Whether you’re looking to up your holiday side dish game, or simply for a cozy way to spruce up your next dinner party, creamy, cheesy homemade au gratin potatoes are such a win. Laden with nutty Gruyère and Parmesan cheese, and baked in a bath of silky cream, classic potatoes au gratin are everything a side dish is supposed to be! “Au gratin” is a French phrase that refers to a dish topped with grated cheese or breadcrumbs (the “gratin” refers to the crispy, brown crust on top of the dish), usually baked with cream, garlic and butter. Potatoes au gratin (sometimes called Dauphinoise Potatoes) are essentially the French version of American Scalloped Potatoes, and are sometimes called.
For a lower-carb version of this heavenly potatoes au gratin recipe, check out our Cauliflower Au Gratin, Asparagus Gratin, or Squash Gratin, and for another fancy potato side, try our crispy Hasselback Potatoes. For an easier side, Hashbrown Casserole is for you.
Key Ingredients
Scroll down for the full recipe with measurements below.
- Potatoes. Starchy russet potatoes are the best potatoes for making a gratin because they’ll get really creamy as they bake in all that garlicky cream sauce, and creamy is (if you didn’t already pick up on it) is what we want this dish to be!
- Cheese! Tell people you’re serving potatoes au gratin, and they’ll expect cheese. The combination of freshly grated Parmesan cheese and nutty Swiss Gruyère (the world’s best melting cheese) is classic and makes for the BEST potatoes au gratin. You’ll have creamy potatoes under a golden crust of melty, oozy cheese, what’s not to love?
- Butter. This dish is just about as French as can be, obviously you’ll need butter!
- Cream: The potatoes will bake in the cream, and that’s a very, very good thing. No substitutions!
- Garlic: You really need the savory bite of garlic here, to balance out the richness of, well, literally everything else.
- Nutmeg: Nutmeg and cream are a classic pairing (see also: Alfredo Sauce), and you’ll be amazed how much this simple spice adds.
How to Make Potatoes Au Gratin
- Prep the potatoes: Use a mandoline slicer if you have one (or just a nice sharp chef’s knife) to slice the potatoes quite thinly. Put the slices in a big bowl full of cold water. Why? A quick soak in cold water removes some of the excess starch from the potatoes, and keeps them from becoming gummy as they bake in the cream sauce. Drain and dry them.
- Make the cream sauce by melting together the cream, garlic, nutmeg, and butter in a little pan over low heat.
- Time to layer! Butter your 9x13 pan, then layers go like this: Potatoes, cheese, salt and pepper. Repeat. Finish with a layer of Gruyére cheese.
- Pour the cream sauce over the potatoes.
- Top with Parmesan!
- Cover with foil.
- Bake for 50 minutes.
- Remove the foil and bake for 25 more minutes so the top gets all bubbly and golden.
- Feast!
How To Make It Ahead
It’s pretty smart to prep this recipe ahead of time, especially if you’re making them for a big holiday meal. To make potatoes au gratin ahead of time, just stop after you top the dish with Parmesan cheese and cover it with foil. Instead of putting it in the oven, put it in the fridge. When you’re ready to serve it, (sometime in the next 2 or 3 days) pull it out and bake it. It may need an extra 10 minutes or so, just because you’ll be baking it from cold.
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