Easy Au Gratin Potatoes

thetipsyhousewife
Jump to Recipe

Bring Gourmet Home for the Holidays

A dish of baked au gratin potatoes

Easy Au Gratin Potatoes will be the hit of your holiday dinner. This recipe is so simple.

It uses canned, sliced potatoes and an easy cheese sauce. You combine and bake for one hour to create a decadent side dish that is extra cheesy and good.

You can customize this recipe as you wish by using any kind of cheese you prefer and making it as saucy as you like.

I include specific instructions for making these potatoes in the recipe card below. The next couple of paragraphs have some troubleshooting tips and tricks for those who may be intimidated by making the cheese sauce.

The recipe card also has the serving size above the title of the recipe. There is a print button under the picture on the recipe card that condenses the recipe on to one page with no ads so you can screenshot this or print it.

There is also a Pinterest button on the recipe card that you can use to save this to your Pinterest page. If you would like to follow me on Pinterest, you can find me there at The Tipsy Housewife.

Butter, cheese, cans of potatoes, and heavy whipping cream on a counter

Canned Potatoes

I have always used canned potatoes for this recipe. Rinse them and let them drain to remove some of the salt, but remember potatoes are very bland and need to be seasoned well.

The one thing you have to keep in mind is that the canned potatoes will NOT absorb the sauce like uncooked fresh potatoes will.

Keep this in mind when making your cheese sauce. I personally prefer a more “saucy” sauce for this recipe.

If you would like a thicker “set up” sauce, use slightly less flour when making this and use less heavy cream. I would use just two tablespoons of flour and 2 cups of cream instead of the measurements I have in the written recipe.

Cheese sauce in a bowl being whisked

Making The Cheese Sauce

This sauce is usually quite intimidating for people and I am not sure why. There is only one thing you can do wrong when making this that cannot be fixed.

That would be burning your flour and butter mixture. Just keep a close eye on it when you are sautéing in this step. Do not have the heat too high on your stove and you will be just fine.

Add your cream slowly until you get it to your desired thickness. You can always add more cream to thin this out.

You will need to thin it out before adding your shredded cheese. Make sure you get the texture you want before adding the cheese.

Also be sure to keep in mind that it will also continue to thicken up as you add the cheese, so if it seems slightly “loose” remember cheese is also going to thicken it up.

The creamy sauce mixture
This is my cheese sauce in the making before adding the cheese.
Shredded cheese being added to the sauce mixture
Add the cheese a little at a time. I like to keep about 6 cups shredded on hand so I can adjust the thickness to my liking.
A mix of different cheddar cheese brands
This is the variety of cheese I use for my potatoes but any cheese will do.
The finished potatoes au gratin dish
Yield: 12 to 15 Servings

Easy Au Gratin Potatoes

Easy Au Gratin Potatoes

Easy Au Gratin Potatoes will be the hit of your holiday dinner. This recipe is so simple. It uses canned, sliced potatoes, and an easy cheese sauce. You combine and bake four one hour to create a decadent side dish that is extra cheesy and good. You can customize this recipe as you wish by using any kind of cheese you prefer and making it as saucy as you like.

Ingredients

  • 6 cans of sliced potatoes, rinsed and drained
  • 4 to 6 cups of shredded cheese of your choice. I use a mix of cheddar and parmesan. I suggest shredding the cheese yourself. You can use more cheese if you prefer when layering the potatoes.
  • 2 heaping tablespoons of white flour
  • 12 tablespoons of butter or 1 1/2 sticks
  • 2.5 cups of heavy cream (you may need a little more depending on how thick you want your cheese sauce so have some extra on the side)
  • 1/2 teaspoon of cayenne pepper
  • 1/2 teaspoon of celery salt
  • 1/4 teaspoon of ground mustard
  • 1/4 teaspoon of white pepper
  • 1/2 teaspoon of black pepper
  • 1/8 teaspoon of ground nutmeg
  • *seasoning measurements are a suggestion, you can start small, and taste and adjust

Instructions

  • Heat your oven to 400 degrees. Add for tablespoons of butter to a 9 x 13 casserole dish and place the pan in the oven to heat and melt the butter. DO NOT FORGET this pan is hot later.
  • Grate your cheese and set aside.
  • In a large deep sided skillet, add the 8 tablespoons/1 stick of butter, heat on low for the butter to melt. then slowly add the flour and whisk it into the butter as you add. Let the flour get golden brown in the butter. Make sure you do not have your heat too high, you do not want to burn this. Whisk as much as you can. Add your seasonings and whisk some more.
  • Then slowly add your heavy cream while whisking, add a little at a time. You will need to turn up the heat a little more while doing this. Make sure it is slowly bubbling but not rapidly boiling. I use about 2.5 cups of heavy cream because I prefer a more saucy sauce for this dish. If you want this to be more of a thicker sauce when this bakes up, use less cream. This will all thicken, it should coat the back of a spoon. For reference, I like mine to be the thickness of a can of tomato soup after you heat it with the water. You will need it to be thin enough to add the cheese into to melt. If it is not this consistency, add a little more cream at a time and whisk in, until it is the texture you need.
  • When your butter and cream sauce is ready, taste it and adjust the seasoning to your liking. Then slowly add the shredded cheese. Whisk it in and let it melt before you add more. Remember you will need some of the cheese to sprinkle on the potatoes in the baking dish. The best way to determine how you want this is to slowly add the cheese and taste it and check your texture. When it is as cheesy and thick as you prefer. Turn it off the heat. It should be smooth. I personally prefer my sauce to be a little more liquid then thick, but you can adjust this to your personal preference by adding more cheese.
  • Carefully remove your hot casserole dish from the oven.
  • Add about 1/3 of your sliced potatoes, then a layer of grated cheese. Then a some of the cheese sauce. Repeat these steps until all your potatoes are added. The final layer should be the cheese sauce and a decent sprinkle of shredded cheese.
  • I sprinkle some of the spices and herbs on top including some dried parsley for color.
  • Bake, uncovered for 1 hour at 400 degrees. All ovens bake differently, so this should be golden brown on top and bubbly. Turn off the oven and let this sit in the oven as the oven cools for about 20 to 30 minutes.
  • Serve this up with your favorite roast.
  • These can be made ahead of time, baked and refrigerated overnight. To warm, take them out of fridge and let them sit out about 40 minutes, then place in the oven as it heats up to 375 and let them warm up with the oven and they typically take another 30 minutes when the oven comes to temp. You can also microwave them.
    • © thetipsyhousewife

    Are you looking for a great protein to enjoy with these potatoes? My classic round steak is a great choice.

    Leave a Reply

    This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

    Previous Post Next Post
    Skip to Recipe