Scalloped Potatoes
86 comments » 
Scalloped potatoes are legendary in my family. Back in the day when we would all gather at my Grandma’s for a Sunday dinner, if a pan of scalloped potatoes showed up on the table us kids went crazy. Well, more specifically, my cousin Kristy and I would go crazy. To this day, if we’re at a holiday dinner and there are scalloped potatoes, we take it upon ourselves to sit next to each other and then proceed to put the pan of scalloped potatoes right between us. Yes, we’re 31 and 27, but there are some things you just never outgrow. Our love of scalloped potatoes is one of them. Back in the day my grandma made hers from a box mix, and they were always delicious, but nowadays I like to make them from scratch. They are so much heartier, creamier and I know exactly what’s in them. This particular recipe I broke out for Christmas this past year and it was met with rave reviews. The pan was demolished in no time.
I used a mandoline to slice my potatoes – it makes the process super quick and ensure that all of the potatoes are evenly sliced to the right size. This is the one that I have; an inexpensive investment for something that makes kitchen tasks painless, quick and easy.
Is there a traditional dish that people in your family always fight over? Hopefully we’re not alone! 
Scalloped Potatoes
Yield: 8 to 10 servings
Prep Time: 30 minutes
Cook Time: 20 minutes
Total Time: 50 minutes
Ingredients:
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 small onion, minced
2 garlic cloves, minced
3 cups heavy cream
1 cup whole milk
4 sprigs fresh thyme
2 bay leaves
2 teaspoons salt
½ teaspoon ground black pepper
4 pounds russet potatoes, peeled and cut into 1/8-inch-thick slices
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese (about 4 ounces)Directions:
1. Heat oven to 350 degrees F. Meanwhile, melt butter in large Dutch oven (or large, heavy-bottomed saucepan) over medium-high heat until foaming subsides, about 1 minute. Add onion and saute until it turns soft and begins to brown, about 4 minutes. Add garlic and saute until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Add cream, milk, thyme, bay leaves, salt, pepper, and potatoes and bring to a simmer. Cover, adjusting heat as necessary to maintain a light simmer, and cook until potatoes are almost tender (paring knife can be slipped into and out of center of potato slice with some resistance), about 15 minutes.
2. Remove and discard thyme sprigs and bay leaves. Transfer potato mixture to a 3-quart gratin dish and sprinkle with cheese. Bake until the cream has thickened and is bubbling around sides and the top is golden brown, about 20 minutes. Cool for 10 minutes before serving.
(Recipe adapted from Cook's Illustrated, February 2005)
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Is there any better combination that cheese, potatoes and cream? I think not!
Scalloped potatoes is one of those dishes I’m worried will under cook. My mother never made it, so I’ve never made it. I think this has to change, and soon! Thank goodness it’s coming into Winter here, perfect timing.
The dish we fight over? Nonna’s lasagna. It’s my favourite and I always claim the leftovers before we’ve even started dinner!
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This is my absolute favorite food! I love your recipe, I’m excited to try
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So many meals we fight over. Mostly the rolls. I feel like a commercial every time I bake them because I have to triple the recipe That’s something like 60 rolls! Its exhausting but I love the excited look on everyone’s face when they walk in for dinner and can smell the fresh bread. It’s therapeutic…for everyone.
I’d comment more on your potatoes but I hate them right now, because I want them so badly. I’m on a diary free diet (among many other restrictions) and cheese is one of those things I miss a lot a lOT!
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It always interests me how the same dishes have different names for us.
This is one of my favourite potato dishes, but over here they’re known as the French call them: “potato dauphinoise”.
Scalloped potatoes are thick slices of part-cooked potatoes, battered and deep fried! You should try them, they’re very good!!
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Y U M
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A delicious recipe for a classic dish. This looks mouthwatering good!
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Scalloped potatoes are a favorite of mine!
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I love scalloped potatoes! What a great recipe.
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First of all, I LOVE your blog! And being a Pittsburgh girl myself just makes it even more enjoyable!
Well, we don’t actually fight over the mint brownies at Christmas… but there are definite rules about how many one is allowed to consume!
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These look amazing! I think this sound perfect for Easter Sunday, thanks!
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I loooove scalloped potatoes! Or just anything with potatoes! I love your recipe. I’ll be trying it soon!
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My siblings and I never fought over a particular dish because we had such wildly different tastes. However, I remember one of my roommates telling me that she and her brother used to have bitter arguments over equally dividing up the bacon for BLTs. I just love to imagine that. Bacon can be a very divisive conversation topic.
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My husband would love this!
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Definitely one of the best foods ever!!
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Oh my, this looks heavenly!
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Josh will LOVE these!
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Mandolines are great. My dad used it all the time. I need to get one for myself one of these days.
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My mom’s Portuguese cream puffs “fillozes” were always a special treat. It would take a great deal of restraint to not eat all of them at once
. I’m excited to try your scalloped potatoes, thanks for sharing!
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Scallop potatoes and ham was an Easter staple at my house growing up. I have never been able to make them like my mom. These look so creamy and delicious. I am going to try them this weekend. At Easter we fight over the coconut cake. Yum!
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Scalloped potatoes are a favorite in my house and a “must” at Easter. You’re right about the mandoline – it makes the task of slicing the potatoes so much easier.
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I love scalloped potatoes and yours look perfect, Michelle! Thanks for sharing this Easter favorite. It will be sure to make an appearance at my table this Sunday!
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These look incredible! I’m not even a big potato fan, but I LOVE scalloped potatoes. I think my sister is making them for our Easter dinner
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Oh yum, I think I just fainted. Love!
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Just this morning my husband told me he wanted scalloped potatoes for Easter. This looks perfect!
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Beautiful dish! I’m also always ready to fight for the scalloped potatoes!
One of the best side dishes for Easter…or any other holiday, as a matter of fact.
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I think I’ll be making this for Easter! I love scalloped potatoes but like many others I’m paranoid about undercooking them. My Mum, the font of knowledge that she is, told me to layer the potatoes in a dish first, cover and pre-cook them for about 5 minutes or so in the microwave with a bit of water in the bottom of the dish.
Turns out that woman knows what she’s doing and after I had poured the cream mixture over and popped it in the oven, I was rewarded with the best ever scalloped potatoes ever!
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Another dish that I have never had. It sure sounds delicious, though!
We fight over lots of food: my pancakes, my potato salad, and my mother’s pinion (it’s basically a kind of casserole but I don’t know what it is called in English) are probably the best examples.
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We were recently served the most DISMAL scalloped potatoes imaginable. Thanks for restoring our faith in this delicious, fabulous side!
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my cream always separates when I bake my scalloped potatoes. The last time I used evaporated milk and didn’t have that problem . . . is there a secret that I don’t know?
When we were kids, my brother and I would fight over popcorn. The way I got around it was when I made the popcorn, I would burn it — just a little, but enough that he didn’t want it . . . I got so used to “well done” popcorn that I still eat it that way (but I also never have to share!) BTW, I just turned 60 and my “little brother” is 57!
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No matter what else was for dinner, if my mom made these, my brother and I would be happy. I love using different kinds of cheeses too…makes it customizable like mac and cheese! I love using cheddar, but I think gruyere is my favorite so far! (For special occasions that is
)
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This wonderful dish will be on our Easter table…yummy!
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These look absolutely divine and I am drooling just thinking about the taste. Cheese and potatoes are always a winning combination, especially when cream is added to the mix.
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Wouldn’t you know, I just bought some scalloped potatoes from Costco that look exactly like yours. Wish I had saved my money and made your recipe instead.
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This great! I am having a special sunday Easter Linky buffet Any Easter recipe accepted no limit to what you like to submit. I am taking submissions till saturday, your welcome to post this! http://deedeesdelights.blogspot.com/p/special-easter-sunday-buffet.html
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These look delicious! Hmm….can’t think of any food offhand that we fought over – probably any of Mom’s great desserts like O’Henry bars or the homemade peanut butter cup bars…yum! Get hungry thinking about it…
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Scalloped Potatoes are probably one of my very favorite things to eat. Your photos have me drooling!
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I’m not really a fan of scalloped potatoes, but I’ve only ever had them from the box – these totally look like they could change my mind!!
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Ohh, I bet I could prepare AND bake this in a cast-iron skillet without having to change vessels. Yea! Thanks for the great-looking recipe.
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Memoria on April 20th, 2011 at 11:49 pm
Oh, and my family fight over the chicken and dressing I make in the crockpot every year. One year, my aunt tried to (and succeeded) hoard most of it and not let the rest of the family take some leftovers home.
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Wow – I am so craving scalloped potatoes now. Oddly Easter is the one holiday meal where my family tends to eat light. Scalloped potatoes would fit in better at our Thanksgiving or Christmas tables. For easter we usually revel in the bright flavors of spring and eat lots of veggies, grilled meat or fish etc.
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Thankyou for shareing the recipie. In Denmark this dish is called “fløde kartoffler” meaning creame potatoes. In my house we use it as side dish with meat. When we siblings and inlaws-siblings are ghathered at my moms house for muslim holliday we “fight” over her rice dessert called “kheer”.
everybodt wants the rest .
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These look really good. I had some at a party the other day and they had no seasoning and they were horrible. I’m craving something good like yours.
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I just had my aunt’s scalloped potatoes at a party last weekend – and that was the bulk of my meal! I forgot how much I loved them.
Your recipe may just be gracing my Easter table as well!
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Beautiful photo. I think I have that same white plate, too!
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Oh, I think I will be making this for Easter!
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Too good to pass up. They are a favourite in this house too so I’m now wondering why we don’t make them more often!
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I am adding these to our menu for sunday!! they look amazing!
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I LOVE potatoes in ANY form. But these look as though they are going to be even more comforting than macaroni and cheese. I can almost smell them! Will definitely give them a try with my Easter ham this Sunday! Have a great weekend Michelle and everyone! : )
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I love scalloped potatoes! This would make a great addition to Easter dinner!
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Thank you for this great recipe! I made it, it’s wonderful and I blogged about you on my blog. Thank you!!
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I just made scalloped potatoes last night and it was not the best in the world. But these look absolutely amazing! I will definitely give this one a try.
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Making these tomorrow for Easter. I’m sure we will love them.
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After years of being forced to eat box-mix scalloped potatoes, I have an intense dislike of them. But your recipe has encouraged me to give them a second chance. These are on our Easter dinner menu and I’m actually looking forward to trying them! Thanks!
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OMgoodness! I made these today for Easter and they were a HUGE hit! The only modification I made was that I used less potatoes, because I was serving only 5 people. I used the same amount of the creamingredients and it was the perfect amount of ooey gooey goodness! The bay leaf and thyme in combination with the garlic and onion sauted in butter was an amazing flavor combination in the cream sauce. I thought I was going to have to load on the cheese to get good flavor but I ended up using just a handful sprinkled on top! Thank you for this amazing recipe!!!
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Scalloped potatoes are so delish! I will be trying this recipe soon!
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Made these today and they were a huge hit!
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Thank you for a new family favorite! Even though there were only three of us I made a full serving and thank goodness. After a heaping container was filched for our son’s dorm room fridge and leftovers consumed tonight, only one serving remains. The hint of thyme that lingers in the cream is tantalizing and once the potatoes were peeled the recipe was really easy. Thank you so much for sharing! I can’t think offhand about a holiday food we fight over, by the way, but this might now be it.
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I have been looking for a scalloped tater dish for years. This was Great!! This dish was hit with the family & I can’t wait to make it again.
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I made theses for our Easter Brunch & LOVED them! Thank you for sharing, my family thanks you too!
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All I have to say is YUMMMM!! I just made them and they were a hit! My kids were like, mom why havent you made these before?? They saved some for themselves before everyone ate them all. Lol.. thanks for the post!
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All I have to say is YUMMMM!! I just made them and they were a hit! My kids were like, mom why havent you made these before?? They saved some for themselves, their own stash, before everyone ate them all. Lol.. thanks for the post!
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I never had real scalloped potatoes until I was an adult. My mom never made anything like this. She made baked potatoes, frozen french fries, and at holiday time Potato Latkes. That was it for potatoes in our house. I have made scalloped potatoes before and they are rich and delicious. These look so good. Thanks for the blog.
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By far the best I’ve made!!
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Question- all i have is half and half, can i sub that for heavy cream??
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Michelle on August 18th, 2011 at 10:14 am
You can, your sauce just might not thicken up quite as much as if you’d use cream.
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Made it today – LOVED IT. I will be using the recipe again. Thanks
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This looks really good! Great photo! Cant wait to try it!
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I just came across your blog yesterday and tried this recipe for my Dinner party last night. It was soooo easy to make and tasted sooooo GOOD!!!
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Made this recepie tonight for a party tomorrow. Stopped before baking them. I am looking forward to seeing how they heat tomorrow. Maybe a mistake. What is not a mistake is this recepie. I will for make this again. The cream sauce was so good I used a spatula to get it all, and literally licked the pan clean. So good!
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I just love your recipe. I haven’t made it yet but let me tell you my story. A year ago I searched and searched how to make scalloped potatoes in a crockpot. What I came up with is the same things throughout all the recipes. They used Russet Potatoes and lots of cream & cheese of course. So I made them and because I didn’t really have the time for the crockpot to do it’s work I did all the prepping and then I browned the potatoes in layers in my dutch oven with garlic and butter and chicken broth etc. Finally between the layers I added onions and cheese and ended with CREAM!! Oh my gosh these were to die for. This year I made practically the same recipe but this time I just used regular white potatoes. I think not using Russet Potatoes was my mistake! I am glad to know you used RP. Linda from Canada
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I made this for my family and they LOVED it. I used to make mashed potatoes with my meat loaf now my family only wants scalloped potatoes with it. Thank you for a great recipe.
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Could I just put the potatoes in the gratin dish and let cool then bake the next day letting come to room temperature before baking?
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Michelle on November 20th, 2012 at 6:57 pm
Hi Gretchen, Yes, I think you could definitely do that without a problem. Enjoy!
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Gretchen on November 21st, 2012 at 7:40 am
Thanks!!
I will let you know how they turn out!
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beth on December 10th, 2012 at 5:58 pm
How did they turn out baking them the next day?
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I am making these for a holiday party tomorrow night… Any thoughts on making them ahead of time? I’m debating if I should bake them right before the party, or should I bake them now and just reheat them when we get to our destination? Thanks for your help. This recipe is fabulous! Thank you for sharing it!
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Michelle on December 23rd, 2012 at 9:57 pm
Hi Jessica, I would assemble it ahead of time and then bake it. I think it’s far better baked fresh than reheated (although it’s still good that way, but not the same, plus you’d still need to use the oven, so might as well bake fresh!).
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Jessica on December 26th, 2012 at 1:28 pm
They turned out perfectly! Thanks so much for your quick response. Happy new year!
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Carissa on December 24th, 2012 at 8:55 am
So glad you asked this! I came here with the same question. My mom requested scalloped potatoes for Christmas dinner and I think she expects the boxed kind…I can’t wait to surprise her with these!
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Made this last night and it is my new favorite Holiday side! Last year, I did parboil the potatoes. Best potato recipe ever!!!
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Cindy J on December 24th, 2012 at 11:08 am
* last year- used a different recipe and couldn’t get the potatoes to cook through! So, last night using your recipe, I just wanted to be on the safe side and parboil considering oven being used for other dishes as well. Where has this recipe been all my life!!
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These were so good, rich, creamy, and delicious. A perfect side to our Christmas dinner with absolutely no leftovers!
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I made these as part of a Valentine’s dinner last night – sooooo delicious. I love how the thyme flavors the cream sauce. I maybe have over simmered my potatoes, so I’ll amp that down a bit next time. FANTASTIC recipe – thank you.
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I’m looking forward to trying this recipe! Is it ok to use salted butter? That’s what I’ve got on hand.
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Michelle on March 30th, 2013 at 11:27 am
Yes, but omit the salt in the recipe.
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Sorry, really hated this recipe. Other than the cheese on top it was bland and boring. I’d wished so badly I’d made a box recipe for dinner and saved myself a ton of time, money and grief having to serve something so tasteless.
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