What says Ireland more than potatoes? This easy VBS snack features golden round hash browns and a yummy Irish inspired dip. Serve in a plastic nachos tray or in a paper boat with cups of dip on the side.
While these aren’t actually potato cakes, we’re going to pretend they are. Making enough real potato cakes for 200+ people sounds like a big undertaking, so I opted for premade crispy potato rounds (like tator tots) instead.
Easy Potato Cakes with Cheese Sauce
Serving Size
One tray (5-10 potato rounds and 1/4 cup of cheese dip [2 oz] )
Supplies List
Crispy Potato Rounds: 5-10 per serving (see suggestions below)
Cheddar Cheese Sauce (106 oz) : 1/4 cup per serving
Plastic Nacho Trays: one per serving
Choosing the Potatoes
Here are a few choices for the types of potatoes you could use. Think something similar to a potato cake or tater tot. I like the golden rounds which remind me also of gold coins.
- Potato Cakes (Boxty)
- Golden Round Hashbrowns
- Great Value Crispy Rounds
Calculating Quantities
Use the chart below to help you calculate how many supplies to purchase.
| Number of People | 50 | 100 | 150 | 200 |
| Potato Rounds (5) | 250 (3 bags) | 500 (5 bags) | 750 (7 bags) | 1000 (9 bags) |
| Potato Rounds (8) | 400 (4 bags) | 800 (7 bags) | 1200 (11 bags) | 1600 (14 bags) |
| Potato Rounds (10) | 500 (5 bags) | 1000 (9 bags) | 1500 (13 bags) | 2000 (17 bags) |
| Cheddar Cheese Sauce | 13 cups (100 ounces = 1 container) | 25 cups (200 ounces = 2 containers) | 38 cups (300 ounces = 3 containers) | 50 cups (400 ounces = 4 containers) |
| Nacho Trays | 50 | 100 | 150 | 200 |
This 30 ounce crispy rounds shredded potatoes from Walmart serves about 12 kids. The recommended number of bags in the chart is based on using bags with equal serving size. A little extra has been taken into account for broken pieces etc, but an extra beyond my recommendations is not a bad idea.
Cheddar Cheese Sauce from Sams Club comes in 106 ounce containers. The container recommendations are based on this size.
Nacho Trays that we used.
Additional Dip Ideas & Recipes
For the sake of simplicity (we do have over 200 people at our VBS) I chose to go with the cheddar cheese sauce for our snack offering. Oh how I wish I could have done something a little more Irish and unique. I have to continually remind myself that kids aren’t as excited about trying new things as I may be. So simply and expected seemed the smart route to go.
However, if you are serving a smaller crowd or want to tackle a little challenge why not choose from an Irish cheese dip, a reuben dip, or go crazy and serve both!
Irish Cheese Dip Recipe
- 8 ounces cream cheese
- 7 ounces Kerry-gold Dubliner cheese (See substitutes below*)
- 1/4 cup mayonnaise
- Spreadable Cheddar Cheese Tub (Merkts, Shullsberg, Kraft)
*Kerrygold Dubliner cheese can be substituted with several cheeses, including Gruyère, Gouda, or Fontina, as they share similar nutty and slightly sweet flavors. These alternatives work well in recipes that call for Dubliner cheese due to their melting properties and taste profiles. sharp cheddar
Place all ingredients in a crock pot. Allow to melt together on medium-high heat, stirring frequently. Once melted keep on low or warm and serve from the crock pot into small cups.
Reuben Dip Recipe
- 8 ounces cream cheese
- 8 ounces swiss cheese
- 1/2 cup Thousand Island dressing
- 1/2 cup sour kraut (drained and chopped)
- 1/4 cup mayonnaise
- 1/4 lb corned beef, finely chopped
Combine all the ingredients above in a slow cooker or roasting pan. Cook until warmed through.
Note: I have already reduced the amount of sour kraut and corned beef in this recipe by half of what many recipes suggest. This is both of budget consciousness and awareness that the kids may not like those ingredients as much. You can adjust “to taste” if you’d like.
Serving Dishes
Here are a few options for serving the potato nachos. We’ll be using nacho trays, but you can use what works best for your set up.
Looking for other VBS recipes?
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