Frozen casseroles are essential freezer fodder. Too late to prep anything real for dinner? Frozen casserole. Just had a baby and simply need nourishment? Frozen casserole. Forgot to actually make something for Friendsgiving? Frozen casserole.
Some folks have the time to not only meal prep for the week but also for the distant future and prepare homemade casseroles and freeze them—but that ain’t us. And it probably isn’t you either. And that’s why we’re all here, to discuss the best frozen broccoli casserole, the best frozen sweet potato casserole, the best hashbrown casserole, that you can buy at the grocery store.
I’m sad to report that many of the frozen casseroles you’ll find in the freezer section of your grocery store are very bad. They’re watery. They’re flavorless. They genuinely taste terrible. But we found four that are actually extremely good. Like, they’re not just “acceptable,” they’re practically as good as something homemade—and some of them are made with more cheese than you’d let yourself use so, maybe, they’re actually even better.
We tasted 13 frozen casseroles, ranging from frozen potato casserole to frozen broccoli casserole to frozen corn casserole to frozen green bean casserole. We heated them all up in the microwave, because they all had microwave instructions. And if something is good microwaved, then it’s definitely good in the oven. And I’m not about to recommend a frozen casserole to you that should only be cooked in the oven. I know you don’t have 50 minutes to spare. You have 13 minutes, maybe. And that’s the longest any of these frozen casseroles take to cook in the microwave.
We judged these frozen casseroles on flavor and texture. We wanted satisfying, cheesy, indulgent, comforting casseroles that you could plonk down onto a dining table with no additional work. We didn’t find a good frozen corn casserole or frozen green bean casserole, but we’ll keep searching. In the meantime, cozy up to these Sporked-approved frozen casseroles.
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- Reeser’s Main St Bistro Baked Three Cheese Potato Casserole
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Do you like casseroles because they’re usually just a good excuse to serve melted cheese as a side dish? Then this frozen potato casserole is the best one for you. It comes out of the microwave blanketed by a reservoir of melted cheese. Yum. The potatoes turn into mashed potatoes, but that’s fine. This is a decadent, indulgent, crazily cheesy frozen casserole that is unabashed comfort food. One quick note, though. The packaging says you should microwave it for 4 minutes, but that’s nowhere near long enough. I zapped this frozen potato casserole for 10 full minutes before it looked done enough.
Credit: Liv Averett / Instacart
- Birds Eye Broccoli & Cauliflower Au Gratin Bake
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Take note, we’re talking about the Birds Eye Broccoli & Cauliflower casserole here—not the broccoli only one. For whatever reason, that one was watery and bland. But this frozen broccoli and cheese casserole really satisfied us. It comes with lots and lots of cheese, and a nice balance of broccoli and cauliflower. It even gets a little crispy around the edges in the microwave. It’s gooey, it’s savory, it’s indulgent. Yes, the veg gets mushy, but this is a casserole, which is often mostly mush. And this cheesy vegetable mush tastes great.
Credit: Liv Averett / Walmart
- Season’s Choice Sweet Potato Casserole with Praline Topping
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If you’re looking for a Thanksgiving shortcut, then you’ve found it. This frozen sweet potato casserole from Aldi has a bit of a cult following for good reason. The sweet potatoes are creamy and extremely buttery and certainly sweet—but not saccharine. And the praline topping is delightful. It was even crunchy out of the microwave, thanks to the nuts. I bet it’d get real crispy in the oven. Serve this with turkey, stuffing, and all the other fixings—or hold it back for dessert. You could top a scoop of this frozen sweet potato casserole with vanilla ice cream and be in autumnal heaven.
Credit: Liv Averett / Instacart
- Stouffer’s Cheddar Bacon Potatoes
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This new frozen potato casserole from Stouffer’s is truly incredible. The family-sized version actually crisped up in the microwave. Amazing! The melted cheddar cheese tastes sharp and tangy. The bacon bits imbue the whole dish with a smoky, meaty flavor. And the potatoes are soft but maintain their shape. And it even looks good! You could put this right on the dinner table and everyone would be psyched to dig in. Or, heck, even though it’s not technically a frozen hashbrown casserole, you can definitely serve it at the breakfast table! This is a versatile side. And we were all blown away by it.
Credit: Liv Averett / Walmart
Best Ultra Cheesy
Best Broccoli Cheese
Best Sweet Potato
Best of the Best
Other frozen casseroles we tried: Birds Eye Loaded Potato Bake, Birds Eye Cheesy Potato Casserole, Marie Callender’s Sides Cheddar Broccoli Casserole, Birds Eye Cheddar Broccoli Bake, Alexia Cauliflower & BRoccoli au Gratin, Marie Callender’s Sides Green Bean Casserole, Marie Callender’s Sides Sweet Corn Casserole, Marie Callender’s Sides Cheesy Potato Casserole, Home Bake Cheesy Broccoli
