Au Gratin Potatoes

Potatoes Au Gratin from www.whatsgabycooking.com (@whatsgabycookin)

5 from 14 votes

This classic Classic Au Gratin Potatoes recipe is actual perfection. You'll never make another au gratin recipe ever again!

Prep Time20

Cook Time1 10

Total Time1 30

Course: Side Dish, Dinner

Cuisine: French

Servings: people

Author: Gaby Dalkin

Ingredients

3 ounces shredded Gruyère cheese
2 ounces shredded parmesan
4 ounces cubed pancetta cooked
2 cups heavy cream
4 cloves garlic roughly chopped
1 tablespoon fresh thyme leaves roughly chopped
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
3 pounds russet potatoes peeled and sliced ⅛th-inch thick on a mandoline slicer

Instructions

Preheat oven to 400°F.
Combine cheeses and cooked pancetta in a large bowl, making sure the pancetta is drained from any excess fat. Transfer a small handful of the cheese mixture to a separate bowl and set aside. Add cream, garlic, and thyme to the remaining cheese mixture and season with salt and pepper. Add potato slices and toss to combine, making sure the cream mixture coats every potato slice.
Spray a medium baking dish or skillet with non-stick cooking spray (around 9 inch round). Take a handful of potatoes, and start to lay them in circles to cover the bottom of the pan. Continue placing the potatoes in the dish until it’s full of potatoes and everything is tightly packed. Pour in the leftover cream from the bowl over the potatoes until the mixture comes half-way up the sides of the potatoes.
Cover the dish with aluminum foil and transfer to the oven. Bake for 30 minutes, remove from the oven, remove foil and continue baking until the top is pale golden brown, about 25-30 minutes more. Once golden, remove from the oven, sprinkle with remaining cheese, and return to the oven. Bake until deep golden brown and crisp on top, about 10-15 minutes longer. Remove from the oven, let rest for a few minutes, and slice and serve.

Notes

Make it ahead-friendly. Assemble the whole dish earlier in the day, bake it, then rewarm gently before serving. Au gratin actually tastes even better once the flavors settle.

Use the right potatoes. Yukon Golds are the gold standard here. Creamy, rich, and they hold their shape. Russets can work too, but they break down faster and get softer.

Slice them thin and even. A mandoline is your best friend. Even slices cook evenly and stack into those gorgeous, cheesy layers we’re all obsessed with.

Don’t rinse the potatoes after slicing. You want that starch. It helps the sauce thicken and makes the gratin extra creamy and cohesive.

Season every layer. Potatoes need salt. Don’t just season the top, sprinkle a little salt and pepper as you layer so every bite is perfectly flavored.

Use a mix of cheeses. Gruyère for meltiness, parmesan for sharpness, white cheddar for richness… mixing cheeses gives you depth and that beautiful browned top.

Cover, then uncover. Bake covered first so the potatoes cook through gently, then remove the foil to brown the edges and get that bubbly, golden crust.

Let it rest before slicing. This is HUGE. Give it 10–15 minutes out of the oven to set so the layers stay intact and the slices come out cleanly.

Broil for that final color. If the top isn’t quite as bronzed and bubbly as you want, pop it under the broiler for 1–2 minutes. Watch it closely, it goes from perfect to burnt in a flash.

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