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American

Au Gratin Potatoes

Thin potato slices bake in a cheddar and milk sauce until the center is tender and the top is browned. A short stovetop sauce, then a 375°F oven, keeps the potatoes from sitting in raw milk.

Prep
20 min
Cook
1 hr
Total
1 hr 20 min
Servings
8
Difficulty
Medium
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Baking dish of au gratin potatoes with a browned cheddar top and creamy sliced potatoes

Why you’ll love it

  • A thin, even slice cooks through in an hour. Thick chunks stay hard in the center.
  • Cooking the flour and milk into a sauce first keeps the bake from tasting of raw starch.
  • Cheddar melts into the sauce, and parmesan browns on top.
  • A rest after the oven lets the sauce set so it serves in slices instead of a puddle.

Ingredients

Servings8

Ingredient amounts scale. Oven temperature and cook time do not. Salt, spices, and leaveners are a starting point after you scale. Taste and adjust.

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Instructions

  1. 1

    Heat the oven to 375°F. Butter a 9-by-13-inch baking dish.

  2. 2

    Melt the butter in a saucepan over medium heat. Cook the garlic for 30 seconds.

  3. 3

    Whisk in the all-purpose flour and cook 1 minute. Slowly whisk in the whole milk and heavy cream.

  4. 4

    Simmer, whisking, until the sauce thickens enough to coat a spoon, about 4 minutes. Take it off the heat.

  5. 5

    Stir in 1 1/2 cups of the cheddar, the kosher salt, black pepper, thyme, and nutmeg until the cheese melts. Leave the parmesan and the remaining cheddar for the top.

  6. 6

    Fold the sliced potatoes with the sauce and spread them in the dish. Cover with foil.

  7. 7

    Bake at 375°F for 40 minutes. Uncover, sprinkle with the remaining cheddar and the parmesan, and bake 15 to 20 minutes more, until the potatoes are tender in the center and the top is browned.

  8. 8

    Rest 10 minutes before serving.

Pro tips

  • A mandoline or the slicing side of a box grater makes even slices. Uneven slices bake unevenly.
  • If the top browns before the center is tender, tent the dish with foil and keep baking.
  • Russets drink up sauce. If the edges look dry at the end, spoon a little warm milk over them before the last 10 minutes.

Easy substitutions

Cheddar cheese
Gruyere
Heavy cream
More whole milk, plus 1 extra tbsp flour
Russet potatoes
Yukon Gold potatoes

Storage and reheating

Storage

Refrigerate leftovers, covered, up to 3 days.

Reheating

Cover and warm at 325°F until hot in the center, about 20 minutes. Add a splash of milk if the sauce looks tight.

Nutrition

Estimates per serving, using standard ingredient averages and rounded to the nearest gram. This is not a lab analysis, and it shifts if you change brands or add sides.

Calories
378
Protein
13 g
Carbs
32 g
Fat
22 g
Fiber
2 g

Moderate · Oven, Stovetop

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Ingredients