10 Crockpot Potato Sides for Weeknight Dinners

These crockpot potato sides for weeknight dinners are how I get a real side dish on the table when the oven is busy or I don’t want to turn it on.

From mashed potatoes that hold on warm for hours to scalloped potatoes, funeral potatoes, a bacon ranch potato bake, and a sweet potato casserole, they cook themselves while the main course does whatever it’s doing.

Here are the ten I make on repeat!

Potatoes are the one vegetable the slow cooker does as well as the oven, because they want low, moist heat and a long time anyway.

The only thing to watch is cut size, since a potato cut too big is still hard at dinnertime and one cut too small turns to mush, and each entry says what works.

1. Crockpot Mashed Potatoes

Cubed potatoes cook in broth in the crock until soft, and then get mashed right in the pot with butter, cream, and salt.

No boiling, no draining, and they sit on warm for hours without drying out, which is why they’ve replaced the stovetop version at every holiday in my house.

Yukon golds make them creamier, and russets make them fluffier, and both work.

Chives on top, and a well of butter in the middle!

2. Cheesy Mashed Potatoes

The same crockpot mashed potatoes with cream cheese, sour cream, and cheddar folded in at the end, and they’re the side my kids ask for with everything.

The cream cheese keeps them smooth even on warm, and the cheddar goes in last so it stays stringy.

They’re rich enough that a plain grilled chicken breast or a pork chop is all the main course needs.

3. Scalloped Potatoes

Thinly sliced potatoes layered with a creamy sauce and cheese, and they cook in the crock until the slices are tender and the top is bubbling.

Slice the potatoes thin and even, with a mandoline if you have one, so they all finish at the same time.

They don’t brown the way the oven version does, and a few minutes under the broiler in an oven-safe dish fixes that if it matters to you.

Ham or a roast chicken next to it, and a Wednesday feels like a Sunday.

4. Funeral Potatoes

Frozen hash browns, sour cream, cream of chicken soup, cheddar, and onion, with a buttered cornflake topping added near the end.

It’s the church potluck casserole, and it turns out the crock does it as well as a baking dish.

The hash browns go in frozen, and the topping goes on for the last thirty minutes so it stays crunchy.

It goes with ham, meatloaf, or a rotisserie chicken from the store.

5. Cheesy Hash Brown Casserole

Shredded hash browns, cheddar, sour cream, and a little onion, and it’s funeral potatoes without the cornflake top for the nights I want something simpler.

Stir it once during the cook so the edges don’t over-brown, and add the cheese in two stages.

It’s a breakfast side and a dinner side, and I’ve served it as both in the same week.

Bacon crumbled on top makes it a meal.

6. Bacon Ranch Potatoes

Baby potatoes, ranch seasoning, cheddar, and crumbled bacon, layered in the crock and cooked until the potatoes are fork tender and the cheese has melted into every crack.

Cut the larger potatoes in half so everything cooks evenly.

It’s the side I bring to cookouts, and it disappears before the burgers are off the grill.

Sour cream and green onions on top.

7. Garlic Parmesan Potatoes

Halved baby potatoes tossed with olive oil, garlic, Italian seasoning, and parmesan, and they cook in the crock on high until tender.

They come out soft with a garlicky crust of cheese, and they’re the closest a slow cooker gets to roasted potatoes.

A little more parmesan and parsley at the end.

Steak, chicken, or fish, and this works with all three.

8. Potatoes Au Gratin

Thin potato slices in a garlic cream sauce with gruyere or a sharp white cheddar, and it’s the fancier cousin of the scalloped potatoes above.

The cream reduces around the potatoes over the cook, and the cheese goes on top for the last half hour.

It’s a company side that needs ten minutes of work, and I make it for a regular Tuesday when the mood strikes.

A roast or a pork tenderloin, and a green vegetable to balance it.

9. Sweet Potato Casserole with Pecans

Mashed sweet potatoes with butter, brown sugar, and vanilla, topped with a pecan and brown sugar crumble, and it cooks in the crock while the oven does the turkey or the chicken.

Use canned sweet potatoes on a weeknight and fresh ones for a holiday, and the recipe works both ways.

The pecan topping goes on for the last hour so it toasts.

It’s a side dish that gets eaten like a dessert!

10. Sweet Potato Casserole with Marshmallows

The same mashed sweet potato base with mini marshmallows on top, and the marshmallows melt and puff in the last fifteen minutes with the lid on.

They won’t brown in the crock, and a kitchen torch or a minute under the broiler does that if you want it.

This is the version my kids vote for every year, and the pecan one is the version the adults vote for, so I make both.

Ham on the side and the argument is settled.

Notes on Potatoes in a Slow Cooker

Cut potatoes into even pieces, an inch or so for cubes and a quarter inch for slices, and they cook through in about four hours on high or six to eight on low.

Baby potatoes and Yukon golds hold their shape in the crock, and russets fall apart, which is good for mashed and bad for anything sliced.

A mandoline makes the scalloped and au gratin slices even, and even slices are the difference between a creamy dish and one with crunchy bits.

Use a liner or butter the crock well for every cheesy one, because baked-on cheese is the one thing I won’t scrub.

A potato masher that works inside the crock saves moving hot potatoes to a bowl, and a hand mixer makes the mashed ones fluffy in a minute.

A 6-quart slow cooker fits a five pound bag of potatoes, and a second small one is worth having so the side and the main can cook at the same time.

The mashed and casserole ones hold on warm for a couple of hours, and the sliced ones are best served as soon as they’re done.

More Crockpot Dinners on the Site

The hearty crockpot beef stew with root vegetables is the main course I most often put next to the mashed potatoes above.

My crockpot meals with chicken breast that don’t dry out post has the chicken dinners that go with every side on this list.

And the quick crockpot dinners with ten minutes of prep post is where the main courses come from on the nights the potatoes are already in the crock.