Scalloped Potatoes Recipe
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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 Sunday supper and holidays like Easter, Thanksgiving, and Christmas! It makes the perfect side dish for serving a group. Except for mashed potatoes, it is hard to think of a more comforting potato side dish. Even though it is an elegant dish, it really couldn’t be simpler to make!
Easy Scalloped Potatoes Recipe
Originating from England, it is a recipe for uniformly and thinly sliced potatoes arranged in layers and baked in a creamy sauce. If you add the optional cheeses listed in my recipe, you have technically transformed the dish into cheesy scalloped potatoes, or Potatoes Au Gratin, as traditional scalloped potatoes do not include cheese.
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
Delicious and versatile – Such a delicious potato dish that can be made as scalloped potatoes or as my family enjoys, cheesy scalloped potatoes if you wish to add a little cheese!
Easy with simple ingredients – This family-favorite dish is made with just a few ingredients and a few steps.
Elegant side dish – Perfect dish for entertaining, holidays, or Sunday suppers – And it’s not hard at all to make!
How to Make Scalloped Potatoes
This delicious side dish elevates any main dish it accompanies, yet it could not be any simpler to make! Here’s how you’ll make it.
Ingredients
Be sure to see the recipe card below for the full listing of ingredients, instructions, notes, and estimated nutritional information.
For this recipe, you’ll need the following ingredients:
- Potatoes: I prefer Russet potatoes or Yukon Gold potatoes that have been peeled and sliced to about 1/8-inch thick.
- Butter: you can use your preference for salted or unsalted butter in this recipe.
- Flour: I use all-purpose flour in this recipe to make the signature creamy sauce for the potatoes.
- Milk or Heavy Cream: you’ll want to use whole milk or heavy cream in this recipe for the proper consistency in the sauce.
- Salt: if you are using salted butter, you can reduce the amount of salt called for in the recipe to 1/4 teaspoon.
- Ground Black Pepper: – I love to use black pepper, but for a traditional appearance of scalloped potatoes, white pepper works beautifully.
- Cayenne Pepper: I love the addition of cayenne pepper in this potato recipe. You can omit it from the recipe if you prefer.
- Optional Ingredients: onion, garlic, fresh thyme, and cheeses
Step-by-Step Instructions
Prep. Preheating your oven to 350º F. Spray a 9×13 casserole dish with nonstick cooking spray or brush with olive oil 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 a slicing attachment, a chef’s knife, or a mandoline.
As you slice your potatoes, place the slices into a large 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 baking dish.
Make Your Cream Sauce. The cream sauce is so easy to make. You are making a roux, a creamy sauce from butter and flour. To this roux, you are adding your milk or cream and seasonings.
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, and any optional ingredients for additional flavors.
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.
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 broil it for 3 to 5 minutes.
Cool. Remove the Scalloped Potatoes from the oven and allow them to cool for about 15 minutes. This allows the cream sauce to thicken and the potatoes to set for easier serving. Be sure to allow the potatoes to rest. Otherwise, the cream sauce can be too thick and cause the potatoes not to be as easy to serve.
What are Au Gratin Potatoes?
What is the difference between au gratin potatoes and scalloped potatoes? Cheese!
Traditional Scalloped Potatoes do not include cheese, but we love to add it from time to time. Just stir your cheese into the cream sauce once you reduce the heat to a simmer. Then you have made au gratin potatoes or cheesy scalloped potatoes.
I recommend using freshly shredded Monterey Jack, Gruyere, Fontina, Pepper Jack, or Cheddar Cheese, etc., instead of packaged pre-shredded cheeses. Pre-shredded cheeses are usually coated with an ingredient to keep the cheese from sticking together in the packaging. This coating causes the cheese not to melt as well, in my opinion.
Make Ahead and Storage Tips
To Make Ahead: 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, cover with foil and bake at 350º F until heated throughout about 30 minutes.
To Store: Cover cooled scalloped potatoes tightly with foil and refrigerate for up to 3 days. Reheat in 350º F oven until heated throughout, about 30 minutes.
To Freeze as Meal Prep: If you prepare them for your meal prep, I recommend cooking the first 45 minutes covered with foil. Allow to cool completely, wrap tightly, and 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 longer than 45 minutes since the original recipe had a hot cream sauce that the thawed-from-frozen dish does not.
To Freeze Leftovers. Yes, you can freeze any leftover scalloped potatoes. For this, portion the fully cooked leftover recipe into freezer-safe containers. Wrap well and freeze for up to 3 months. To serve, remove from the freezer and thaw in the refrigerator overnight. Then, remove the foil and cover it with a microwave-safe cover to reheat in the microwave, or leave it to reheat in the oven. Then reheat until warmed throughout.
Reheating Tip
Note: I occasionally sprinkle the leftover recipe with a bit of water before I reheat. This produces steam as the casserole is reheated, which prevents the cream sauce from breaking and adds moisture.
Tips for the Best Scalloped Potatoes
The Potatoes:
- Russet or Yukon Gold potatoes have a delicious flavor.
- Slice them thinly – Use a slicer on your food processor or a mandoline to get thin, uniform slices so that they cook evenly.
- Place potato slices in a large bowl of cold water as you slice them and while you make your roux to keep the slices from turning brown.
The Roux (Cream Sauce):
- Simple ingredients like butter, flour, milk or cream, and salt and pepper make a rich roux that tastes amazing.
- It’s optional, but the little bit of cayenne added to the seasoning elevates the flavor of the dish.
The Cheese (Optional):
- My family likes a little cheese in the cream sauce, and while I know that scalloped potatoes don’t traditionally have cheese in the recipe, mine does sometimes.
- When I use cheese in this, I use the options listed in the
What Can I Make To Serve with Scalloped Potatoes?
These potatoes are always a favorite side dish on our holiday table, served with Roasted Turkey or Ham. But you don’t have to wait for a special event to serve these. This recipe is simple and can even be made ahead, so enjoy them any time! Enjoy them with Skillet Rib Eye Steaks, Baked Chicken, or a meatless meal alongside green beans or a House Salad.
More Favorite Potato Recipes
Potatoes are so versatile, readily available, and most of all delicious! Here are a few more favorite potato recipes to try:
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 pepper
- 1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper
Optional Ingredients
- 1 cup grated monterey jack cheese
- 1 cup grated Cheddar cheese
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350º F. Brush 9×13 casserole dish with olive oil or spray cooking spray and set aside.
- Place potato slices in a bowl of cold water to keep from turning brown while making cream sauce.
- Make the 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 the 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.
- 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.
- Serve. Remove from the oven and allow to cool for 15 minutes to allow the sauce to thicken for easier serving. Serve warm.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Enjoy!
Robyn xo
From the Add a Pinch recipe archives, originally published 2013.
This is by far the best Scalloped Potato dish I have ever served. It was so simple, yet so delicious. Enjoyed by all. My Scalloped Potato recipe of 40 years has just been replaced. Thank you Robyn!
Oh wow, Laureen, I’m so thrilled that you enjoyed them! Thank you so very much! xo
I’m making this tomorrow for Easter and am so excited! Tired of mashed potatoes and ready for this! So happy for the question above regarding making a day ahead! Will let you know how it goes!!
Great! I hope you enjoy them! Thanks so much!
HI Robyn,
Just made your recipe on Sunday and it turned out great. The only thing I would do differently is precook my potatoes for about 10 minutes to make them a little tender for less baking time. Mine took 2 hours for tender potatoes. I didn’t care since it was my first.time making them. We Loved, loved, loved them and I will be making them again. TFS
I’m so glad you liked them! Thanks so much!
Planning on making these for Easter. How far in advance can i make these, as i’m having ham, so not much room in an oven for both and of course different tempreatures. Thanks
Hi Suzette,
You can make these a day ahead, refrigerate after dish has cooled, and reheat next day. I hope you enjoy them! Thanks!
Try cooking your ham in a crockpot. It’s so easy and super tender and it doesn’t “hog” your oven all day.
I made this for a potluck at work. I had green Ortega chilis (canned) so I decided to add them . I layered the potatoes, then the chilis, followed by sauce, added another potato layer, more sauce. I used Monterey Jack cheese in the sauce mixture. On top of the casserole I pored some mild taco sauce, then shredded cheddar. After baking I removed the foil, added some chopped bell peppers and cilantro, returning it to the oven for about 5 minutes. Yummy, thank you!
I’m so glad you liked it Karen! I bet it was delicious and such a fun dish for a potluck with the chilis! Thanks so much! xo
So curious… I halved this and I notice my sauce was very thick. It still tasted great but I had to cook longer and did raise temp and cover to get potatoes done. But should I have mixed a little sauce in the middle when layering because I felt like it didn’t soak in the middle very well?? Just suggestions on thick sauce and more in middle of potatoes? Thanks
Just tried this for a group of 20 or so. Quadrupled the recipe and there was nothing left!??
I’m so happy you all enjoyed it! That’s always a good feeling when everyone enjoys what you’ve cooked! Thanks so much, Martha!
I used red potatoes and a smaller baking dish so I cooked it about 30 minutes longer. Also added cheese on top. Otherwise followed recipe exactly. Loved it!
Thanks! Glad you enjoyed it! xo
I made this today to go with a ham. Delicious and easy. Thank you.
Very good, great reviews. Having said that, I did the following. I had 21 people for Christmas dinner, so I started out with 11 potatoes, and after arranging them in two 9×13 pans, I peeled another 5 potatoes to make them a bit bigger. I quadrupled the sauce, after seeing how much sauce was in each 9×13 (so each pan had a double batch of the sauce). I shredded in my processor 2-8 oz blocks Monterey Jack & 2-8 oz blocks cheddar. I saved a little cheddar to sprinkle over the top for an added melted cheddar look. In my opinion, after one hour the temperature probe in the oven said the potatoes were at 160 degrees, but I left them in there for another 30 minutes while the beef tenderloin finished cooking. I think they could have used another 15-30 minutes baking. They were hot, but the potatoes were still a little hard for my taste. All said and done, I got rave reviews, but one pan was completely untouched and we had 2-3 scoops left in the touched pan. I did add a smidge of salt to my serving, but I am a salty. Most others did not add any extra salt.
You cook for a crowd, Stephanie! I’m happy you enjoyed the Scalloped Potatoes and love the tips you shared for making this for a large number of people.
Thanks so much! xo
I am copying down the ingredients so I can make this again for Christmas this year-I love this recipe!!
I slice my potatoes and boil them for a bit then drain and put in dish. This helps with them getting done.
I made this for Christmas this year, to go along with the spiral ham. I also checked the potatoes after the allotted time, and found that they weren’t soft enough. So I put them back in for another 20 minutes. I think par-boiling the potatoes may help, and will keep that as an alternative when I make this in the future. I also think that that they could have used a tad more salt. They taste very good as they are, but the salt would make the cheese (if added) pop in flavor. We are also a huge garlic family – so I will probably add a bit of garlic to ours too. We really enjoyed this recipe though. I appreciated how simple, and easy this recipe was.