbers
I’m on a mission to save the world from waste. Did you know that 35-40% of all supermarket vegetables never get eaten and are wasted? Disgusting. With that in mind, you’ll appreciate why I consider your kale leaves rape of their nutritious stems food porn. Diced and possibly cooked a bit longer, they are toothsome terrific in your casserole.
An ethnic food store I frequent employs ladies to stem and bag kale leaves for fussy shoppers. They give me their stems FOR FREE! I dice them and freeze them and put them into countless dishes. Imagine all that wonderful free fiber and nutrition. So, if you’ll feed me for free, I’ll send you my fedex account number and you can ship your stems to me.
Kelly L
Hi!
This looks really good, but I have a question. You list each serving as 4.2 g of carbs, but 38 g of sugar – what is the total grams of carbs? Would it be 38? Or, 38 + 4.2? Thanks.
Susan Voisin
The way it’s written can be hard to understand, but it’s 38g of total carbs and 1g of sugar.
Tyler
When I want to “disguise” a casserole that’s not very good looking, I use a topping made of a couple TBSP of almond meal (ground almonds) and ground flax seed, and mix in some dried parsley or Italian herb mix (like Mrs. Dash). Are you allowed that much fat? It’s not a lot – and I spread it thin, but it does make it look better and those two things are healthy for the heart. Just FYI.
Connie W.
Toasted then ground sesame seeds used in toppings the same as you would bread crumbs is equally as good.
Neal Sims
Susan,
You are the best. We have vegan cookbooks, fat free vegan cookbooks, Asian cookbooks, Indian cookbooks and we use your recipes more than anything else. When you send one out that I think looks interesting, I print it off and put it in a three ring binder. So actually, we now have a Susan Voisin cookbook.
Thank you for all you do.
Colleen
Hi Susan,
Your recipe for Healthy Hash Brown Casserole is great! It is perfect vegan comfort food because it stands on its own as a great casserole. We love it with a green salad and a wedge of pita bread. I think the sauce is best using cashews and almond milk and love to make it with diced fresh potatoes.
Thank you for all the time you have devoted over the years to these recipes!
I think you are a culinary genius and wish you had a cookbook.
Colleen
anne davis
Thank you for putting the recipe at the beginning of the page. Almost all recipe sites make you scroll down through thoughts, family photos, and all kinds of crap before getting to the recipe itself. Not a fan of that at all !
Allison
If I am using regular chopped potatoes, should I steam or boil them first?
Thanks!
Susan Voisin
As long as you cut them small, they shouldn’t need to be pre-cooked.
Janique
I made this casserole for my vegan brother at a big family brunch and also made traditional hashbrown casserole. This was by far the family favorite. Great recipe, easy to make and absolutely delicious.
* bonus: you feel great after eating it. Energized, a great start to your day!
Megan
Just wanted to say thank you so much for this recipe! It’s become a family tradition for the first snow of the year, and is our favorite comfort food when the weather gets cold. I’ve made quite a few variations (frozen kale, fresh potatoes, added chickpeas) and it’s always come out incredible!
Amy
Can you make this ahead of time and re-heat it?
Susan Voisin
Yes, just make sure that it doesn’t dry out too much.
Marie
I’m wondering how many servings this makes (for the purpose of tracking calories) because the label says serving size is 0. Really it could be just one serving because I could eat the whole thing by myself in a day!
Susan Voisin
Sorry about the confusion. It makes 8 servings.
Jodi
Would it be ok without turmeric? I don’t have it.
Susan Voisin
Yes, I mainly use it to add color.
Mary Pomerantz
I made this again last night substituting broccoli for the chickpeas. We loved it. This is the best ‘ccheese’ sauce ever! Thanks!
Eden
I can’t express how delicious this recipe is. The only changes I made were;
– Half low sodium vegetable broth and half water (instead of all water)
– topped with bread crumbs for an extra crunchy texture!
And when it came out of the oven, I topped it with some corn salsa and avocado😍
My non-vegan boyfriend was so impressed, he devoured it.
Rosemary
Love this recipe. it really is extra good.
Deb
I made this yesterday. It was very runny for some reason and not at all like a casserole. More like a thick stew. I followed the recipe so I’m not sure where I went wrong. We didn’t really care for the sauce. I am completely up for trying to make it again, though. I love the potatoes, chickpeas and spinach together. (We aren’t fans of kale) Thank you for sharing all of your recipes. We really enjoyed the pasta fagioli!