Parmesan Potato Au Gratin
Cheesy Potato Au Gratin is made with scalloped russet potatoes and a mixture of creamy mozzarella cheese and nutty parmesan cheese. This is a dish the holidays calls for!
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Quick Au Gratin Potatoes
Everyone needs a solid potato side on their holiday table. Aunt Sally’s mashed potatoes are dry, and Shirley’s potato salad has some weird unidentifiable ingredient. That’s where you come in with this amazing potato au gratin, rich and creamy and ready to please the crowd!
The holidays always bring out the most fun characters. Some people are real life Chrismaholics, while others enjoy being the Grinch. No matter where you land in this spectrum, we can all agree that cheesy potatoes is for everyone.
These versatile russet potatoes are sliced thinly, layered in a buttered dish with mozzarella and parmesan cheese, then topped with cream, herbs, and a dash of salt and pepper. The thin potatoes really do help capture the creamy cheesiness of this dish!
Easy Scalloped Potatoes
Ingredients to make oven potato au gratin
- Russet Potatoes
- Fresh Thyme
- Quality butter
- Garlic
- Heavy Cream
- Parmesan Cheese
- Mozzarella cheese
- Pinch of salt and pepper
Tips to make scalloped potaoes
- Use a food processor. After peeling the potatoes, use a food processor to quickly slice the potatoes. It comes out even and perfectly!
- Butter the pan. Generously slather that pan in a good layer of butter! This ensures the potatoes will not stick to the pan and also adds all that buttery flavor we’re after.
- Work in layers. After buttering the pan, lay the thinly slices potatoes in a single layer. It’s okay if they overlap a bit. Cove the whole bottom of the pan.
- Pour the cream first. After the dish is layered with potatoes, pour the cream over it. This will help the cheese stick.
- Layer the top with lots of cheese! The top layer will be perfectly crisp with a generous amount of cheese. This really gives the potatoes au gratin a texture unlike any other!
- Cover it with tinfoil before baking. The last thing we want is burnt cheese and dried out potatoes au gratin. Cover your dish with tin foil. This will help the dish cook evenly, ensuring there are no under cooked potato slices.
Easy Potato Au Gratin
This recipe uses easy to find russet potatoes. Russet potatoes can be found at basically any grocery store and are versatile, easy to cook with, and have a very consistent texture. Yukon gold potatoes would be a delicious potato to make potato au gratin with as well.
Potato au gratin can be covered and stored in a fridge for up to 5 days.
The holidays got you running around like a maniac? No worries! This potato au gratin can be pieced together then frozen. Do not cook it prior to freezing. If you choose to freeze the potato au gratin dish, cover it with airtight lid and only freeze for up to two weeks. NOTE: freezing may effect the texture of the finished dish.
In the culinary world, you may hear that scalloped potatoes and potato au gratin is used interchangeably. Technically , there are a few minor tweaks that differentiate the two dishes.
Potato au gratin uses cream, butter, cheese, and thinly sliced potatoes. Usually the potatoes are slices at 1/8 of an inch. Additionally, sometimes potato au gratin will be topped with panko crumbs for more texture.
Scalloped potatoes use thicker sliced potatoes, usually 1/4 of an inch thick. Scalloped potatoes usually have butter, cream, aromatics like fresh garlic and herbs, but does not contain cheese.
In my opinion, when in doubt, add cheese. It makes everything better, I promise.
How to make a cheesy and creamy potato au gratin
- Butter the baking dish. Slather that dish in all that creamy grass fed goodness. Don’t be shy, potatoes and butter are best friends.
- Wash, peel and slice the potatoes. Make sure you wash all the dirt off the potatoes before you slice and dice them. For a quicker potato au gratin assembly, use a food processor to slice the potatoes.
- Mise en place. Put everything in place to make this dish quickly. Pour the cream in the cup, measure out the cheese, line everything up on your counter so when you layer this dish, it’s quick and easy.
- Layer the potatoes. Begin to layer the potatoes in a thin layer. It’s alright if the potatoes overlap a bit, but make sure it’s a thin layer. Pour the cream over the potatoes. Add the cheese on top. Add a dash of salt, pepper and herbs.
- Repeat. Add another layer and repeat the above step.
- Add a bunch of cheese to the top layer. Go ahead and grab a heaping handful of mozzarella and parmesan cheese to top this dish off with. Put tinfoil on top of the dish.
- Bake for 45-60 minutes. This is by far the longest step because you will be standing at your oven just drooling! If you oven tends to take a bit longer to cook, go ahead and let is cook for a full hour.
What goes with potato Au Gratin
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Potato Au Gratin
Ingredients
- 2.5 lb russet potatoes
- 3 TBS butter divided
- 1 1/2 cup heavy cream
- 5 cloves garlic finely chopped
- 1 TBS fresh thyme
- 1 cup parmesan cheese
- 1 cup mozzarella cheese
- salt & pepper
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 425°F. Wash, peel, and slice the potatoes to 1/8 inch slices. Use a food processor to quickly slice the potatoes.
- Slather on a thick layer of butter on a medium sized baking dish. Layer the slices of potatoes in a thin layer. The potatoes may over lap a little.
- Pour about 1/3 of the cream over the potatoes. Sprinkle 1/3 of the parmesan cheese over the potatoes. Sprinkle a little garlic, thyme, salt and pepper over the cheese.
- Start the second layer of potatoes over the first layer. Add the milk, cheese, garlic, thyme, salt and pepper again.
- Repeat for a third layer. Pour the remaining milk, cheese, garlic, thyme, salt and pepper over the potatoes. Add the mozzarella cheese on top. Place tin foil over the pan and place in the oven to cook for 45-60 minutes.
- At about 40 minutes of cooking, remove the tin foil and allow the dish to cook for 5-10 more minutes. This will help the cheese brown. Remove from the oven when the cheese is browned and crispy. Mangia!
Nutrition values are estimates, for exact values consult a nutritionist.
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