Scalloped Potatoes are an easy classic recipe, perfect for your Easter dinner, Christmas, Thanksgiving or even just for Sunday dinner.
In this side dish, thinly sliced potatoes and onions are layered in an easy homemade cream sauce and baked until tender, golden, and bubbly. Potato perfection!
An Easy Classic
Of all the potato side dishes from Oven Roasted Potatoes to Perfect Baked Potatoes, nothing says comfort food like creamy side of scalloped potatoes (except maybe creamy buttery mashed potatoes).
So exactly what are Scalloped Potatoes? Thought to have originated in England, the word ‘scallop’ is basically a definition for how the potato is sliced. Thin and uniformly cut potatoes are layered in a casserole dish and then covered with a seasoned onion cream sauce and baked. The result is this savory scalloped potato recipe!
Ingredients
- Potatoes Yukon gold potatoes (or red potatoes) have tender skin and don’t require peeling (they hold their shape well). Russet potatoes or Idaho potatoes will work but tend to break apart more (but still taste good).
- Onions Onions add a lot of flavor to this recipe and are a classic ingredient.
- Cream Sauce A quick cream sauce made with flour, butter, milk and broth. If you’d like to add cheese, remove the sauce from the heat and stir in a handful or two of shredded cheese. It will melt from the heat of the sauce.
- Seasonings Simple seasonings in this recipe include salt, pepper, onion, garlic. Add in your own favorites including thyme, rosemary, parsley.
How to Make Scalloped Potatoes
Making scalloped potatoes from scratch takes time but it is easy. While true scalloped potatoes do not have cheese, we sometimes add a little bit in!
- Thinly slice potatoes & onions.
- Make homemade sauce (recipe below)
- Layer potatoes, onions and sauce. Cover and bake.
- Remove foil and bake a bit more, this step creates the delicious brown top on the scalloped potatoes
IMPORTANT Cool 20 minutes before serving to allow the sauce to thicken.
Tips for Perfect Scalloped Potatoes
- Slice the potatoes evenly to ensure the scalloped potatoes cook evenly
- Use a mandoline to make this job extra quick (a $25 mandoline like this one does a great job and will save you lots of time)
- A roux is the foundation for a creamy sauce. A roux just means to cook fat (in this case butter) and flour and add liquid to make a sauce!
- If you decide to add cheese to the sauce (which will actually make these into Potatoes Au Gratin) remove the sauce from the stove and stir in 1 1/2 to 2 cups of cheese (cheddar/gruyere are great choices).
- Season the potatoes with salt and pepper between layers.
- Cover with foil while it bakes, this allows it to steam and the potatoes will cook a bit faster.
To Make Scalloped Potatoes Ahead of Time
To make these ahead of time (and keep cooking fast on the day of serving) we have tested partially baking them with great results.
- Bake the dish covered for 50-60 minutes.
- Remove from the oven and cool completely on the counter (leave them covered, the steam will help to finish cooking).
- Cover well and refrigerate.
- On the day of serving, remove from the fridge at least 30 minutes before baking. Bake uncovered about 35 minutes or until heated through.
More Potato Recipes You’ll Love
- Twice Baked Potatoes – Make ahead & freeze!
- Easy Oven Roasted Potatoes
- Loaded Mashed Potato Cakes – Great for leftovers.
- Twice Baked Potato Casserole
- Cheesy Ham and Potato Casserole
- Baked Potato Soup – Easy weeknight meal
Scalloped Potatoes Recipe
Ingredients
- ¼ cup butter
- 1 large onion diced
- 2 cloves garlic minced
- ¼ cup flour
- 2 cups milk
- 1 cup chicken broth
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon pepper
- 3 pounds white potatoes sliced about ⅛" thick
- salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350˚F.
Sauce
- To make the sauce, melt butter, onion and garlic over medium low heat. Cook until onion is softened, about 3 minutes. Add flour and cook for 1-2 minutes.
- Reduce heat to low. Combine milk and broth. Add a small amount at a time whisking to thicken. The mixture will become very thick, continue adding a little bit of liquid at a time whisking until smooth.
- Once all of the liquid has been added, bring to a boil over medium heat while continuing to whisk. Stir in salt and pepper and let boil 1 minute.
Assembly
- Grease a 9"x13" baking dish. Place ⅓ of the potatoes in the bottom and season with salt and pepper. Pour ⅓ of the cream sauce sauce over top.
- Repeat layers ending with cream sauce. Cover and bake for 45 minutes.
- Uncover and bake for an additional 35-45 minutes or until golden brown and potatoes are tender. Broil for 3-4 minutes to obtain a golden top.
- Allow to rest for 15 minutes before serving.
Video
Nutrition Information
Nutrition information provided is an estimate and will vary based on cooking methods and brands of ingredients used.
Course Side Dish
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What is the Difference Between Scalloped and Au Gratin Potatoes?
Potatoes au Gratin are also called cheesy potatoes because the white sauce is actually a cheese sauce (and they often have cheese sprinkled between the layers and/or breadcrumb topping).
This scalloped potato recipe can (of course) be topped with cheese or have cheese added in but sometimes I love the simplicity in this recipe without cheese. The sweetness of the onions and milk is the perfect addition to these sliced potatoes!
Can You Freeze Scalloped Potatoes?
These potatoes will keep in the fridge for about 4 days and reheat well in the microwave, oven or in a frying pan! If you want to freeze them longer, yes, scalloped potatoes can be frozen!
Almost any casserole dish can be frozen perfectly with a little know-how. If making a freezer meal, the best way to freeze scalloped potatoes is to not fully cook them all way, but leave them a little undercooked. Then, once they are cooled in the fridge, portion them out the way you want to and wrap carefully before putting in the freezer. To reheat, simply thaw and finish the cooking until the potatoes are tender again!
While that’s a great option, most often we want to freeze leftovers. In this case, these scalloped potatoes freeze well, although I do find they sometimes break apart a bit when reheated but they still taste great!
REPIN this Fantastic Casserole
I am currently right now making this recipe. I noticed in the comments that people had said it was runny, and I experienced that also. And I did follow the recipe exactly. I think that the temperature of this recipe might be too low. I moved my temperature to. 400° and my scallop potatoes were boiling so it will boil off some of that liquid and make it thicker. Please note adjust accordingly to your oven. I hope this helps and I haven’t got to taste this recipe yet.
these potatoes didn’t have much flavor
I’m sorry to hear you didn’t love these potatoes as much as we do Leta.
Hello. This recipe looks scrumptious! I do want to try it. Question? What are your thoughts about parboiling the thinly sliced potatoes just a couple minutes before layering in my baking dish? I think it may reduce the actual baking time. I have a casserole dish that calls for layering thinly sliced potatoes as final layer to all the other veggies that are parboiled as well. And it always turns out perfect! Anyway, what are your thoughts? Thanks for your time and again for the recipe!
Absolutely you can parboil them! I do that in this easy scalloped potatoes recipe which you can see for tips and it speeds up the cook time a lot.
I doubled this recipe and these were the best scalloped potatoes I have ever made! My family loved them!
I pre-boiled the sliced potatoes for 7 minutes in the chicken broth. I saved the broth when I drained the potatoes and used that in the recipe. ( I cook the potatoes ahead of time to eliminate the possibility of a watery outcome like some experienced.)
Hi! What kind of milk is used in this recipe? Also, if I wanted to add some cheese, how much would you suggest? Looking forward to trying this recipe, will be my first time! TIA
You can use whatever milk you have on hand. I often use 2% as that is what I have, but any will work just fine. If you would like to add cheese I would add it to the sauce when you remove the sauce from the stove and stir in 1 1/2 to 2 cups of cheese. I can’t wait for you to try this Lisa!
“Potatoes Yukon gold potatoes (or red potatoes) have tender skin and don’t require peeling (they hold their shape well). Russet potatoes or Idaho potatoes will work but tend to break apart more (but still taste good).”
It’s still not clear – So do you still have to peel russets’ skin…and if not, do they have to be washed first?
Also, I don’t have enough of either one so can I combine them??
Thanks.
Yes, the russet potatoes should be peeled as the skin is tough. You can combine them if you’d like.
Excellent potato dish. Super easy to make. Family loved them.
Thank you.
These were delicious! We like our scalloped potatoes kind of saucy, so I doubled the sauce but stuck to the same amount of garlic and onion. I did add a bit of dry ground mustard and a touch of nutmeg. Also added leftover ham. This turned out fantastic. I did not have any issues with potatoes not cooking or a watery soupy mess.
I made this with lamb chops, mixed veggies and Texas Toast and dinner was absolutely delicious and the potatoes were very rich. Great recipe that I’ll continue to utilize.
I just made these and the potatoes took over two hours to get tender. They still weren’t perfect but I gave up and took them out of the oven. My sauce was nice and thick before baking but it too turned into a soupy mess after baking just like other commenters. Not sure what happened here. To save the dish, I ended up plating portions in side bowls (minus the soupy liquid) and making a separate extra cheese sauce to put on top of each. For the most part the recipe didn’t have a lot of flavor. I added a ton of salt, spices and Parmesan cheese to doctor them up. I think if I were to make this again I would pre cook the potatoes. That might alleviate the over abundance of liquid and the extremely long cook time.
Oh no! We haven’t had this issue and made this many times. Did you make sure to have your sauce come to a boil for 1 minute? This will help it thicken properly.
Second time making these scallop Potatoes, onions, & garlic, chicken stock gives these potatoes such great flavor. Absolutely love this dish!
Just be prepared to allow much longer cooking time than the recipe states.Otherwise it is okay.
Made this tonight to go with Chicken Fried Steak. I added cheese, didn’t see the part to cook your onions.
Layered potatoes, onions, and a little sauce for all 3 layers. I let it cool longer than stated.
It was delicious, my husband was very impressed. This will be added to our side dishes. Outstanding!!!
I have NEVER had much success making scalloped potatoes but gave this recipe a try because I have never made a roux sauce before-it made all the difference-WOW! Everyone raved about this dish! It did take just longer to bake but I did read your comment about baking in a foil pan-I did not know that-excellent tip for reference sake! This will be my GO TO scalloped potato recipe! DELICIOUS AND TASTY! I followed your recipe exactly but feel confident enough to add a few extras here and there next time. Company ate leftovers for breakfast! THANKYOU!!!
Made the recipe exactly & was the best scalloped potatoes I’ve ever made. I made the day b4 and prebaked as instructed. I highly recommend doing this because it frees up your oven and they need to bake for so long.
Turned out runny in the bottom even after letting set covered again for 20 minutes .. I think the addition of the chicken broth was the reason. I’ve always just used milk before , and that took away from the nice rich texture of scalloped potatoes I’ve made many times before,
Unfortunately I was disappointed
These were a wild hit at our Easter luncheon. The only change I made was using some seasoned salt instead of table salt. Every drop eaten. People asked me to please make then again.
I am wondering if I can substitute the chicken broth for something else?? I would like to make this today but that’s the only thing I am missing!!
Hi Cindy, you could easily replace the chicken broth with vegetable broth.
made for Easter dinner. Really delicious.
i added 1 1/2 c. shredded Gruyere half layer and top.
What a disaster –
I tried making these today – Easter – and threw the entire casserole away. I’ve been cooking for a long time – and decided to try this recipe as I was serving a ham for the main course. I followed the directions to a T. Baked it covered, uncovered, sat the potatoes on the counter – and it was a soupy mess. Disaster. Never served it to my family. I thought a recipe with so many 5 star ratings would have had a better chance of being successful. Not this recipe. Should have stuck with my cheesy potato recipe that turns out perfect every time. I wouldn’t bother making this recipe again – ever.
Oh no! I am so sorry you had this experience Lisa, we have made this many times and not had that happen. Did you make sure to keep the sauce on the stove until it was boiling and then boil for one minute? That’s the key to having it thicken. Thank you for trying it.