Potatoes Au Gratin Recipe

This Au Gratin Potatoes is a family favorite side dish. It is loaded with cheese, potatoes, simple seasoning and onions. This dish is perfect as a weeknight meal or served for your holiday dinner.

Rich, creamy and cheesy is what makes this Potatoes Au Gratin recipe so flavorful. We love that it is loaded with flavor and simple ingredients. It is baked to a golden brown then served as an delicious side. Try these other Au Gratin Recipes – Cauliflower au Gratin, Sweet Potato Au Gratin and Au Gratin Potatoes Crock Pot Recipe.

Why We Love This Recipe

My family loves any kind of potatoes including mashed potatoes and roasted potatoes. But when I serve these Scalloped Potatoes everyone gets excited. It really is the perfect comfort food. But really it is perfect anytime of the year.

Potatoes au gratin are sometimes compared to Scalloped Potatoes. We love how easy this recipe can be prepared with easy ingredients that you probably already have on hand.

What does Au Gratin Potatoes Mean?

Au Gratin is defined as the potatoes are covered with bread crumbs or cheese. So that is why we call this dish Au Gratin Potatoes because of the melted cheese on top.

Ingredients

• Russet Potatoes – Peeled and sliced into 1/8” thick slices
• White Onion – See Best Onion Substitute if you are out
• Butter – We used unsalted butter
• Garlic Powder – Check out The Best Garlic Powder Substitute

Scroll to the bottom for the full recipe and ingredients in the recipe card.

Variations Ideas

• Change the Cheese – If you prefer you can use different flavors of cheeses. Try mozzarella or Gruyere Cheese.
• Add in Meats – We usually serve this as a side dish, but you can easily make this as a meal but adding in diced ham or chicken.
• Use different Seasoning – Add in fresh herbs since as rosemary or thyme for added flavor.

How to Make Au Gratin Potatoes

• Step 1 – Prepare oven and baking dish – Preheat the oven to medium heat 400 degrees F. Spray a 2.5 or 3 quart casserole pan with a non-stick cooking spray.  

Step 2 – Place Potatoes and Onions in dish – Layer the potatoes and sliced onions into the casserole dish.  You want to make slanted rows and layer the sliced potatoes on top of each, leaving room in between so the sauce can get into between the potatoes.  

Step 3 – Melt Butter and add other ingredients – Melt the butter in a medium saucepan over medium high heat.  Add the flour and stir until combined.  Then whisk in the milk, garlic powder, salt and pepper.  Cook for 2-3 minutes whisking continuously until the mixture thickens. 

Step 4 – Stir in cheese – Then remove the saucepan from the heat and then immediately stir in the ½ cup shredded cheeses.  

Step 5 – Pour over potatoes – Pour the cheese sauce even over the potatoes in the casserole dish making sure that they are all covered with the cheese sauce. 

• Step 6 – Cover potatoes and Bake – Cover the casserole dish with foil and bake for 60 minutes.  Then remove the foil and bake for 20-30 minutes until the top of the potatoes are browned and the potatoes are fork tender. 
• Step 7 – Serve and Enjoy – Let the potatoes sit for 20-30 minutes before serving.  Then top with the fresh parsley and it’s ready to enjoy.

Recipe Tips

• Shredded Cheese – Make sure you shred the cheese from block cheese. The pre-shredded cheese doesn’t melt as good and it has added ingredients.
• Microwave potatoes – To make this dish quicker, you can always microwave the potatoes and onions for about 10 minutes before placing in the baking dish.
• Curdling – Curdling happens because of high heat which affects the fat in the dairy. That is why we mix the ingredients with flour. Plus using high starch russet potatoes helps with this also.
• Watery Potatoes – If you have problem with the dish being watery, you may need to replace the milk with heavy cream. Using russet potatoes helps with limiting the moisture because they have less water and more starch.

Best Cheese for Potatoes Au Gratin

When making Potatoes Au Gratin you want to choose cheeses that have a bold flavor. We used sharp cheddar cheese in this recipe but we also recommend parmesan or Gruyere Cheese.

Gruyere Cheese is rich in flavor and has amazing flavor. We highly recommend it if you can find it at your grocery store. If you cannot find Gruyere Cheese, you can use mozzarella cheese instead.  

When making this dish, we recommend using freshly shredded cheeses so that it melts smoothly and evenly in this recipe. 

How to Slice Potatoes Evenly

When preparing this dish it is important to pick the right potatoes and slice them correctly. You can use red skin potatoes, russet potatoes or yellow gold potatoes. These potatoes cook perfectly for this recipe.

When you are ready to slice, try to slice the potatoes as even as possible. This makes sure that they cook at approximately the same time (the thinner the better). 

Serving Suggestions

Au Gratin Potatoes Recipe is a dish that I tend to make with our holiday dinner. Occasionally I make during the week as we enjoy it all year long. It is rich in flavor so we tend to have leftovers.

• Slow Cooker Whole Turkey
• Crockpot Spiral Ham
• Slow Cooker Pork Tenderloin
• Slow Cooker Flank Steak
• Grilled Chicken