Healthy Comfort Food: Hashbrown Casserole with Veggies

Here’s another comfort food that I chose to “healthify.” This one is a healthy hashbrown casserole. Have you seen my Greek-Inspired Healthy Macaroni and Cheese yet? It’s one of my favorite healthy comfort food recipes!

Healthy Hashbrown Casserole on Spatula

Serving up this healthy hashbrown casserole.

A friend asked me to bring a hashbrown casserole to her house for a potluck. After scouring the internet for healthy recipes, I panicked. I couldn’t find anything that I wanted to make that I also thought my friend’s guests would like. I decided to wing it and take elements from a frittata and a potato kugel, a dish I make for some Jewish holidays. After only two tries, I came up with a delicious healthy hashbrown casserole.

My recipes tweaks for this healthy comfort food

If you know me, you know that I’ll add low-calorie, low-carbohydrate, health-shielding non-starchy vegetables to practically any recipe. And this healthy comfort food recipe is no exception. The combination of eggs, cheese and potatoes practically begged for broccoli. Using lower fat cheeses brought the saturated fat and calories to a manageable level.

Healthy hashbrown casserole stacked on plate

This healthy hashbrown casserole serves up nicely and reheats well in the microwave or oven.

It takes just a few recipe tweaks to get healthy comfort food like this hashbrown casserole.Click To Tweet

Healthy brunch recipes are fun to create and share. One of my favorites is this Smoked Salmon Frittata. My girls and I often make it together for Mother’s Day or some other brunch occasion. But one of my post popular recipes is my healthy take on Shakshuka, a delicious, veggie-packed dish of eggs and tomatoes.

healthy hashbrown casserole

Healthy Comfort Food: Hashbrown Casserole with Veggies

File this when you need a healthy brunch recipe, especially if you've got a crowd to feed. Cut and freeze leftovers. They reheat nicely in the oven or microwave.
4.67 from 3 votes
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Cuisine: Healthy Brunch
Prep Time: 20 minutes
Cook Time: 40 minutes
Total Time: 1 hour
Servings: 15 squares
Calories: 154kcal
Author: Jill Weisenberger MS, RDN, CDE, FAND

Ingredients

  • 9 large eggs, beaten
  • 1 teaspoon kosher salt
  • 3/4 teaspoon coarse black pepper
  • 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
  • 3 cloves garlic, crushed or chopped
  • 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
  • 2 cups lowfat cottage cheese
  • 5 cups frozen hashbrown potatoes (no added oil or salt), do not defrost
  • 1 large yellow onion, grated
  • 6 tablespoons chopped chives, divided (about 3/4 ounce)
  • 1 (12.6-ounce) bag frozen broccoli pieces, thawed, with excess moisture removed, cut to bite-sized pieces
  • 2 1/2 cups 2% shredded sharp cheddar cheese, divided

Instructions

  • Preheat oven to 400°F.
  • In a large bowl, mix the beaten eggs and the next 5 ingredients (through mustard). Add the cottage cheese and mix well.
  • In a separate large bowl, mix the frozen hashbrowns, grated onion, 4 tablespoons chives, broccoli and 2 cups of the shredded cheese.
  • Pour the ingredients of the first bowl (egg mixture) into the potato mixture. Combine well.
  • Transfer the mixture into a 9" x 13" baking dish that was treated with nonstick spray. Use a spatula or the back of a large spoon to even out the contents of your baking dish.
  • Sprinkle the remaining 2 tablespoons of chives and 1/2 cup cheese over the top.
  • Bake 40 minutes or until the top is golden and the center has set.
  • Cut into 15 squares.

Notes

For diabetes exchanges, count 1 square as 1/2 Veg, 2 Meat, 1 Carb, 1 Fat

Nutrition

Serving: 1square | Calories: 154kcal | Carbohydrates: 10g | Protein: 13g | Fat: 7g | Saturated Fat: 3.5g | Trans Fat: 0g | Cholesterol: 145mg | Sodium: 450mg | Fiber: 1g

Cheers to loving the heck out of your food, including healthy comfort food!

Jill-Weisenberger_about-image-2
Jill Weisenberger

I'm Jill, and I believe simple changes in your mindset and health habits can bring life-changing rewards. And I don't believe in willpower. It's waaaay overrated. As a food-loving registered dietitian nutritionist, certified diabetes care and education specialist and certified health and wellness coach, I've helped thousands of people solve their food and nutrition problems. If you're looking for a better way to master this whole healthy eating/healthy living thing or if you're trying to prevent or manage diabetes or heart problems, you'll find plenty of resources right here.

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4 Comments

  1. Kycindylou on January 8, 2020 at 2:17 pm

    How do you count the fat in this recipe? I don’t think the exchanges on the recipe sound correct

    • Jill Weisenberger on January 8, 2020 at 3:35 pm

      Thanks for double checking with me. It should include 1 Fat exchange. I’ve just added it. Otherwise, I believe they are correct. With a total of 13 g protein, that’s about 2 meat (from the eggs, cottage cheese and cheddar cheese). I rounded up to 1 carb exchange, but you could count it as less than 1 if you are typically that precise.

  2. Marian on January 12, 2022 at 2:55 am

    Salutations! I’m curious if you’ve made this with other vegetable(s) instead of broccoli? Do you have suggestion for broccoli substitution – sautéd spinach? – too moist for this recipe? Thank you for you input and sharing these great recipes. 🙂

    • Jill Weisenberger on January 12, 2022 at 11:21 am

      I haven’t tried this particular recipe with other vegetables, but I have done a similar one with bell peppers and scallions. I think that would work well. If you can really squeeze the moisture out of the cooked spinach, it would probably work. Otherwise, I suspect it will come out too wet. If you try it, I want to know.

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Jill Weisenberger

I believe simple changes in health habits can bring you life-changing rewards.

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