Cheesy Scalloped Potatoes

by Heidi Updated: Dec 1, 2023

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These easy cheesy scalloped potatoes are as comforting a dish as you can make. Pair this hearty side dish with roast chicken, steak, ham, and more!

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Potatoes. Cream. Cheese. Comfort-centric Sunday dinner just isn’t the same without them.

Scalloped Potatoes are almost always paired with one of my favorite hams or my very favorite home cooked, steak house-style dinner. You just have to go rich and big if you’re going to go at all.

My mom always made her cheesy scalloped potatoes with cream of mushroom soup. It was one of my favorite parts of one of my favorite dinners ever. But as I’ve grown older, I’ve moved away from the canned stuff and on to basic cream, chicken broth, and butter that envelops tenderly sliced potatoes to create a seriously decadent side dish with very minimal effort.

Scalloped Potatoes Ingredients

Although these easy cheesy scalloped potatoes may look like they take a lot of time and effort to prepare, they actually require just a handful of simple ingredients to make. Here’s what you’ll need to make this scalloped potatoes recipe:

Butter
Garlic
Onion
Fresh thyme
Kosher salt and pepper
Heavy cream
Chicken broth
Russet potatoes
Bay leaves
Medium cheddar cheese
Parmesan cheese

I like to use my handheld mandoline to evenly slice the potatoes every time.

How to Make Scalloped Potatoes

In a Dutch oven, sauté the garlic in a little butter and cook until fragrant. Add in the onions, thyme, salt, and pepper and cook until the onions soften.

Add the cream, chicken broth, bay leaves, and sliced potatoes to the Dutch oven and bring to a simmer. Cover and cook until the potatoes are nearly fork tender.

Cooking the potatoes in the cream and chicken broth releases the starch from the potatoes and helps thicken the creamy sauce. It also pre-cooks the potatoes for a shorter baking time.

Transfer half of the potato mixture to a baking dish, sprinkle with cheese, then top with remaining potatoes and more cheese. Refrigerate the scalloped potatoes for at least an hour before baking.

Can I Use Dried Herbs Instead of Fresh?

I recommend using fresh herbs if possible. Dried herbs are much more potent and don’t impart as fresh of a flavor.

Is There a Heavy Cream Substitute I Can Use?

Heavy cream is a must in this scalloped potatoes recipe. The extra fat not only adds lots of flavor, but it also thickens up the sauce a bit. Whole milk or half and half could be used as a substitute, but the sauce may be thinner and not thicken up as much.

Tips for Making the Best Scalloped Potatoes

I use russet potatoes versus the waxier white potatoes. Russets have a higher starch content and thus, created a tender bite.

Cooking the potatoes in the cream and chicken broth prior to baking not only speeds up the oven time but also gives the sauce an even creamier texture due to the starches the potatoes yield during the pre-baking cooking process. It is all about the creaminess IMO, after all.

Combining even amounts of cream with chicken broth brings the heaviness of scalloped potatoes down to a normal range. So you won’t feel as if you need to waddle away from the table instead of walking.

While the original recipe didn’t call for Parmesan cheese, I like the extra bite Parmesan adds to this dish. It’s a great complement to the cheddar and man, it is just plain good.

More Classic Potato Side Dishes to Make

If you make this recipe, please let me know! Leave a comment below or take a photo and tag me on Instagram or Twitter with #foodiecrusheats.

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