These creamy, velvety, and oh-so-buttery Scalloped Potatoes will turn into the little black gown of your dinner desk! Fabulous sufficient for a vacation celebration and simple sufficient for a weeknight meal, you need to positively preserve this luscious Scalloped Potato recipe entrance and middle in your arsenal.
What Are Scalloped Potatoes?
Fairly merely, scalloped potatoes are sliced potatoes layered in a deep dish and baked in a thickened milk sauce flavored with spices. You bake the potatoes till they’re fork tender, about an hour in a 350°F oven, relying on the dimensions and depth of the casserole dish. (The deeper the dish, the longer it takes to prepare dinner.)
Although they appear very related, there are two key variations between scalloped potatoes and au gratin potatoes.
- First, scalloped potatoes are reduce about twice as thick as au gratin.
- Second, scalloped potatoes are merely potatoes baked in a milk sauce. Au gratin potatoes are layered with cheese and are additionally topped with cheese and bread crumbs.
Substances for Scalloped Potatoes
The fantastic thing about this dish is its simplicity. You solely want a number of kilos of potatoes and some cups of seasoned milk sauce to make it a straight stunner. So what elements do you’ll want to make Scalloped Potatoes? I’m glad you requested!
- Potatoes– in fact! However not simply any potato. You need a potato that holds its form when baked, like a Yukon gold, a purple, or a russet potato. You may as well use candy potatoes!
- Butter and Flour – collectively, these elements make a roux, which thickens the milk sauce. Substitute the butter with cooking oil or vegan butter to maintain issues dairy-free. When you can’t do flour, add the milk to the pan and heat it whilst you dissolve 2 tablespoons of cornstarch within the hen inventory. Add the hen inventory to the milk and produce to a boil for one minute as you stir continuously. Then add the seasonings.
- Milk– is the muse of the creamy sauce that flavors the scalloped potatoes as they bake. It’s greatest to make use of complete milk, because the much less fats you’ve within the dairy, the extra probably the sauce will break or turn into grainy. When you want a dairy-free sauce, substitute the milk with coconut milk, however once more, go full fats. You want that fats to assist thicken the sauce and add a velvety texture.
- Hen Inventory – provides depth to the milk sauce. You may substitute it with vegetable broth should you want.
- Spices – taste the sauce and in flip, taste the potatoes. I take advantage of a contact of nutmeg, onion powder, and garlic powder to create depth and a pinch of cayenne pepper so as to add just a little warmth. You may, in fact, substitute these along with your favourite spice mix. Add 3/4 teaspoon of the mix and style the sauce earlier than including extra.
Do you must blanch scalloped potatoes?
No, you don’t HAVE TO blanch scalloped potatoes. I blanch my potatoes as a result of it shortens their baking time and ensures I don’t get a mouth stuffed with crunchy half-cooked grey potatoes after an hour of baking. You see, slicing 3 kilos of potatoes by hand takes a minute. (Sure, you should use a mandolin, however we preserve our gear use very fundamental within the Funds Bytes kitchen.) Uncooked potatoes flip grayish brown when uncovered to air, so you need to preserve them underneath water to maintain them from oxidizing. At that time, you would possibly as effectively boil them in salted water for a couple of minutes so as to add taste, stop browning, and shorten their baking time whilst you’re at it.
How To Make Scalloped Potatoes Forward Of Time
You can also make scalloped potatoes as much as a day forward of time. Observe each step, however solely bake them for 45 minutes. Below-baking the potatoes means once you heat them up the subsequent day, they gained’t rework into mush. Cool the potatoes, place plastic wrap or parchment paper proper on the floor, wrap the dish effectively with plastic or foil, and refrigerate. About an hour earlier than you need to serve them, unwrap and produce them to room temperature on the counter, about 20 minutes. Then bake the uncovered dish till a fork inserted into the potatoes meets zero resistance, about 20 minutes. Ensure that to relaxation them for 15 to twenty minutes earlier than serving, so the sauce has an opportunity to agency up.
- Select the fitting potato: waxy with skinny skins, like Yukon gold, russet, or purple. They are going to preserve their form throughout baking, so that you don’t find yourself serving mush.
- Slice the entire potatoes to the identical thickness, so that they prepare dinner evenly. Go for about 1/4 inch thick.
- Maintain the potatoes underneath water to stop browning. Salt the water so as to add taste and produce them to a boil for 5 minutes to assist them prepare dinner sooner within the oven.
- When including liquid to a roux, on this case, milk and hen broth, it needs to be sizzling to stop the butter from clumping and creating lumps.
- Solely use glass or ceramic casserole dishes. Steel dishes can flip your potatoes grey.
- Even should you’re in a rush, don’t prepare dinner the potatoes at excessive warmth. It should trigger the milk sauce to curdle. When you’re quick on time, blanch the potatoes just a little longer earlier than layering them in your dish.
- As quickly as you possibly can slip a fork into the potatoes with none resistance, take the casserole dish out of the oven. When you overcook scalloped potatoes, they flip to mush.
What goes with scalloped potatoes?
How To Retailer Leftover Scalloped Potatoes
Place leftovers in an hermetic container with plastic wrap or parchment paper overlaying their floor. Retailer them within the fridge for as much as 4 days. Whilst you can freeze scalloped potatoes, the cream sauce can get a contact grainy when reheating, and the feel of the potatoes does change a bit. When you freeze them, portion them, and retailer the potatoes in an air-tight container with parchment or plastic wrap on the floor to stop freezer burn. They need to preserve for as much as 2 weeks. Thaw within the fridge in a single day earlier than reheating.
How To Reheat Scalloped Potatoes
Convey the potatoes to room temperature on the counter (about 20 to half-hour) earlier than putting them in a 350°F and baking them till they begin to steam. You may as well heat up leftovers in a microwave at 50% energy. Relying on the microwave and portion dimension, it ought to take 2 to 4 minutes. Simply search for the steam.
Scalloped Potatoes
These creamy, velvety, and oh-so-buttery Scalloped Potatoes will turn into the little black gown of your dinner desk! Fabulous sufficient for a vacation celebration and simple sufficient for a weeknight meal.
- 3 lbs Yukon gold potatoes (6 to eight medium potatoes)* ($3.29)
- 6 1/2 tsp salt, divided ($0.18)
- 5 Tbsp salted butter* ($0.70)
- 5 Tbsp All-purpose flour* ($0.04)
- 2 cups milk* ($0.50)
- 1 cup hen broth* ($0.16)
- 1/4 tsp black pepper, freshly floor ($0.01)
- 1/4 tsp onion powder ($0.03)
- 1/4 tsp garlic powder ($0.03)
- 1 pinch nutmeg ($0.01)
- 1 pinch cayenne pepper ($0.01)
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Place a rack within the middle of your oven and preheat to 350°F. Grease a 9×9 casserole dish. Fill a big pot with a gallon of water and add 6 teaspoons (2 tablespoons) of salt. Peel and slice potatoes 1/4 inch thick, add to the salted water, and boil for 5 minutes. Pressure the potatoes.
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Combine the milk and hen inventory in a microwave-safe dish and heat the liquid till it is barely steaming. Soften the butter in a heavy-bottomed saucepan. Stir within the flour and prepare dinner, continuously stirring, till the paste begins to bubble.
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Add the recent milk and hen inventory combination, stirring because the sauce thickens. Convey it to a boil.
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Add the remaining 1/2 teaspoon of salt, black pepper, garlic powder, onion powder, nutmeg, and cayenne pepper. Decrease the warmth, and prepare dinner the milk sauce for 2 minutes extra. Take away from the warmth.
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Layer half of the potatoes within the pan and canopy with half of the sauce.
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Repeat the layering course of for the ultimate layer.
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Unfold the sauce on high of the potatoes in a fair layer, from edge to edge. Cowl the dish with aluminum and bake for half-hour.
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Take away the aluminum and bake for an extra half-hour, or till the potatoes are bubbly and golden brown and a knife inserted into the potatoes meets no resistance. Cool for quarter-hour earlier than serving.
See how we calculate recipe prices right here.
*Substitute butter with cooking oil or vegan butter.
*When you can’t do flour, add the milk to the pan and heat it whilst you dissolve 2 tablespoons of cornstarch within the hen inventory. Subsequent, add the hen inventory to the milk and produce it to a boil for one minute as you stir continuously. Then add the seasonings.
*Use complete milk, because the much less fats you’ve within the dairy, the extra probably the sauce will break or turn into grainy. When you want a dairy-free sauce, substitute the milk with full-fat coconut milk.
* Substitute hen inventory with vegetable broth should you want.
Serving: 1cupEnergy: 223kcalCarbohydrates: 32gProtein: 6gFats: 8gSodium: 1856mgFiber: 3g
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Make Scalloped Potatoes – Step by Step Images
Place a rack within the middle of your oven and preheat to 350°F. Grease a 9×9 casserole dish or any 2-quart baking dish. Fill a big pot with a gallon of water and add 6 teaspoons (2 tablespoons) of salt. Peel and slice potatoes 1/4-inch thick, then add them to the salted water to stop browning. Convey to a boil and blanch for five minutes earlier than taking the potatoes off the warmth. Pressure the potatoes.
Combine 2 cups milk and 1 cup hen inventory in a microwave-safe container and warmth for 1 minute, or till steaming. Soften 5 tablespoons of butter in a heavy-bottomed saucepan, then add 5 tablespoons of flour. Prepare dinner, continuously stirring, till the paste bubbles however doesn’t brown, about 2 minutes.
Add the recent milk and hen broth combination to the pan, stirring because the sauce thickens. Convey it to a boil.
Add 1/2 teaspoon salt, 1/4 teaspoon black pepper, 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder, 1/4 teaspoon onion powder, a pinch of nutmeg, and a pinch of cayenne pepper. Decrease the warmth, and prepare dinner for 2 minutes extra, stirring continuously. Take away from the warmth.
Pat the drained potatoes dry earlier than layering half within the casserole dish. High with half of the milk sauce.
Add the ultimate layer of potatoes to the casserole dish and high with the remaining sauce.
Distribute the sauce evenly excessive of the potatoes, ensuring they’re coated edge to edge. Cowl the casserole dish with aluminum foil and bake for half-hour. Overlaying them helps entice steam, so the potatoes prepare dinner evenly.
Take away the aluminum and bake for an extra half-hour, or till the potatoes are bubbly and golden brown and a knife inserted into the potatoes meets no resistance. Enable the potatoes to chill for at the least quarter-hour earlier than serving. It’s non-compulsory, however I prefer to garnish the dish with a tablespoon of chopped Italian parsley. Prepare to start out accumulating compliments! This recipe is a win!
