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Looking for a dish to impress your guests this holiday season? Try this baked au gratin potatoes. A mix of thinly sliced russet and sweet potatoes tossed and baked in a cheesy, creamy and herby mixture. We’ll take potatoes in any form, but au gratin potatoes have to be one of our favorite ways to eat potatoes.
The blend of two different potatoes is an unexpected twist on tradition au gratin recipes that use russet potatoes. Serve these baked au gratin potatoes for a large meal with family or for a nice weeknight dinner. This dish is a great alternative to mashed potatoes. And with the right tools, it is super easy to prepare.
Looking for more elegant side dishes? Check these out!
Baked Au Gratin Potatoes
Recipe Snapshot
- Preheat oven to 375ºF.
- Slice potatoes with mandoline.
- Mix together cream, cheese and herbs.
- Toss potatoes in cream mixture.
- Arrange potato slices in pan.
- Bake for 1 hour 45 minutes. (Trust us! It’s worth the wait!)
How to slice potatoes..
It is important that you slice the potatoes thinly! You can do this one of two ways: use a mandoline or a sharp knife.
- Mandoline is best! It is easier and quicker. Honestly if you don’t have one, we recommend getting one, because it makes even slices and takes very little time.
- Slice carefully with a sharp knife. If your knives aren’t sharp, we don’t recommend using a knife to cut. Just for safety reasons. Chopping all the potatoes with a knife is doable (we’ve done it!), but it takes a lot of time and concentration.
What does au gratin mean?
Honestly, we had the same question the first time we made this dish! It is a French term for anything topped with cheese or breadcrumbs and baked.
So..au gratin potatoes are essentially just potatoes topped with cheese and baked. Au gratin potatoes is a popular French side dish that is baked very similarly to our recipe using cheeses, half and half cream and seasonings. We have put our own twist on the dish by adding in fall herbs and one of our favorite cheese pairings – gruyere and pecorino Romano. We also chose to use a couple different root vegetables – sweet and russet potatoes.
How to make au gratin potatoes?
This dish is very easy to make, it just takes patience! The prep is quick, but the bake time is a long. But we promise its well worth the wait!!
Start by throughly washing your potatoes. Potatoes are root vegetables and hold a lot of dirt on them. We use a vegetable cleaner and vegetable brush to clean our spuds. Dry them off with a clean towel before slicing.
Next, slice the potatoes with a mandoline. Cut one end of the potato so you have a flat surface to slice with. You can either use the thinnest setting or the second to thinnest setting. You don’t want them too think because you want to make sure they cook all the way through.
Slide the potato back and forth on the mandoline. Be careful not to press too hard. The mandoline blade is very sharp, so it will do a lot of the work for you.
After your potatoes are sliced, mix together your cream mixture. In a large bowl, add half and half, dijon, garlic, cheese and herbs. Pour in the potato slices and toss with your hands to make sure all the slices are coated.
Arrange the potatoes in rows in a 8×10 inch pan. You can get creative on the design here! The potato slices should be tightly packed in the dish.
Lastly, cover with foil and bake in the oven. Your total cook time is about 1 hour 45 minutes – 2 hours. It will depend on the pan you use and the way your oven cooks.
There are 3 phases to baking:
1st baking phase = bake for 45 minutes with pan covered in foil
2nd baking phase = remove foil and bake for 30 minutes
3rd baking phase = top with more cheese and bake for an additional 30 minutes
Note: Cook time will vary based on you oven and what type of pan you use. We used a thicker ceramic pan and so ours took a little over 1 hour and 45 minutes to bake. If you are using a thinner baking dish, it may take less time to bake. Keep an eye on your pastes as it gets closer to the end of cooking to make sure they aren’t burning.
Put your own twist on this dish!
One thing that is so great about this dish is you can easily make it your own. Use what you have around the house or try something different. Here are some things we recommend to put your own creative twist on au gratin potatoes:
- Play around with the pattern of potatoes. We did a checkered style. You can alternate each slice, make rows of different colored potatoes or arrange them randomly! The dish will still be beautiful and taste delicious.
- Try different cheeses. Cheddar, asiago, smoked cheddar, gouda are fun ones you can try!
- Try different herbs or spices.
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Baked Au Gratin Potatoes
Description
The blend of two different potatoes is an unexpected twist on tradition au gratin potatoes.
Ingredients
- 1.5 lb golden potatoes, thinly sliced
- 1.5 lb sweet potatoes (small), thinly sliced
- 2 tbsp butter
- 1 1/2 cup half and half
- 1 tbsp fresh thyme, minced
- 1 tbsp fresh rosemary, minced
- 5 cloves garlic, minced
- 2 tsp dijon
- 3/4 cup gruyere cheese, grated
- 3/4 cup pecorino romano cheese, grated
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375ºF. (Use convection oven if your oven has convection setting).
- Clean potatoes, slice thinly using a mandolin. You can also slice with knife. But use caution because it can be difficult to slice the potatoes very thinly. Wash potatoes slices in bowl with water and pat dry.
- In a medium bowl, add half and half cream, thyme, rosemary, garlic, dijon and cheese. Mix together. Add in sliced potatoes and mix to evenly coat all the slices.
- Line the buttered baking pan with potatoes slices in rows. Pour excess cream and cheese on top.
- Cover with foil and bake for 45 minutes. Remove foil and bake for 30 minutes. Add more cheese on top if you desire and cook for an additional 30 minutes. Bake time can vary depending on oven but should be crispy, cooked and golden after 1 hr 45 – 2 hrs!
