Potatoes au Gratin – forget scalloped potatoes, THIS is the creme de la creme of all potato recipes!! Also known as Dauphinoise Potatoes, this French classic is adapted from a Julia Child’s recipe. With layers upon layers of finely sliced potatoes baked in, cream, butter and cheese with a hint of fresh thyme, it’s luxurious and thoroughly indulgent.
Bonus: It’s the ultimate make ahead potato side dish! And next time, try Brie Dauphinoise…
Potatoes au Gratin
Potatoes au Gratin? Or Scalloped Potatoes?
If you’re wondering what the difference is between Scalloped Potatoes and Au Gratin Potatoes, scalloped potatoes are made with a flour-butter-milk roux, whereas Potatoes au Gratin are made with 100% indulgence: cream, butter and cheese.
So I ask you again: Potatoes au Gratin? Or Scalloped Potatoes?
There’s no contest. Cream trumps flour Every. Single. Day. 😂
Potatoes au Gratin for the win!!!
All the essential food groups present
I was going to say that it’s quite remarkable how so few ingredients can make something so luxurious. But the reality is, it’s pretty hard to go wrong when potatoes, cream, butter and cheese are involved.
We’re working with all the good stuff today!
Best kind of potatoes for au gratin
This is the sort of potato dish where we want the potatoes to breakdown and become lovely and soft under that golden cheesy crust, so we need to ensure we use starchy potatoes. Australia – I use Sebago (those dirt brushed potatoes). America – Russet is perfect, and for those of you in the UK, King Edward or Maris Piper are perfect. Or any other starchy potatoes – Dutch creams, King Edwards or red delight.
To be honest, as long as you do not use a waxy potato then it’s going to work great – I’ve used all sorts over the years. Waxy potatoes are the kind used for potato salads and if used in Potatoes au Gratin, the layers sort of slip apart and you’ll have paper-thin-potato UFO’s flying all over the place.
Been there, done that. Not good, my friends.
How to make potatoes au gratin
Thinly sliced potato is layered with a cream-butter-garlic mixture, sprinkled with thyme and the mandatory cheese in every layer. Bake covered for 75 minutes (yes really, it takes that long), then uncovered just to make the cheese on top lovely and golden.
While it might seem daunting to thinly slice 1 kg / 2 lb of potatoes, this is the sort of task where you’ll quickly get into a rhythm. By the 3rd potato, you’ll be slicing like a pro!
Though having said that, a mandolin will make short work of it….
I am yet to meet a form of potato I don’t like. And of all the ways to cook potato, this is my favourite. (UPDATE: Though the newly invented Brie Dauphinoise version is also a hot contender!).
Sure, sometimes I stray and get excited by my latest obsession. I went mad for Ultra Crispy Smashed Potatoes, and crazy over Parmesan Crusted Potatoes. I thought Twice-baked Stuffed Jacket Potatoes were the ant’s pants.
But Potatoes au Gratin are a classic that I’ll love forever and ever. First made using Julie Child’s recipe which then evolved slightly over the years to what it is today. A slightly more streamlined assembly process, the addition of garlic and… I upped the cheese.
Do you think Julia would approve?? 😂 – Nagi x
Watch how to make it
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Potatoes au Gratin (Dauphinoise)
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups cream , full fat (Note 1)
- 2 garlic cloves , minced
- 30g / 2 tbsp unsalted butter , melted
- 1.25 kg / 2.5 lb starchy potatoes , Russet, Sebago, Maris Piper (Note 2)
- 1 tsp salt
- 1/4 tsp pepper
- 2 1/2 cups gruyere cheese (colby, cheddar, havarti or tasty), freshly grated yourself (Note 3)
- 2 tsp thyme leaves , fresh (optional – but highly recommended)
Instructions
- Cream Mixture: Place butter, cream and garlic in a jug. Mix until combined.
- Preheat oven to 180°C/350°F (both fan and standard ovens).
- Slice potatoes: Peel the potatoes and slice them 1/8"/3 mm thick. Or use a slicer!
- Layer 1: Spread 1/3 of the potatoes in a baking dish (Note 3), then pour over 1/3 of the Cream Mixture, scatter with 1/3 of the salt, pepper and thyme. Sprinkle with 3/4 cups cheese.
- Layers 2 & 3: Repeat for the 2nd and third layer, but do not finish with cheese on the top layer (will add later).
- Cover & bake: Cover with lid or foil, and bake for 1 hour 15 minutes or until the potatoes in the middle are soft (use knife to test), it might take 1 1/2 hours. (Note 5)
- Top with cheese, bake again: Remove foil, top with cheese. Bake for a further 10 to 15 minutes until golden and bubbly. Stand 5 minutes before serving.
Recipe Notes:
Nutrition Information:
Au Gratin Potatoes recipe originally published December 2014. New photos, recipe video and updated post in December 2018, then some tidying up done in December 2020. No change to recipe!
Feed your potato obsession
Life of Dozer
Forgot to add the rating! 5 Stars!
Fantastic recipe as usual. Great advice on ingredients, too. Wish I had added more fresh thyme (personal taste)
Best potatoe bake!
I added in some diced bacon in between the layers and put tasty and Parmesan ontop and it was delicious
Made this for dinner tonight – very, very good.
It’s actually similar to the way i usually do potato gratin – just a little cheesier and richer.
So definitely smaller portions required when it comes time to devour! This makes quite a good sized batch – perfect for a dinner with multiple people so you’re not tempted to go back for seconds – or thirds… 😉
One thing I wanted to emphasise is Nagi’s comment about using floury/starchy potatoes rather than waxy.
I’d made that mistake a few times over the years. Couldn’t work out why sometimes my potatoes were so al dente they didn’t feel completely cooked – even though I’d then give them more oven time – they’d still slide about like her ‘paper thin potato UFOs’. Awful.
Then the penny dropped. Always floury!
Having said that – I’ve seen several recipes for potato gratins in cookbooks and other cooking websites – that specify waxy potatoes!!
I’m gobsmacked. Don’t understand at all. Makes no sense –
Do not listen to them!
I’ve made this three times now. I’m not a fan of garlic, so I reduce that. This is absolutely delicious.
I have made this many times, follow exactly as written, comes out perfect. Using a mandolin is a must for ease and uniform thickness, if you don’t have one definitely buy one, it will be your new best friend. Great recipe!
Made these for an after holiday dinner-so great! Love this recipe.
I’ve made this recipe before and it turned out a bit dry and undercooked. Looking at the french recipes, this one needs to double down on the liquid, by adding additional 1.5 cup of milk
This was quite good. Next time I will use half as much fresh thyme because we all felt it overwhelmed the cheese flavor, add sauteed onions, more garlic and more cheese. It took a really long time to bake and I sliced the potatoes on a mandolin; they were quite thin so next time I will prebake as instructed in note 6 and then finish off 45 minutes before the meal. Another option is to prepare and bake several hours before the meal, then let sit on the counter and simply reheat just prior to eating.
We cooked this in the Weber BBQ for a xmas party and it was delicious!
Hello
I’m looking to make this for Christmas but would like to make ahead however I’m a little confused how to. Do I actually bake it with foil on the day before then refrigerate overnight then on the day add the final cheese and cream then reheat ?
The way I read it is bake it w/o reserved cream mixture and cheese add those once the dish has cooled off, then put it In fridge
Delish……….(chefs kiss,)
Brilliant adaptation, Nagi! I’ve tried it with several different cheeses over the years, but you know, I really like your idea of combining Mozz and Parm. You get the gooeyness from one and the umami from the other, and I think it is even better than the standard Gruyère. Cheers and Good on ya!
Utterly delicious and completely demolished in one sitting. No chance of leftovers!
I doubled this to bring for a potluck Thanksgiving dinner for 11 people. Before getting started, I read through the reviews to get an idea of issues others encountered. My main worry was the potatoes would not be cooked all the way through because I was doubling and using one large rectangle dish. I worried for nothing because it came out perfect. I used russet potatoes and even weighed them so it wouldn’t be over the recommended amount. I used full fat cream, gruyere cheese, thyme and other ingredients exactly as called for. This will turn out perfect if you follow Nagi’s recipe exactly as written and using the ingredients called for, i.e. don’t use half and half, the wrong cheese etc. If it helps others, my bake time was 1 hour 30 minutes covered plus the additional 15 minutes uncovered. Don’t skip the thyme. There was a small amount of leftovers which were even tastier the next day. Also, for folks who don’t have a scale, 2 1/2 Ibs potatoes is about 5 medium size. Plan to make again for Christmas dinner!
Question, mine curdled. I used Gouda and Swiss but otherwise followed. Do you have any idea why? Still tasted good but not so much of a looker lol Ps, I love your recipes! Use yours often.
Best potatoes EVER. Don’t skimp. Use the gruyere. I did mostly gruyere plus maybe 1/3 a fancy old hard white cheddar. I also sautéed some finely cut onion with the garlic that I added in.
I’ll be making this for our weekend bbq. But I always double (sometimes triple) the garlic haha!
Also please remember to advise your lovely neighbours here in NZ the best potato to use. Thank you ☺️
Nagi, I was making a baked potato dish where we usually do a shortcut and use a cream of onion soup packet with milk as a sauce to pour over, but I didn’t have any. I quickly looked among your recipes and found this Potato au Gratin (Dauphinoise) potato recipe. I already layered all my cooked sliced potatoes with fried bacon, garlic, a bit of chili, onions and cheese. I needed a sauce so I improvised and used the cream and butter mixture for your recipe and just poured it over everything. The result was amazing. I am never going back to our old way of making a baked potato dish. 🙂
I love the idea of bacon
Family loved it, especially Mum.