1940s Cheese Potato Onion Casserole
Comfort food without costly ingredients.
Frugal doesn’t have to mean flavorless, and that’s what this recipe for 1940s Cheese Potato Onion Casserole is here to prove! A simple set of ingredients goes a long way to create a dinner or side dish brimming with hearty and satisfying comfort food.
Garden staples of the 40s became the main stars of the dinner table. A bit of rationed butter and cheese tied these veggies together to make a casserole that rivals your bowl of holiday mashed potatoes.
After the potatoes are cooked until fork tender, they’re drained, mashed, and seasoned with thyme, salt, and pepper. The sliced onions are sautéed until soft and golden, and then mixed into the potatoes.
Spread evenly into a prepared casserole dish; the casserole gets a topping of cheese before being popped into the oven.
Once golden and bubbling, the 1940s Cheese Potato Onion Casserole is ready to serve!
The time in the oven is a magical period, further developing the sweet notes of the sautéed onions and marrying the onions further into the potatoes.
Cheese melts into every nook and cranny on top of the casserole, giving it a great gooey and creamy contrast to the aromatic and flavorful ingredients below.
Served with a side of leafy greens, this can make for a great meat-free main meal, or it can play a great side character to a protein like meatloaf or roast chicken.
It’s so satisfying that it’s hard to believe that this was a part of a 1940s rationing menu!
1940s Cheese Potato Onion Casserole
Allergens: Milk
Ingredients
- 3 pounds potatoes, peeled and cut into chunks
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 2 large onions, diced
- 1 teaspoon dried thyme
- 2 ounces grated white or orange cheddar cheese
- Kosher salt and freshly cracked black pepper, to taste
Preparation
- Preheat oven to 375°F and grease a 9x9 baking pan with baking spray, set aside.
- Add chopped potatoes into a stock pot alongside water and a heavy punch of salt. Set over a medium-high heat, bring to a boil and cook the potatoes until fork tender. Drain the potatoes, transfer into a bowl and roughly mash with a fork.
- Melt butter in a saucepan and sauté diced onions until tender and golden. Transfer onions into the bowl with the potatoes and mix together alongside the thyme and some more salt and pepper.
- Transfer the potato-onion mixture into the prepared baking dish. Top with the grated cheese and bake in the oven for about 15 to 20 minutes or until the top is bubbly and golden. Serve warm and enjoy!
Recipe adapted from The 1940s Experiment.