If you don’t want ooey gooey cheese covering every single nook and cranny of your scalloped potatoes then look away. These Cheesy Scalloped Potatoes are perfection! If you happen to want an easy Crock-Pot Scalloped Potato, I’ve got ya covered. You may also love my Potatoes Au Gratin with Smoked Sausage.
Cheesy Scalloped Potatoes
For this recipe, I take a cream sauce and smother it over thick-cut potato rounds. I like to use a mandolin so that our potato slices come out the same every time. This is seriously the most amazing cheesy scalloped potato recipe that I have ever had.
Scalloped Potatoes vs. Au Gratin Potatoes
Why is there so much confusion about scalloped potatoes versus Au Gratin Potatoes? Well, they are very similar. So, we are calling our dish cheesy scalloped potatoes, and let me explain why we can do that. We are basically combining the best parts of both dishes.
A traditional scalloped potato dish consists of sliced potatoes layered in a casserole dish and baked with heavy cream and lots of herbs. A traditional Au Gratin Potato dish, on the other hand, has grated cheese sprinkled between the layers, resulting in a cheesy, more decadent dish. In both dishes, the potatoes are cut into rounds, but the potatoes used in scalloped potatoes are often cut a bit thicker than those in au gratin potatoes.
What Potatoes are Best for Scalloped Potatoes?
When choosing a potato for scalloped potatoes, I recommend a Russet potato (like I used for this recipe) or Yukon Gold potatoes. These two kinds of potatoes are starchy enough to help thicken the sauce and they will also turn out soft and tender. If you choose a more waxy potato, they may not soften up. Also, slice the potatoes as evenly as you can (which is why I recommended a mandoline earlier). Keep the thickness from 1/8 of an inch to 1/4 of an inch to ensure the potatoes are cooked evenly.
Cheesy Scalloped Potatoes and Ham
So many people have asked if this could be combined with Ham. Without a doubt. This would be amazing with the addition of ham! I would maybe cube it and put it in between the rows of potatoes. Really, all you need to do is add it to the ingredients list, it will incorporate with the rest of the recipe just fine. That would take this from a side dish to a knock out the main course!
No matter which way you decide to prepare this cheesy scalloped potatoes dish, you will not be disappointed! Neither will anyone at your dinner table. Seriously? What is there not to love!?
I love to pair this with other holiday favorites like the worlds WORST stuffing, roasted carrots, creamy mashed potatoes and herb butter roasted turkey!
More Side Dishes
Cheesy Scalloped Potatoes
Equipment
- Medium saucepan I like this one from Kitchenaid!
- Mandoline (optional)
- 2-Quart baking dish I use a glass baking dish like this one!
Ingredients
- 4 russet potatoes, peeled and sliced into ¼-inch slices (about 2 pounds)
- 1 yellow onion, sliced into rings
- 3 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- 2 cups whole milk, room temperature
- 1 ½ cups mild cheddar cheese, shredded
- salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400°F. Lightly spray an 8×8-inch casserole dish with nonstick cooking spray.
- Arrange the potatoes and onions in the prepared baking dish, staggering potato and then onion.
- In a medium-size saucepan, melt butter over medium heat. Mix in the flour and salt, and stir constantly with a whisk for one minute. Stir in milk. Cook until mixture has thickened.
- Stir in cheese all at once, and continue stirring until melted and smooth, about 30-60 seconds.
- Pour the cheese sauce over the potatoes, and cover the dish with aluminum foil.
- Bake for 85-90 minutes, or until the potatoes are tender.
- For a crisp topping, change the oven setting to broil after the potatoes are baked. Broil until golden brown.
- Season with salt and pepper to taste and serve.
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I was never a fan of scalloped potatoes and my Mom made them a lot. A white sauce just sort of seems…bland. Adding cheese is a game changer! To save myself prep and cooking time, I peeled, sliced and boiled the potatoes. Once cooked, I used a slotted spoon to transfer them onto a cookie sheet to cool. I made the cheese sauce and added a dash of paprika, nutmeg, and mustard powder. Amazing! I assembled the dish and put extra grated cheddar on top. Baked for about 20 minutes until cheese melted and then placed under the broiler for a minute to brown the top. Wonderful recipe!
Can you use sour cream for the sauce.
I have made this recipe more times than I can count and it is definitely a hit with my entire family and is in my family recipe book to pass down to my grandkids one day!The only thing I change is using Balderson extra aged cheddar because we all really like a stronger cheese taste. Perfect every time! In fact more popular than the ham!! Thank you so much for this wonderful treasure♥️
Great recipe followed as directed and it was a perfect accompaniment to the Easter ham!
Making this now. Ham and scalloped potatoes for Easter of course.
I’ve never had good luck with sliced raw potatoes. I boil my potatoes and cool. Then peel and slice add your onion. Make cheese sauce separately. Pour the sauce over potatoes and onions.Give it a bit of a stir. Pop it in the oven. Saves a lot of cooking time.
This recipe is amazing, well done, so good! I’m sorry, I need to mention in case you’re unaware…have you gone to this recipe from the perspective of someone looking for a recipe? You have so many video ads and popups on your page, I finally had to screen shot the recipe and go to my pics. It’s totally understandable needing to have some ads on your free recipes to make it worth your time, but respectfully, you can choose the type and quality of ads that your perspective viewers are being inundated with. If this kind of feedback matters to you at all, this type of advertising is an unimaginably giant turn off.
Hey Daniel – Thank you for the feedback! I had no idea that ads were that intrusive (I can’t replicate that on my phone) but I sent your comment to the company that manages my ads and asked for a significant reduction. I never want anyone to come to my site and feel like it is a turn off. So sorry that was your experience! Please feel free to check back and let me know if you feel that experience has improved. Thanks again! Amanda
Amazing! I followed the recipe pretty close to the letter except I used aged cheddar. I have the perfect sized Corningware casserole with a lid so skipped the foil. They browned nicely so I didn’t put under the broiler, which can shatter Corning or Pyrex. I served these with Easter ham and can’t wait to combine the two for leftovers tomorrow. Great recipe – I’ll definitely make it again and maybe experiment with smoked cheddar.
I made this for our annual Easter Brunch, I tripled the recipe and they were a smash hit. Only variation was that I saute’d the onions. Amazing!
Made these for easter dinner. They were delicious & absolutely amazing . I made them with yukon gold potatoes and baked for only 65 minutes , sprinkled finely grated cheddar on top right out of the oven to allow a beautiful melt and dashed some parsley on before serving. They were the hit of the party !
I made this recipe to take fir an Easter dinner and was delicious. This will be my only scalloped recipe. So easy and very tasty. The cheese sauce is perfect.