This easy scalloped potatoes recipe makes the best potato side dish! Tender slices of potatoes in an easy creamy sauce is a classic favorite!
Scalloped potatoes are an easy, classic favorite potato side dish that is great for a Sunday supper, holidays like Easter, Thanksgiving, and Christmas! It makes the perfect side dish for serving a group. With the exception of mashed potatoes, it is hard to think of a more comforting side dish. Even though it seems so elaborate and elegant, it really couldn’t be simpler to make!
Easy Classic Potato Recipe
These easy Scalloped Potatoes make the perfect side dish to serve during the holidays from Easter to Thanksgiving and Christmas as well as for Sunday suppers throughout the year. They are so easy to prepare and make a dish perfect for serving a group.
What is Scalloped Potatoes?
Originating from England, it is a recipe for uniformly and thinly sliced potatoes that are layered and baked in a creamy sauce. If you add the optional cheeses listed in my recipe, you have technically transformed your scalloped potatoes into Potatoes Au Gratin as traditional scalloped potatoes do not include cheese.
Ingredients
For this recipe, you’ll need the following ingredients:
- 4 large Russet or Yukon Gold potatoes, peeled and sliced about 1/8-inch thick
- 1/4 cup butter
- 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
- 2 cups whole milk or heavy cream
- 1/2 teaspoon Kosher salt
- 1/2 teaspoon ground black or white pepper
- 1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper
How to Make Scalloped Potatoes Recipe
To make my scalloped potatoes, begin by preheating your oven to 350ยบ F. Spray a 9×13 casserole dish with nonstick cooking spray and set aside.
Prepare the Potatoes
Peel your potatoes and then slice them into uniform 1/8-inch thick slices. You can use a food processor with the slicing attachment, a chef’s knife, or even a mandolin.
As you slice your potatoes, place the slices into a bowl of cold water to keep them from turning brown while making your cream sauce.
When your cream sauce is ready, drain the potato slices from the cold water and layer them in the casserole dish.
Make Your Cream Sauce
The cream sauce is so easy to make. You are basically making a roux, which is a creamy sauce from the butter and flour. To this roux, you are adding your milk or cream and seasonings.
To make the sauce, melt the butter in a medium saucepan set over medium heat. Whisk in the flour until well-combined, then whisk in milk, salt, pepper, cayenne pepper.
Reduce the heat to a simmer and continue to whisk until the sauce begins to bubble slightly around the edges of the saucepan and has thickened slightly.
Remove from the heat and pour over the sliced potatoes in the casserole dish.
Cheese or No Cheese?
While traditional Scalloped Potatoes does not include cheese, we love to add it from time to time. If you do (which is Potatoes Au Gratin), stir your cheese into the cream sauce once you reduce the heat to a simmer.
I recommend using Monterrey Jack, Cheddar, Gruyere, Fontina, Pepper Jack, etc. I do not recommend using packaged pre-shredded cheeses as they are coated with an ingredient to help the cheese not stick together in the packaging. This coating causes the cheese not to melt as well, in my opinion.
Bake
Cover the casserole dish with foil and bake for 45 minutes. Remove the foil and bake until the top is golden and the potatoes are fork-tender, an additional 45 minutes. For an even more golden top, you can additionally broil for 3 to 5 minutes.
Cool
Remove the Scalloped Potatoes from the oven and allow to cool for about 15 minutes. This allows the cream sauce to thicken and the potatoes to set for easier serving. If you do not allow it to rest, the cream sauce can be to think and cause the potatoes to not be as easy to serve.
Make Ahead Scalloped Potatoes Recipe
I love that these scalloped potatoes make a great make-ahead side dish as well!
Bake the scalloped potatoes as directed and allow them to cool. Cover tightly with foil and refrigerate for up to 3 days. When ready to serve, just the scalloped potatoes bake, covered with the foil, at 350ยบ F until heated throughout, about 30 minutes.
Can You Freeze Scalloped Potatoes?
Yes! You can freeze scalloped potatoes!
Meal Prep. If you are preparing them as part of your meal prep, I recommend cooking the first 45 minutes covered with the foil. Allow them to cool completely and then freeze for up to 3 months. To serve, you’ll want to thaw in the refrigerator overnight and then bake until fork tender. This may take a bit longer than 45 minutes since the original recipe had hot cream sauce that the thawed from frozen dish does not.
Leftover. Most often, I am freezing leftover scalloped potatoes. For this, portion the fully cooked leftover recipe into freezer-safe containers. Wrap well and freeze up to 3 months. To serve, remove from the freezer and thaw in the refrigerator overnight. Then, remove the foil and reheat in the and cover with microwave-safe cover to reheat in the microwave or leave the foil to reheat in the oven. Reheat until warmed throughout.
Note: I occasionally will sprinkle the leftover recipe with a bit of water before I reheat. This produces a bit of steam as the casserole is reheated which prevents the cream sauce from breaking and adds moisture.
Here’s my Scalloped Potatoes recipe. I hope you love it as much as we do!
Scalloped Potatoes Recipe
Ingredients
- 4 large Russet or Yukon Gold potatoes sliced thinly to 1/8-inch thick
- 1/4 cup butter
- 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
- 2 cups whole milk or heavy cream
- 1/2 teaspoon Kosher salt
- 1/2 teaspoon ground black or white pepper
- 1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper
Optional Ingredients
- 1 cup grated Monterrey Jack cheese
- 1 cup grated Cheddar cheese
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350ยบ F. Spray 9×13 casserole dish with nonstick cooking spray and set aside.
- Place potato slices in a bowl of cold water to keep from turning brown while making cream sauce.
Make Cream Sauce
- Melt butter in a medium saucepan set over medium heat. Whisk in flour until well-combined, then whisk in milk, salt, pepper, cayenne pepper. Reduce heat to simmer and continue to whisk until sauce bubbles slightly around the edges of the saucepan and has thickened slightly.
- If you are adding cheese (making Potatoes Au Gratin), stir them in at this point.
Make Casserole
- Drain cold water from the potato slices and arrange the slices in the 9×13 casserole dish. Pour cream sauce over potato slices and cover the casserole dish with foil.
Cook
- Bake covered for 45 minutes. Remove the foil and bake until the top is golden brown and the potatoes are fork-tender. If additional browning is desired, you may broil the casserole for 3 to 5 minutes.
- Remove from the oven and allow to cool for 15 minutes to allow the sauce to thicken for easier serving. Serve warm.
Notes
Bake the scalloped potatoes as directed. Allow to cool, cover tightly with foil and refrigerate for up to 3 days. When ready to serve, bake covered with the foil, at 350ยบ F until heated throughout, about 30 minutes.ย
Nutrition Information
Enjoy!
Robyn xo
From the Add a Pinch recipe archives, originally published 2013.
Hey Robyn, can’t wait to make these. I love scalloped potatoes with Prime Rib. Ive use several different recipes… ones very similar to this one. Mine are always to watery or too dry. Never right in the middle. Any advice you think of from your experience.
I do too – aren’t they delicious?! It may help to read through my blog post – I talk about the steps to make this. I hope this helps and that you enjoy them! Thanks!
Why are these not layered with the sauce? That would help the potatoes cook.
Also, since you added cheese to them they are called Au Gratin Potatoes. Scalloped do not have any cheese in them.
should I boil the potatos before I bake them?ย
This is now my โgo-toโ recipe for scaloped potatoes!
Thanks Tricia! Happy to hear that! xo
Perfect, ย Iโve made it three times since thanksgiving upon family requests. Every recipe of yours I have made has been great. Our taste buds are in cinque. Thanks.
My husband has always said he hates scalloped (au gratin) potatoes. It has something to do with how his mother made them from a box when he was a child. Just for kicks, I made your recipe. He wondered what smelled so good while it was baking. Iโve made this three times in the last three weeks because he LOVES it!
This is great to hear, Nancy! I’m so glad you and your husband enjoy these! xo
Hello, I’m thinking of making these scalloped potatoes but I was wondering how many people does it serve?
Hi Lily,
This should serve about 10 as a side dish. Hope you enjoy!
I am going to make these for Thanksgiving this weekend and am tempted to make them in advance. I see you have posted notes about doing so, but it’s to impress my MIL who makes the besssst scalloped potatoes. Think they will be just as spectacular re-baked or should I make them fresh, the day of?
The scalloped potatoes taste and look just as good if you make them ahead as if you made them fresh. Just follow the Make Ahead directions I give in the post and you should be fine, Ashlee.
Hi Robyn! I’m wondering if this recipe would freeze well? I’m looking to put up food for the next several weeks, and I have a lot of the ingredients that this recipe calls for. Would appreciate any input you might have about this!
Kate, you can freeze the scalloped potatoes. Make the recipe as directed and bake until the potatoes are almost tender. Cool and cover tightly with freezer wrap. For best results, most recommend freezing no longer than 2 weeks. When you are ready to serve, partially thaw in the refrigerator, then bake at 350ยบ F until it reaches 165ยบ F internal temp. Hope you enjoy!
Made today, turned out delicious!!
Thanks so much, Aimee.
Huge hit with my family. They all asked for it again. Even delicious after 3 days in the fridge.
So glad everyone in your family loved these potatoes, Gabriella. They are a favorite at my house, too.
I think I have made this over 20 times. Everyone loves it. My step dad who is also an avid cook mentioned to me that he puts onions it his. I’m sure his is wonderful. Sometimes the basics is all you need though.
I thought this was a great recipe also and I am not that crazy about scalloped potatoes. The presentation was perfect and I plan to make them again for Christmas. I had a similar ? To another woman, what weight of potatoes do you use? It is hard to find large Yukon golds in my area.
I use the size of Russet or Yukon potatoes that you would use for baking. The usual weight is about 8-10 ounces.
So easy and so delicious! Very creamy. The family loved it.
Hi. Can I prepare this without baking and refrigerate and then bake roughly 6-8 hours later?
Jill, look at my Make Ahead Scalloped Potatoes Recipe notes in the post. Bake the scalloped potatoes as directed and allow them to cool. Cover tightly with foil and refrigerate for up to 3 days. When ready to serve, just the scalloped potatoes bake, covered with the foil, at 350ยบ F until heated throughout, about 30 minutes.. I have found that they do much better made ahead this way.