Skillet Scalloped Potato Gratin
Skillet Scalloped Potato Gratin is a decadent side dish that combines the richness of scalloped potatoes and the cheesiness of au gratin.
This post has been updated from its original May 2, 2017 publishing with new content, photography, and recipe card.
Oh my delicious.
These Skillet Scalloped Potato Gratin are fancy, decadent, and rich to be worthy of your holiday or entertaining table.
Yet, they’re right at home plated with your favorite Monday meatloaf.
What’s the difference between scalloped and au gratin potatoes?
Without going into a exhaustive explanation of the culinary history of both dishes, there’s a simple and generally accepted definition for the two potato dishes.
Scalloped potatoes are thinly sliced (but thicker than our recipe here) into rounds and baked in a cream sauce sans cheese.
Au gratin potatoes are thinly sliced layered in a baking dish/pan with grated cheese between the layers.
Our recipe truly combines the best of both potato recipes.
Methods for slicing potatoes thinly
There’s a few ways you could slice your potatoes thinly for this and others recipes like it.
- by hand, with a sharp chef’s knife
- with a food processor using the slice blade
- using a mandolin slicer
- and believe it or not, I’ve even used my apple corer peeler slicer gizmo
How to prevent sliced potatoes from turning brown
I prefer to get all of my potatoes sliced and ready to go before I move on with any other prep work or assembling the recipe.
For this recipe, I used my mandolin slicer on the thicker of the blade settings. I filled a large bowl with water and a lot of salt. As you go, place the sliced potatoes in the salted water.
The salty water will prevent the potatoes from turning brown. I simply drain and rinse them before layering the casserole. Make sure to shake off any excess water.
How to make Skillet Scalloped Potatoes Gratin
First off, this isn’t a difficult recipe to make. But it most certainly is one you want to have all your prep done and a game plan for how you’re going to make it.
You can slice your potatoes first or you can slice them last. You can make the sauce first or you can make the sauce last.
This isn’t one of those recipes that you begin having only read the first step.
All right, I’m assuming you have sliced, diced, grated, measured, and are ready to go.
If not, stop, get it done, then come back. I’ll wait. (Yes, I can be boss daddy too!)
Prepping to make Scalloped Potato Gratin
Preheat your oven to 325°F.
Coat the inside of your skillet with softened butter.
Grate the onion. However, if you don’t want to grate it, dice it finely.
In a medium sauce pan, whisk the cream, garlic, onion, thyme, pepper, and nutmeg together. Bring it to a soft boil over medium heat. You don’t want a raging boil for fear of scalding the cream. Have you ever tasted burnt cream? Nasty.
Reduce the heat to low and allow it to simmer for about 15 minutes. It will start to thicken and come together.
Just give it a good stir or whisking occasionally, cream really does like to scald or stick to the bottom of the pan.
Drain and rinse (with cold water) the potatoes. Give them a hardy shake while in the sieve. While the potatoes drained for a quick-tick in the sink, I wiped out the bowl to use again.
Toss the potatoes back in the bowl, de-clumping any major potato clusters, pour the cream over the potatoes. Mix it all really well.
Skillet Scalloped Potato Gratin presentation
Now, if you’re not worried about appearance, you can dump that entire mixture into your skillet and smooth it out. And let’s face it, sometimes we just don’t care about it being pretty.
But if you wanting an elegant presentation, then you’ll need to layer the potatoes by hand, individually.
To do this, simply grab a handful of potatoes, hold over the bowl to allow the excess cream to drip off, and layer evenly along the bottom of the skillet.
Repeat this process, layer by layer, until you have used all the potatoes and only the cream sauce remains in the bowl.
Once layered, you’ll have a little pool of sauce in the pan.
Pour the remaining cream sauce over the potatoes. Use a spoon to smooth it out. Make sure it fills in all the nooks and crannies and along the side.
Sprinkle the cheddar over the top and garnish with a few fresh thyme leaves.
You can omit the thyme if you want. I think it makes the dish look a bit prettier and gives it a pop of color. It’s rather dull looking without it.
Cover tightly with foil or the skillet lid, if it has one. Bake for 60 minutes covered.
Remove the foil or lid and allow to bake for another 15 minutes uncovered. The cheese will melt and brown.
Once done, remove from the oven and lightly cover with the foil or lid (placed askew).
Don’t cover tightly. It will sweat and condensation will form. No one likes soggy or watery potatoes. (I’m sure someone does and they’ll eventually tell me that in the comments.)
Allow the potatoes to rest for 5-10 minutes.
If you serve them immediately, it could fall apart. You’d have one tasty hot mess on your hands. Resting before serving will help solidify the potatoes giving the sauce and cheese time to settle.
Skillet Scalloped Potato Gratin
Equipment
- 12-inch cast iron skillet
Ingredients
- 1 tbsp butter softened
- 4 lbs russet potatoes thinly sliced
Sauce
- 2 cups heavy cream
- 3 tbsp onion grated/finely minced
- 3 tsp garlic grated/finely minced (~6 cloves, 1½tsp granulated)
- 1 tbsp fresh thyme de-stemmed, more for garnish
- ½ tbsp salt +/- to taste
- 2 tsp black pepper divided; +/- to taste
- ¼ tsp ground nutmeg
Assembly
- 4 oz white cheddar grated (2 cups)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F.
- Coat the inside of the skillet with softened butter.
Potatoes
- Fill a large bowl with cold water; salt generously.
- Thinly slice the potatoes and placed in salted water.
Sauce
- In a medium, heavy-bottomed saucepan, whisk the cream, garlic, onion, thyme, salt, 1½ tsp black pepper, and nutmeg together.
- Bring to a low boil over medium heat.
- Reduce heat to low and allow to simmer and thicken, about 15 minutes.
Assembly
- Drain and rinse the potatoes; shake off excess water and return to bowl.
- Pour the sauce over the potatoes; mix well.
- Layer the potatoes in the skillet, row by row, until all the potatoes are used.
- Pour the remaining cream sauce over the potatoes, spread evenly.
- Sprinkle the cheese over the top, then the remaining pepper, and garnish with a few fresh thyme leaves.
- Cover and bake for one hour.
- After an hour, remove lid and bake for an additional 15 minutes.
- Once done, remove from the oven and allow to rest for 5-10 minutes.
- Serve and enjoy.
Notes
Nutrition
Dutch Oven Daddy is not a dietician or nutritionist, and any nutritional information shared is only an estimate. We recommend running the ingredients through an online nutritional calculator if you need to verify any information.
What to serve with Scalloped Potatoes Gratin
Any and everything. Ok, really, it goes with so many things, but here’s a few of our favorites.
- Dutch Oven Mississippi Pot Roast
- Moroccan Spiced Grilled Steak from The Complete Savorist
- Citrus Spice Prime Rib Roast
- Slow Cooker Brown Sugar Ham from The Magical Slow Cooker
- Dutch Oven Pork Roast
- Dutch Oven Pot Roast
Amazing recipe! Hearty, delicious, and perfect for the holidays!
Was a hit at Christmas dinner, new one for us but will make again for sure.
These skillet scalloped potatoes look and sound fabulous! I can’t wait to try them.
I made these potatoes with dinner last night and they were amazing! Thanks so much for sharing the recipe!
These potatoes look delicious! I bet they are so good with steak or ham!
What a hit! The nutmeg so subtle but so delicious!
Hi,
Just bought a pork loins today. Your skillet scalloped potatoes will be a great side! Thanks for sharing!
What a great side dish! 🙂 Would go perfectly with a pot roast.
Oooh, these potatoes look so good, especially paired with all that cheese. I love all the helpful tips like keeping the potatoes from browning.
Enjoyed this with dinner last night and it was a savory success! Paired perfectly with dinner; easily, a new favorite dish!
This turned out really good, loved the recipe. It was so easy to make and follow too.
Delicious! I took it as a sign when I saw the same mandoline I have in the picture. So glad I made this!
You have combined two of my family’s favorite potatoes side dishes into one and my life is changed forever. I can’t wait to see the look on their faces when I put this deliciousness on the table.
That looks absolutely amazing. I’ve never made scalloped potatoes like this before, so I’m super excited to try it.
OMG this is so good. Potatoes are soft, the cheese sauce is incredibly flavorful. YUM!
Everybody needs a good scalloped potato recipe. This one didn’t disappoint. Nicely done.
Oh, that sounds absolutely divine! Combining the richness of scalloped potatoes with the cheesy goodness of au gratin—what a decadent side dish!
Delicious, hearty and creamy – this is one of the best scalloped potatoes gratin recipes I’ve seen!
These potatoes turned out absolutely delicious! They were the perfect side to the steaks we made. A keeper of a recipe!
I love that this recipe was so easy to follow and the potatoes came out so good!
I love to try this, looks delicious and very easy to make.
My family absolutely demolished this dish of potatoes. Next time I’m going to have to do two of them at once! So good!
I made these last night to go with roast chicken and they were out of this world. I’m going to serve them again on Easter with dinner.
This and Bacon Hasselbacks are my top two potato recipes for an occasion.
So glad you are enjoying this one. We love this recipe too! The sauce is one of our favorites with tons of flavor. Thank you for your feedback!