Melt-in-Your-Mouth Goodness: The Best Cheesy Scalloped Potato Recipe!
Everyone needs signature dishes, things that you know people are gonna love, a home run, and Roy’s Cheesy Scalloped Potatoes are that dish. So next level, people absolutely love them. Scalloped Potatoes are a specialty of Roy’s and I convinced him to spill his secrets to us! This recipe is not difficult, but it is time consuming. It’s perfect for a holiday meal where you want to fuss a bit.
What You Need to Make These Cheesy Scalloped Potatoes?
For your scalloped potatoes, you’ll first and foremost need a really sharp knife, a mandolin, or a slicer. I personally stay far away from mandolins, but I absolutely love my slicer, which is very reasonably priced for the workhorse it is in my kitchen. Beyond your tool for slicing, you’ll also need a square baking dish. I love Made In’s bakeware. It’s seriously all I use in my kitchen at this point.
Why Do We Call These Scalloped Potatoes?
Sometimes people stumble upon this recipe and they’re upset that I’m calling it a scalloped potato because you would think of a potato with cheese as an au gratin but au gratin typically includes breadcrumbs. So we took the liberty of calling this a Cheesy Scalloped Potato.
Ingredients Needed For This Fabulous Recipe!
Scalloped Potatoes are a bit time consuming, but ultimately, they are simple to assemble, with only a handful of ingredients:
- Unsalted butter
- Yukon Gold Potatoes
- Kosher salt
- Gruyere cheese
- White pepper
- Ground nutmeg (use fresh nutmeg if you can!)
- Heavy cream
How to Make Scalloped Potatoes
Start by preheating the oven and butter your baking dish.
Boil Your Potatoes
This process starts how any good potato starts: parboil! You must not skip this step. A crunchy potato needs to be cooked twice to get the result you want. So first, wash and peel your potatoes. Then slice them into 1/8-inch slices. Use a bowl of water to put your slices in to prevent browning while you cut them. For the sake of this dish, make sure not to use any of the small end pieces of the potatoes. You want each slice to be about the same size.
Bring water to boil, drain the potato slices from their water bowl and blanch them for 3 minutes. After 3 minutes, immediately remove them from the hot water with a slotted spoon and transfer them to a large bowl filled with ice water, to cool. This will stop the potatoes from cooking so that they don’t get too soft.
Assemble Your Dish
Once the potatoes are cooled, lay them out on a towel to dry. Now it’s time to build your scalloped potatoes!
Separate your potato slices into three even parts. In your buttered baking dish and begin layering the potato slices, tiling them, to cover the bottom of the dish. Season as evenly as you can with salt, pepper, and nutmeg. Sprinkle a third of the cheese over top. Repeat this process for a second layer.
Place the third and final layer of potatoes and season with pepper. Sprinkle the cheese over the potatoes. Drizzle the cream slowly over the top. Make sure that you reach the edges where the potatoes meet the baking dish. You want the cream really seep into the dish as much as possible.
Bake until the cream is bubbling, the cheese is golden, and the potatoes are fork tender. Avoid opening the oven as much as possible, so try to observe through the oven door to get visual cues. If the dish is browning but the potatoes aren’t done cooking, then tent the dish loosely with foil, and continue cooking. Remove from the oven and let cool for a few minutes before serving. Enjoy!
More Inspiration
If you make these scalloped potatoes, be sure you rate and review it below. I can’t wait to hear what you serve them with! I love serving them with a standing rib roast to make it feel really festive. Alongside a simple salad, you have a perfect holiday meal! Look below the recipe card for more fabulous recipes!
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Cheesy Scalloped Potatoes
- Prep Time: 20 minutes
- Cook Time: 1 hour 30 minutes
- Total Time: 1 hour 50 minutes
- Yield: 6 servings
- Category: Side Dish
- Method: Oven
- Diet: Gluten Free
Description
These cheesy scalloped potatoes are an incredible holiday side dish. They are creamy and indulgent and an absolute crowd pleaser.
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon unsalted butter, softened
- 3 pounds Yukon Gold Potatoes
- 2 tablespoons salt for the boiling water, plus 2 teaspoons kosher salt, divided
- 10 ounces gruyere cheese, shredded
- 1 ½ teaspoons white pepper, divided
- ¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg (use fresh nutmeg, if possible), divided
- 1 ¼ cups heavy cream
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350° Butter an 8×8 baking dish.
- Wash and peel your potatoes.
- Slice your potatoes into 1/8-inch slices and put into a bowl of water to prevent browning. If you can’t get a similarly shaped or full slice from the ends of the potatoes, put those to the side and use them in something else. (You can go ahead and parboil them with the rest of the slices, but don’t use them in this dish.)
- Put a pot with 4 quarts of water and 2 tablespoons of salt to boil.
- Once the water is boiling, drain the potato slices from their water bowl and blanch for 3 minutes. Note that the water does not have to return to a boil. After 3 minutes immediately remove them from the hot water with a slotted spoon and transfer them to a large bowl, or two if needed, filled with ice water, to cool.
- Once the potatoes are cooled, transfer the slices to a towel lined baking sheet to drain and blot them lightly to dry.
- Divide the shredded cheese into three piles, with one pile being slightly larger than the other two.
- Separate your potato slices into three even parts. In your buttered baking dish and begin layering the potato slices, overlapping or tiling them, to cover the bottom of the dish. Season as evenly as you can with 1 teaspoon of salt, 1/2 teaspoon of pepper, and 1/8 teaspoon of nutmeg. Sprinkle one of the smaller cheese piles over top.
- Layer a second later of potatoes and repeat the seasoning as above.
- Place the third and final layer of potatoes and season with 1/2 teaspoon of pepper. Sprinkle the larger cheese pile evenly over the potatoes. Drizzle the cream slowly over the top, taking your time to drizzle evenly and making sure that you reach the edge and corners where the potatoes meet the baking dish. You want the cream to travel down to the lower layers and really seep into the dish as much as possible.
- Bake for an hour and 15 to 30 minutes, or until the cream is bubbling, the cheese is golden, and the potatoes are fork tender. Look through the oven door without opening it to get visual cues around 45 minutes. Around an hour to an hour 15 minutes, you can fork test the potatoes to see how done they are. If more cooking is needed, then tent the dish loosely with foil to prevent over-browning, and continue cooking for an additional 15 minutes.
- Remove from the oven and let cool for a few minutes before serving. Enjoy!
Some More Of Teri’s Favorite Potato Recipes! Let’s Go!
Truly Delicious Weekday Mashed Potatoes
I love these mashed potatoes with a burning passion, and I absolutely don’t wait for Thanksgiving to come around in order to make them, in fact, they are a bi-monthly staple for me, at least. Every time I make them, crowds essentially gather in hopes of leftovers, (I’m not kidding) so I often double or triple the recipe so I can share without missing out on getting enough for myself.
Whole30 Crispy Smashed potatoes with Macadamia Nut Pesto MAGIC ELIXIRS (TM)
Here’s a tip that good cooks know: if you want a crispy potato, you’ve got to cook it twice. One of the ways you can do that is to partially cook by parboiling before roasting. The result is a yummy crispy potato. Doing Whole30 I try not to make potatoes a daily occurrence, but when I do have them, this dish knocks it out of the park and is fantastic whether you’re on Whole30 or you simply like delicious food.
Whole30 Stuffed Baked Potatoes
This is an absolute must-do! And OH MY GOSH, is it delicious! If you are at the end of your Whole30 and want to change it up with this Whole30 stuffed potato with chicken paprika and green goddess dressing, you are absolutely going to love it. So savory and satisfying! Let’s go!
Do you have a copy of the No Crumbs Left cookbook yet?
Food is my love language, and this book is a guide to getting you in the kitchen with me, rolling up your sleeves, and reigniting your passion for everyday cooking. Woven throughout the book are my Teri’s Tips as well.
This cookbook is a love letter to my mother because it offers the recipe for a well-lived life.
Hi! Have you ever assembled this the day before, let it sit in the fridge then baked it the next day? I’m trying to think of a good way to prep it ahead of time as I don’t have a ton of time the day I need it!
Wondering the same thing as Kara above. Can you assemble this the day before or no? Eager to serve this for our Christmas Eve dinner, but would need to prep beforehand.
You absolutely can
Do not sleep on these DELICIOUS potatoes. They are a bit of a labor, but the most amazing treat ever. Looking forward to making them a holiday tradition! Thanks Terri and Roy!
Just made this recipe for NYE…looks beautiful and can’t wait to indulge!!
Another no fail piece of dining perfection from No Crumbs Left! In my own twist, I layered some slivered pieces of ham in the casserole dish for blissful results. I’ll also admit to not peeling the potatoes and the results were great! ??? thanks, Teri & Roy!
This is the best scalloped potato recipe you will ever make!!
I’ve tried it with both regular Gruyère and smoked.
I have to say the smoked Gruyere took it to another level (I used Boar’s Head, and because of the added smokiness, I cut the salt in half).
Make it for guests, and make twice as much because they’ll be coming back for seconds. AND they’ll want the recipe! Thank you for this, Teri ??
Sorry, didn’t mean to put the question marks at the end of my review. It was supposed to be applause but morphed into “??”
This recipe was excellent! A little time consuming but totally worth it! I’d make it again and again! I added some garlic powder in my layers!
How do I prepare this dish for the night before? And how do I reheat on the day of?
It’s in the oven right now!
This dish is something I do on repeat. Learning about gruyere cheese has been a total game changer in all dishes-cheese! Then, the added #deliciousness is the cream and nutmeg.
This round, I added chopped yellow onion. Next round, some crispy bacon pieces; maybe fresh jalapeño!
Stacy, I love the idea of crispy bacon. Let me know how it goes!
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Can I freeze and then cook partial in oven covered
I would not freeze, the potatoes will get watery.
Turned out great. Thank goodness I made it for the following day as an hour and a half is nowhere close to any timeframe. I tripled the recipe for the whole family and used $50 worth of Gruyère?? Everything is on point but the timing. I started at 11 this morning and just pulled it out now for a grand total close to 5 hours and $65. Wowza.
Did you precook the potatoes?
Can I double this recipe and use an 11×13 pan?
Wondering this also and would prepping two days ahead be ok??
I did 1.5 the recipe in a 9×13 and it was fantastic!
Wondering the same as Morgan’s question below. Can you cook it the day before and reheat the next day?
MORGAN LAZENBY — NOVEMBER 22, 2023 @ 3:41 PM REPLY
How do I prepare this dish for the night before? And how do I reheat on the day of?
Made these last night. They were so yummy. Next time I might add just a smidge less cream, but other than that they were perfect. Yes, it’s a bit of work but you are so worth it babe.
I made this for Christmas dinner and they were excellent. I confess to using a cuisinart to slice the potatoes and ignored the parboil instructions. Even so, this dish was fantastic and will replace my other scalloped potatoes recipes. Thank you!
Just made a double batch for a large family holiday gathering and it was scrumptious!! Thank you for the recipe!
I followed the recipe perfectly, Potatoes were good but after all that work the smell was so off-putting. Everyone commented about it. I will definitely cut or eliminate the white pepper next time.
Late to the party here but needed something g special for Easter. They WERE a lot of work. I used a mandolin which was easy peasy don’ t know how one would slice them …it would take ForEVER. Cheese took a while to grate. Wasn’t sure if there was going to be enough heavy cream but there was as I saw the potatoes get nice and bubbly. I didn’t have white pepper so I used black pepper. I did tent them so they wouldn’t get too brown. I would definitely make them the night before and leave time for other stuff but I was grilling steaks so I had time. I made the carrot cake the night before ! Thanks for a delicious recipe!
that makes me so happy to hear
This person is a cookbook author?! OMG! I would not want to learn anything cooking related from this person when they don’t even know the difference between scalloped potatoes and au gratin potatoes!
Did you try them? They might not be traditional, but they sure are delicious! The best part about cooking is allowing yourself room outside of the box and creating something truly spectacular. Get my book, I promise no scalloped potatoes with or without cheese.