Kentucky Potatoes Are A Slow-Cooked Cheesy Revelation

Sometimes the slow cooker doesn't get the respect it deserves. It's a great tool for easy, hands-off cooking, leaving you time to do other things while the crockpot does the heavy lifting. Popular Kentucky potatoes definitely highlight the slow cooker's ability to make a great dish. They're a bit like scalloped potatoes, but there's way less effort involved in making them.

Kentucky potatoes feature only a handful of ingredients. Many recipes for this dish start with a bag of frozen Potatoes O'Brien, which are simply diced potatoes with peppers and onions, making it even easier to make. It will definitely cut down on the prep time if you go this route, but you can chop up your own potatoes, peppers, and onions if you like. Then all you need is a can of cream of potato soup, sour cream, and shredded cheddar cheese. Add a bit of salt and pepper, and stir the ingredients together. Set your crockpot on high and a couple hours later they'll be ready to eat.

Once you've got the basic recipe down, you can make this dish your own by customizing or tweaking the ingredients. You could change up the type of cream soup you use. Cream of mushroom, for instance, could add a bit of meaty richness, making it a great side dish for roast beef. The cheese in this dish is another good jumping off point for experimentation. Try different varieties of cheddar, from mild to extra sharp, and see what you like best. And there's a near endless array of other cheeses that could work well too. Gruyère and emmental — the key cheeses in traditional fondue — would definitely be worth a try.

You can also add some finishing touches. Add a bit more cheese about 5 to 10 minutes before serving, giving the dish some extra delicious gooeyness. Chopped ham or bacon would be great mix-ins as well. Or, sprinkle some chopped chives or scallions on top right before you take the serving bowl to the table. This would bring some welcome freshness to the hearty Kentucky potatoes.