With a luscious homemade cheesy sauce, pieces of crispy bacon and creamy potatoes, this cheesy potato casserole makes the perfect side dish for a roast dinner or elevates a humble sausage supper to great new heights!

Overhead shot of a dish of cheesy potato casserole topped with grated cheese and bacon pieces.

I've been making this cheesy potato casserole for years and it's become a regular addition to our family dinners. If you want to try a different way to serve potatoes with your Sunday roast or a mid-week plate of sausages I would heartily recommend this dish.

When I lived in South Africa this potato casserole was always a great hit as a side dish at a barbeque. It was particularly good when served with boerewors (a traditional South African sausage). If you'd like to try the taste of boerewors I've got a recipe for boerewors patties - so you get all the taste of the sausage without the fuss of stuffing sausage casings!

Over the years I've experimented with both waxy and floury potatoes, and I have to say waxy potatoes are the way to go. Their firm texture holds up beautifully when baked in the creamy sauce. Unlike floury potatoes which tend to disintegrate into the sauce and turn into a cheesy mash, a waxy potato remains intact. Once you've tasted a slice of waxy potato smothered in the delicious cheesy sauce you'll be hooked!

The secret to this potato casserole lies in the homemade cheese sauce. It's almost as quick to make as opening a packet, but in my opinion, it tastes far better. There are no preservatives or obscurely-named ingredients in a homemade sauce, and you can easily customise the taste to suit your family's preferences.

And talking of customising the sauce, for this version of my cheesy potato casserole I've added a spoonful of wholegrain mustard to the sauce. However, if you intend to serve this casserole with roast beef, I would recommend swapping out the mustard with a spoonful of creamed horseradish.

The crispy bacon pieces add additional crunch and texture. I've mixed half of the bacon into the casserole to give the potatoes a more savoury note and reserved some to sprinkle on top. Combined with grated cheese, the bacon forms a yummy crispy topping.

A helping of cheesy potato casserole on a plate with sausages and green beans. One of the pieces of potato is held on a fork.

Let's get on with the recipe.

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Ingredients
Instructions
Tips for a perfect outcome
Variations
Equipment
Storage
Save for later
Related recipes
📋The recipe

Ingredients

This recipe makes a potato casserole large enough to feed 4 people as a side dish.

Potatoes - waxy potatoes are best for this dish. I like to use Charlottes or Jersey Royals. Our local supermarket also sells waxy potatoes simply labelled 'salad potatoes' which work just as well. The potatoes should be washed and cut into halves or quarters depending on their size. You can peel the potatoes or leave the skins on - whichever you prefer.
Bacon - streaky bacon is better than back bacon for this recipe. The extra fat in the streaky bacon imparts an amazing flavour. The bacon should be cut into small pieces.
Grated cheese - use a mature cheddar for sharpness. You want a cheese that will melt into the sauce.
Milk - this is used for the sauce. Either full-fat or semi-skimmed will be fine.
Double cream - this gives extra richness to the sauce. If you are counting calories you could substitute the cream with extra milk.
Wholegrain mustard - I like the extra texture you get with wholegrain mustard, but you could substitute it with your preferred mustard, for example, Dijon or if you want an extra bite you could use English mustard instead.
Flour - this is used to thicken the sauce.
Butter - salted or unsalted. If you use salted butter take care not to add too much salt to the sauce. The bacon is quite salty and you don't want to overdo things.
Salt and black pepper (not pictured) - for seasoning and to your own taste.

**You can find the exact measurements for the ingredients for this cheese potato casserole on the printable recipe card at the end of this post**

Instructions

In a nutshell, these are the steps:

Parboil the potatoes
Fry the bacon
Make the cheese sauce
Assemble and bake

And here are the details:

Place the potatoes into a pan of cold lightly salted water. Bring to a boil and parboil the potatoes for 5 minutes.

Drain the potatoes and arrange them in a single layer in a casserole dish.

Fry the bacon over moderate heat until it starts to brown and turn crispy. Transfer the bacon to a plate lined with paper towel and set it aside.

Melt the butter over moderate heat in a small saucepan. Once the butter has melted, remove the pan from the heat and add the flour.

Butter and flour in a saucepan mixed to a smooth paste.

Stir the flour and butter to remove any lumps.

White sauce in a saucepan showing how a spoon leaves a trail when drawn through the sauce.

Add the milk and return the pan to the heat. Continue to stir until the sauce thickens and leaves a distinct trail when you draw a spoon through it.

Now add the cream, mustard and cheese. Continue to stir until the cheese has melted. The sauce should have a thick pourable consistency.

Pieces of bacon on a spoon being mixed into the cheese sauce.

Stir in half of the bacon. Taste for seasoning and add salt and black pepper to your own taste.

A casserole dish of potatoes covered with cheese sauce.

Pour the sauce over the potatoes taking care to cover them completely.

A cheesy potato casserole covered with grated cheese and bacon ready to go into the oven.

Sprinkle the top of the casserole with grated cheese and bacon.

A baked dish of cheesy potato casserole.

Bake in a hot oven (200C / 400F) for 30 to 35 minutes until the potatoes are completely cooked and the cheese is melted and golden. Test for doneness by sticking a knife into a potato - there should be no resistance.

Tips for a perfect outcome

Here are my top tips for a perfect result:

Do parboil the potatoes first to give them a head start in the oven. If you don't parboil them the casserole will need longer in the oven to cook the potatoes completely and you run the risk of the cheese sauce drying out.
Do fry the bacon first. Frying not only crisps up the bacon but also removes much of the bacon fat so the dish doesn't turn out greasy.
When making the sauce you might think it is too thick at the stage where you have added the milk. Don't worry - it will become the right consistency once you have added the cream and the cheese. You are looking for a thick pourable consistency.

Variations

Add onions - if you would like to add onions to this potato casserole, you can fry a thinly sliced onion in the bacon fat (once you've fried the bacon) until the onion is softened. Drain the onions on paper towel and stir them into the casserole along with the bacon.

Use sour cream - swap out the cream with sour cream and add 2 or 3 chopped spring onions (green onions) to the cheese sauce. Along with the bacon bits, this will give you all the flavours of loaded baked potato in casserole form.

Make it a complete meal - add steamed broccoli and a little extra bacon to the potatoes for a light yet comforting easy supper. You can experiment with adding different vegetables. For extra colour add some fried red and green peppers.

Change the toppings - instead of sprinkling cheese and bacon on top of the casserole, why not try adding either panko breadcrumbs or crispy fried onions?

I hope these suggestions give you some ideas for ways to vary this recipe. The beauty of this casserole lies in its versatility. With potatoes and cheese sauce as a base, you are limited only by your imagination.

Equipment

To make this potato casserole you will need the following main items of equipment:

Saucepans - for making the cheese sauce and boiling the potatoes.
Frying pan - for frying the bacon.
Casserole dish - large enough to hold add the potatoes and the sauce.

Storage

I haven't tried to freeze this potato casserole. To be honest, I think the sauce would split once it has been frozen and defrosted so I wouldn't recommend freezing. If you do freeze it successfully please let me know in the comments how it turned out.

Leftover potato casserole can be stored in a covered container in the refrigerator for up to 3 days. Reheat either in the original dish in a hot oven for 10 minutes (cover it with tin foil to prevent it from drying out), or in a saucepan on the stove. You can also reheat the potato casserole in the microwave.

Save for later

If you would like to try this cheesy potato casserole yourself, why not save the recipe to one of your Pinterest boards so you can find it easily? Just click on the image below.

Alternatively, you can save the recipe by clicking on the floating heart icon on the right-hand side of the screen.

Here are a few other potato recipes that you may enjoy:

You can find these and similar dishes on my vegetable recipes page.

📋The recipe

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Cheesy potato casserole