Easy Dauphinoise Potatoes Recipe

In this recipe we’ll show you how to make our amazing Easy Dauphinoise Potatoes. This dish goes by many names, such as Potatoes au Gratin and Scalloped Potatoes. However you call it, the dish is about as luxurious and French as you can get. Layers of thinly sliced Potatoes are soaked in a mixture of Cream, Cheese, Garlic, and Shallots and then slowly roasted in the Oven until tender. The smells and, most importantly, the flavor of this dish is simply out of this world. Making it one of the best Potato Sides you can enjoy

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What are the differences between Dauphinoise Potatoes and Gratin / Scalloped Potatoes?

To be honest, if you’re serving up a cheesy, creamy Potato bake to me you can call it whatever you want! However, there are some slight nuances in the differences between these delicious Potato dishes. Scalloped Potatoes are more traditionally English / American, and are much heavier on the Cheese and Butter than the Cream

Scalloped Potatoes are often sliced a lot thicker too. The Potatoes are layered out in a baking tray slightly overlapping each other instead of stacking multiple layers on top of each other. They are delicious, and we will be looking to publish our Scallop Potatoes recipe here soon, so stay tuned!

Dauphinoise Potatoes Creamy — These delicious Dauphinoise Potatoes are creamier than a traditional Scalloped Potatoes

Potatoes au Gratin are similar to Dauphinoise Potatoes. I’ve always considered them basically the same dish. Typically, you would see a higher cheese portion on a Gratin, whereas Dauphinoise is heavier on the Cream. You can’t go wrong with either, so if you’re into a cheesier baked Potato type dish, check out our Potatoes au Gratin recipe here

In case it wasn’t obvious, both Potatoes Dauphinoise and Potatoes au Gratin are classical French recipes. So, you can expect a load of fat in these dishes, most common in the form of Heavy Cream. This is a luxurious dish that is great for special occasions. Perhaps not one to enjoy every week! Get a nice piece of Steak and cook these up as a treat to yourself!

How to make this Easy Potatoes Dauphinoise Recipe

The key to perfecting this dish is slicing the Potatoes razor thin. That way you can get a ridiculous amount of layers in the dish, and it allows for more Cream to be absorbed into the Potatoes. More Cream = more flavor!

We highly recommend using a Mandoline to chop Potatoes. Set it on a thin setting and (very carefully) slice the Potatoes up into thin strips. Try to slice the Potatoes across the thicker side so you get longer pieces. It doesn’t really matter, but it just helps with the layering process

Layers of Potatoes in Dauphinoise — By using a Mandoline you can achieve wonderfully thin layers of Potatoes like this

You can cut the Potatoes by hand if you don’t have a Mandoline. The process is going to take a while, and the irregular thickness of Potato slices means that you’ll have inconsistently cooked Potatoes. A Mandoline is preferred

Once sliced, add them into a large bowl filled with sliced Shallots, Garlic, Salt, Parmesan Cheese, and Heavy Cream and allow them to soak for at least 30 minutes. This step infuses the Cream and aromatics into the Potatoes. You can either use fresh Garlic (finely diced) or Garlic Powder. I personally prefer Garlic powder because it’s a lot easier to get a consistent Garlic flavor all throughout the Potatoes. Either is fine, however

Layering the Potatoes and adding more Cheese!

Some classic recipes will have you add all the Cheese in with the Potatoes and Cream. This dish is all about simplicity, however. For our Easy Dauphinoise Potatoes, we only add the Parmesan Cheese into the Cream mixture. The remaining Cheese(s) are added in layers when you are building the dish in the baking pan. It’s similar to how you would layer cheese (or a cheese sauce) to a Lasagna, and ensures you will get even layers of Cheese throughout the dish

Easy Dauphinoise Potatoes with Cheese — Add Cheese into the layers as you are building the dish to ensure each bite is loaded with cheesy goodness!

All you need to do to build the dish is to add layers upon layers of Potatoes once they’ve been soaked in the Cream to a high-sided baking pan. Add a couple of layers of Potatoes and then sprinkle in your Cheese before repeating the process

As you layer the Potatoes, be sure to capture the Shallots in each layer. As they cook they will sweeten and add a wonderful flavor to the dish. There’s also no need to strain off the Cream from the Potatoes as you layer. In fact, we want as much Cream as possible in the dish, and once you get to the top we (highly) encourage you to pour over any remaining Cream straight back into the dish!

Cook the dish for 3 hours

To finish the dish, add one final layer of grated Cheese to blanket the top of the dish. Cover the dish with foil and bake it in the oven. The cooking process takes a while, in fact, much longer than you would expect. Because the Potatoes are so densely packed in there, they take a long time to cook until they are melt-in-the-mouth tender

As such, we recommend cooking the dish for about 3 hours at 400F in the Oven. For the first 2.5 hours, keep the foil on the Potatoes. This will help to ensure the very middle of the dish is going to be cooked at the same time as the outer

Baking Easy Dauphinoise Potatoes — Our Easy Dauphinoise Potatoes will take at least 3 hours to cook in the oven. Be patient, they are well worth it in the end!

For the last 30 minutes, remove the foil. This will help to get a nice crust on the top. You can even run the Potatoes under the broiler for the last 5 minutes for a slightly scorched, golden-brown color on the Cheese

You can check if your Easy Dauphinoise Potatoes are done by inserting a knife or skewer into the Potatoes. If there is little resistance, the Potatoes are cooked. If there is some resistance, put the Foil back on and cook it for another 30 minutes before checking again

This dish does require a bit of patience, so we recommend preparing it well in advance of dinnertime. The last thing you want is for everything to be cooked and ready to eat, but those darn Potatoes aren’t ready! You can even prepare this dish the day before and simply reheat it when ready to serve. They will still taste amazing!

Recipe Details

Servings

4 – 6 people

Prep time

1 hour

Cooking time

3 hours, 30 minutes

Total time

4 hours, 30 minutes