Everyone needs a good recipe for potato gratin/dauphinoise potatoes. It’s a really good side dish for many proteins and it’s even really good with a bit of fresh salad on the side. This potato gratin has tons of flavour because we first infuse the milk and cream before taking it to the oven.
Jump to RecipeThe perfect side dish
I made this potato gratin for Christmas dinner as an alternative to the classic sweet potato casserole and they LOVED it. It has lots of flavour and that Gruyère cheese is perfect for bubbling up and getting nice and toasty in the oven. You can also use a mix of Gruyère and Parmesan cheese if you prefer. Dauphinoise potatoes are one of those dishes that everyone loves, it’s hard to reject a portion! The potatoes are soft, tasty and very golden on top. If you want more Christmas recipes, go check out my Christmas Special section.
Potato Gratin or Dauphinoise Potatoes
There’s nothing more comforting than a portion of hot potatoes. The key to this recipe that you definitely don’t want to skip is the part where we infuse flavour into the cream and milk before starting to assemble the potato gratin. We make them boil with garlic, bay leaf, cloves peppercorns and onions for 15 minutes. In this time, the milk and cream go from tasting just milky to having a lot more depth of flavour. This small step makes a huge difference in the final Dauphinoise potatoes and makes them one hundred times better.
Prep ahead
Since this dish makes a lot of portions it’s perfect for celebrations. What’s not ideal for celebrations is cooking all day prior to having guests over and the oven being used up for more than an hour by this potato gratin. You can make it 5 days before serving up to step 8 of the recipe and have it refrigerated and covered. Then, when the time comes, you add the extra cheese on top and bake it until golden. Be mindful that since they will be cold, the potatoes will take a bit longer in this final stage. If you have any doubts, you can always send me a DM over at my Instagram account.
Ingredients
- 500 ml whole milk
- 500 ml whipping cream
- 1/2 onion, cut in half
- 2 garlic cloves
- 1 bayleaf
- 2 cloves
- 4 peppercorns
- Salt and pepper
- 150 g gruyère cheese, freshly grated
- 1 1/2 kg potatoes, peeled and cut in 2-3mm slices
Instructions
- Place the cream, milk, onion, garlic cloves, bayleaf, cloves and peppercorns in a saucepan on medium-low heat for 15min. Start the timer when you see lots of steam coming out.
- Pass through a sieve/colander and season. When you try the milk you should feel that the level of salt is slightly higher than you like because potatoes take lots of salt before you can feel it.
- Put a bit of milk at the base of the dish so the first layer of potatoes doesn't stick.
- On top of that lay 2 layers of potato slices.
- On top of that add more of the milk until you can see it peeking through the potatoes. Then add salt, pepper and a bit of grated cheese.
- Repeat these layers until you use all the potatoes and reserve some cheese for the top for later on.
- Flatten out the potatoes using a spatula, cover them with aluminium foil and take them to a preheated oven at 180°C/350°F for 1 hour or until the potatoes are well cooked. You know they're done when you can easily put a knife through the layers.
- Halfway through the cooking process, remove the aluminium foil and check if it has dried too much; you should be able to see milk and cream peaking through the potatoes. If it needs more liquid, fill it with the excess you had left from before. Also, flatten the potatoes once again. Place the foil back on and into the oven to finish cooking.
- Remove the foil and add the rest of the cheese.
- Return to the oven until it's golden on top, about 15-20min.
