Potatoes Dauphinoise (Potatoes au Gratin)

Potatoes Dauphinoise or Potatoes au Gratin is a classic French side dish featuring a harmonious blend of tender potatoes, luscious cream, and melted cheese. Don’t miss this ultimate comfort food indulgence, it’s sure to warm your soul and leave you craving more.

These comforting potatoes are the perfect accompaniment for any main course, whether it’s a juicy steak, roasted chicken, holiday ham, or turkey. Change things up a bit and substitute orange sweet potatoes for a delicious spin on this classic French dish.

Potatoes Dauphinoise (Potatoes au Gratin)

Potatoes Dauphinoise are the ultimate French comfort food, and this classic potato dish is a love story between the humble potato, cream, and butter. The rich ethereal sauce transforms starchy potatoes into tender morsels and the golden-brown baked bits on top are irresistible.

But wait there’s more. The final pièce de résistance is all the melted cheese in between the crunchy bits. The best Dauphinoise potato recipes contain a generous amount of Gruyère Cheese, and my recipe is no exception.

In addition to Gruyère, this Potatoes au Gratin recipe also contains white cheddar cheese. This unique addition allows for that all important ‘cheese pull’ during serving. If you are a purist and prefer to only use Gruyère, feel free to do so sans jugement.

There are no shortcuts to perfection but don’t worry! Making this potato casserole from scratch is not difficult at all and I’m here to help you every step of the way. Bonne chance!

Is Potatoes Au Gratin the Same as Scalloped Potatoes?

Potatoes au Gratin and Scalloped Potatoes are similar dishes in that they both contain thinly sliced potatoes baked in a rich sauce. The major difference between the two is that ‘au gratin’ generally means with cheese.

While Potatoes au Gratin and Dauphinoise Gratin are both cooked with copious amounts of heavy cream, the sauce in Scalloped Potatoes is generally thickened with a flour roux.

It is worth noting that original French recipes for Potatoes Dauphinoise do not contain cheese. The idea is that the combination of potatoes, cream, salt, garlic, nutmeg cooks down to create all that delicious cheese flavour.

Recipe Ingredients

This Gratin Dauphinoise or potato gratin recipe doesn’t exactly follow the ‘classic’ recipe. I like cheese and I know you do too. So my recipe contains cheese along with a few of my favourite flavours.

• Potatoes
• Heavy Cream
• Sour Cream
• Garlic
• Butter
• Dijon Mustard
• Thyme
• Garlic Powder
• White Cheddar Cheese
• Gruyère Cheese
• Parmesan Cheese

I suggest Yukon Gold potatoes because they have a low moisture and medium starch content but will keep their form during baking. Buy similar sized potatoes, so the slices are uniform, scrub them well, and keep the skins on for a lovely visual contrast.

Instead of heavy cream, the potatoes cook in a mixture of heavy cream, sour cream, and melted butter. Feel free to substitute crème fraîche for the sour cream as it provides the same unique tangy flavour. A touch of Dijon mustard further develops this delicious flavour.

Garlic is nonnegotiable in this recipe. Although, you can simply place it in the base of the baking pan before adding the potatoes. Use fresh, not dried garlic and fresh, not dried thyme in this recipe.

Feel free to replace a portion or all the cheeses with your favourite cheese. Sometimes I make this recipe with only Gruyère, sometimes I use a combination of Gruyère, White Cheddar, and Parmesan cheeses. It’s ALL GOOD.

How to Make Potatoes Dauphinoise

Begin this recipe by preheating the oven to 350° F. Prepare a round baking dish by greasing it with either butter or cooking spray. Cover a baking sheet with aluminum foil.

Next, place heavy cream, sour cream and melted butter together in a large mixing bowl. Mix them together well and set aside.

Prepare the potatoes using a mandoline slicer. This is the only way to get uniformly thin sliced potatoes. Slice the potatoes as thinly as possible so they will cook evenly within the allotted time. To prevent potatoes from oxidizing (turning brown) submerge them in the cream mixture immediately after slicing.

Next add the thyme, garlic, mustard, onion powder, ½ cup cheddar cheese (reserve remainder for later use), gruyere and parmesan cheese to the bowl. Gently toss until all the potatoes are coated then start arranging potatoes in the baking dish.

Begin by layering potato slices around the edge of the pan then continuing in the middle until the pan is filled with all the potatoes. Finally, pour any remaining cream mixture over potatoes and sprinkle the remaining ½ cup of cheddar cheese over top.

Place potatoes on the prepared baking sheet then into the oven. Bake for 50-60 minutes at 350° F. If you find that the potatoes are browning too quickly, cover loosely with a sheet of aluminium foil and continue baking.

To check the potatoes, gently insert a fork into the middle potatoes. If it slides in easily, the potatoes are finished. If there is still a bit of resistance, bake potatoes longer. Test every ten minutes for tenderness.

Helpful Tips for this Recipe

Here are a few tips and tricks to ensure this Dauphinoise Potatoes recipe turn out fabulously:

1. Use heavy cream and full fat sour cream only. Using reduced fat dairy in this recipe will cause excessive curdling and an unsatisfactory result.
2. Choose a potato that keeps its shape during cooking and has a relatively low moisture and medium starch content. This type of potato will absorb more liquid and release starch, which then thickens the sauce.
3. Buy similar sized potatoes to ensure uniform slices and a visually pleasing potato arrangement.
4. Do not rinse or soak the potatoes with water! Doing so will remove the starches needed to thicken the cream sauce.
5. Place sliced potatoes in heavy cream mixture to prevent them from turning brown or grey (oxidizing).

Hi! I’m Bernice Hill and I am the sole recipe developer, photographer, and writer at Dish ‘n’ the Kitchen. It is my pleasure to share easy to follow recipes that are delicious, nutritious, and approachable for the whole family.

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