Au Gratin Potatoes

These creamy, cheesy, au gratin potatoes are mouth watering delicious! You will love the luscious cream sauce made with gouda and sharp white cheddar cheese.

Looking for more Thanksgiving recipes? Try my pecan sticky buns, creamy baked mashed potatoes or cranberry cheesecake bars.

These are the very best au gratin potatoes, ever! The potatoes are super tender, mixed with a creamy and decadent cheese sauce. This recipe only uses 9 ingredients, it's really easy to prepare.

These au gratin potatoes taste like they just came out of an upscale five star restaurant.

If this is your first time making potatoes the au gratin style here's what to expect. Au gratin potatoes are a potato that has a cheese sauce. The potatoes are sliced thin and baked in the sauce until golden and bubbly.

When you're wanting something a bit more special and decadent than my basic mashed potato recipe, I highly suggest these au gratin potatoes.

Jump to:

• What You'll Love About This Recipe
• Ingredients
• Pro Tips
• What To Serve With Au Gratin Potatoes
• How To Make Au Gratin Potatoes
• Variations
• Substitutions
• Gluten Free
• Au Gratin Potatoes

What You'll Love About This Recipe

• Easy. This recipe is simple to follow and takes minimal effort to make. It takes less than 30 minutes to prepare and the rest of the time is spent baking in the oven.
• Decadent. You will love how luscious and decadent these au gratin potatoes are.
• Cheesy. This recipe uses two different kinds of cheeses, monterey jack and sharp white cheddar.

Ingredients

• Potatoes: You'll need russet potatoes (also known as Idaho potatoes). Make sure you have fresh potatoes that aren't old.
• Butter: Butter is the base of the sauce.
• Garlic: Fresh minced garlic works best in this recipe and has the best flavor.
• Heavy Cream: The heavy cream will make the sauce so decadent and creamy.
• Gouda Cheese: Gouda cheese has a slightly nutty flavor, it's smooth and creamy.
• Sharp White Cheddar: This type of cheese has some bite and tang to it. It's flavor is distinct and is delicious paired with the gouda.
• Salt, Pepper: For flavor.
• Chives: Sprinkle chopped chives on top for color and flavor.

Pro Tips

• Potatoes. This recipe takes an hour and a half to bake. And it does need the entire 90 minutes. If you pull it out too early then then the potatoes will still be too firm.
• Cheese Sauce: Make the sauce over low heat so the cheeses melt and blend smoothly.
• Mandoline: To get all the potato slices the same size I suggest using a mandoline slicer. Make sure to use extra caution when using a mandoline since they are very sharp.

What To Serve With Au Gratin Potatoes

• Bread: Try my easy dinner rolls recipe.
• Vegetables: There are lots of vegetables you can serve at Thanksgiving like roasted Brussels sprouts, steamed french green beans or my favorite honey carrots.
• Turkey: Turkey is an all time favorite at Thanksgiving, but have you ever tried a spatchcock turkey? It cooks so much faster than a traditional one.
• Ham: Ham is absolutely perfect to have with au gratin potatoes. The flavor from the ham pairs nicely with the flavors from the sharp white cheddar and gouda cheeses.
• Mac and Cheese: And if you need even more cheesy goodness in your life you could try a stovetop mac and cheese or a baked mac and cheese.

How To Make Au Gratin Potatoes

Preheat the oven to 350.

Wash and peel the potatoes. Use a mandoline to carefully slice the potatoes to a ⅛” thickness. Rinse the potatoes with water and drain.

In a saucepan over low heat, melt the butter with the minced garlic and cook for 2-3 minutes.

Grate the two cheeses.

Add the heavy cream to the pan and heat it up. Stir in only two-thirds of the gouda cheese and two-thirds of the sharp white cheddar, keep stirring until melted and smooth. Season with the salt and pepper.

Turn the heat off.

Mix in the sliced potatoes and chives. Toss the potatoes around to coat them in the sauce.

Grease a 9x13” baking dish. Pour in the potato mixture. Sprinkle with the remaining grated cheese.

Cover the baking dish with foil and bake for 45 minutes. After 45 minutes, uncover and bake an additional 45 minutes.

Remove the au gratin potatoes from the oven and let sit for 10 minutes before serving.

Variations

• Ham: You could add cut up pieces of ham to your au gratin potatoes before baking. Here's a little tip, if you have leftover ham from thanksgiving you can freeze it then use some at Christmas.
• Southwest: Kick your potatoes up a notch by turning them into southwest au gratin potatoes, use pepper jack cheese and jalapeño peppers.
• Leeks: Leeks are a very popular ingredient in this type of creamy decadent dish. Saute some chopped up leeks in butter and add it to your sauce.
• Bacon: Bacon would be a delicious addition to your potatoes. Cook the bacon separately until crispy, chop it up and add it to your sauce.

Substitutions

• Heavy Cream: If you want a lighter, less decadent au gratin potatoes try subbing half and half for the heavy cream. The consistency may be different though.
• Russet Potatoes: You could use yukon gold potatoes instead of russet potatoes.

Gluten Free

These au gratin potatoes are gluten free.

So if you have someone with food allergies who can't eat gluten, you're fine serving them these.

The recipe wasn't written with the intention of being a gluten free recipe but the sauce just doesn't need any flour.