Combining the very best of the hasselback potato with the potato gratin, please meet the ultimate crispy on top and creamy in the middle, cheese-y comfort food… the luxuriosuyly decadent hasselback potato gratin!
This recipe is from Serious Eats and has been on repeat, especially during these chilly winter months, in my kitchen the last few years. It’s a huge hit, each and every time. The showstopping presentation of standing the potatoes up vertically with all the glorious crispy, creamy, cheesy goodness is too delicious not to re-share.
Why this Recipe Works
- Best of both potato worlds! We get the very best of the hasselback potato combined with the very best of the potato gratin!
- Tossing the potatoes with the creamy, cheese-y goodness before baking! This ensures even distribution and that we’ll get some of the creamy, cheesy goodness with each and every bite!
- Roasting covered followed by uncovered! Roasting covered by foil traps the potatoes moisture, so they steam and become tender, then we roast uncovered so they perfectly crisp up!
- The ultimate comfort food! Cheese, cream, potatoes, and garlic… need I really say any more?
Standing the potatoes up vertically maximizes surface area, which means more opportunity crispy crunchiness with a decadently creamy interior.
Just look at those crispy edges on top! Making this again tomorrow!
It’s the luxuriously decadent potato dish of my dreams!
What is a Hasselback Potato?
A hasselback potato is a type of roasted potato where the potatoes are cut in thin, parallel slices, almost all the way through so that that potato remains intact at the bottom and roasted until the layers fan out.
For a visual, here’s some hasselback potatoes I made once:
What is a Potato Gratin?
A potato gratin is a casserole of potatoes dish where thin slices of potatoes are stacked horizontally in layers, covered with cream, sprinkled with cheese and roasted in the oven.
How to Make this Hasselback Potato Gratin
Thinly slice potatoes with a mandolin. Whisk together creamy, cheese-y goodness mixture. Toss potatoes with mixture. Arrange potatoes, aligned vertically, in an oven-proof dish. Pour any excess of the creamy-cheese-y mixture over the potatoes and the oven will do the rest of the work. Well almost all the rest. You'll have to add a bit more of the excess cream and cheese to the potatoes during the baking process but I struggle to define adding cheese-y creamy goodness as work in my world and its already grated and prepped at this point.
Cooks Tips
- If you own a mandolin, this recipe is prime time to use it! Just watch those fingers! If not, good luck with your knife skills but I def recommend a mandolin for this recipe!
- For creamiest, tastiest results, make sure every slice of potato is evenly coated the cheesy, mixture before stacking.
- Buy extra potatoes! Because potatoes come in all shapes and sizes, the exact precise amount of potato that will fit into a single baking dish varies… I learned this by running out of potatoes mid-stacking arrangement and am worried you’ll really dislike this recipe if that happens to ya too…and I want ya to love it!
- Remember to reserve the excess cream mixture, you’ll be adding it throughout the baking process. It’s like a basting-your-potatoes-kinda-situation.
- For easing cleaning, place casserole dish on a baking sheet to catch any creamy mixture goodness that may spill over.
- If you have other hard cheeses hanging out in your fridge, feel free to grate ‘em and add them too! No cheese shall be excluded from this party says I!
- Leftovers will keep in the fridge for up to 3 days.
Have ya tried this recipe? I’d love to hear about it and see it too! Please leave a comment below and take a pic and tag it on Instagram with #wavesinthekitchen. You can also follow me on Facebook, Instagram and Pinterest to see more colorfully delicious food and all sorts of awesome adventures!
Let’s make waves in the kitchen!
This recipe is inspired by Serious Eats. The very first time I laid my eyes on this marvelous hasselback potato gratin on and I just knew I’d be making it! Which I’ve done many a times since! The recipe is heavily inspired by their original and I’d love to point out the changes I’ve made though the strategy of dousing thinly sliced potatoes with creamy-cheesey goodness and stacking them vertically absolutely comes from them! I’ve added more garlic. Cause I love garlic and have no one to kiss anyways. Though if ya both eat garlic I don’t think garlic breathe is bad per se but I’l leaving my kissing-boys-after-eating-garlic-tangent for another time. I swapped the russet potatoes for red ones just cause I found I couldn’t get my russets as tender as I’d like them to be and no matter how much additional time I left them in the oven they often came out tasting just slightly undercooked. I don’t peel the reds either and they do take longer to stack than the russets. But I love how tender they come out! And I add more cheese. And more cream. Just cause I’m a more-is-more kinda gal. And I add shallots too. Cause the only thang better than one allium is two.
Hasselback Potato Gratin
Ingredients
- 5 ounces finely grated Gruyère or Comté cheese
- 3 ounces finely grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese
- 3 cups heavy cream
- 4 medium cloves garlic minced (the garlic-shallot ratio is flexi, just be sure to add lots of garlic or shallots or a combo)
- 1 shallot minced
- 1 tablespoon fresh thyme leaves roughly chopped
- Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
- 3 1/2 - 4 pounds red potatoes russet potatoes, peeled and very thinly sliced on a mandolin.
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400°F.
- Combine cheeses in a large bowl. Transfer 1/3 of cheese mixture to a separate bowl and set aside. Add cream, garlic, shallots, and thyme to cheese mixture. Season generously with salt and pepper. Add potato slices and toss with hands, making sure to get this creamy goodness all over ever single slice of thin potatoes. Yes every single one. It is worth it!
- Grease a 2-quart casserole dish with butter. Pick up a handful of potatoes, organizing them into a neat stack, and lay them in the casserole dish with their edges aligned vertically. Continue placing potatoes in casserole, working around the perimeter and into the center until all potatoes have been added. It’s a rustic dish and we are not going for perfection here, we’re going for deliciousness and that will def happen. Potatoes need to be very tightly packed, which means I often sneak more in once the casserole is full, sticking them in between any slices I can. Pour some of the excess cream/cheese mixture evenly over potatoes, until the mixture comes half way up the sides of the casserole. Reserve the excess cream mixture.
- Cover tightly with foil and transfer to oven. Bake for 30 minutes. Remove foil, pour as much of the excess cream mixture as ya can without making a huge mess and continue baking until top is pale golden brown, about 30 minutes longer. Carefully remove from oven, pour any more excess cream mixture if there’s any leftover that you couldn’t fit earlier, sprinkle with remaining cheese, and return to oven. Bake until deep golden brown and crisp on top, about 30 minutes longer. Remove from oven, let rest for a few minutes, and serve.
Notes
- If you own a mandolin, this recipe is prime time to use it! Just watch those fingers! If not, good luck with your knife skills but I def recommend a mandolin for this recipe!
- For creamiest, tastiest results, make sure every slice of potato is evenly coated the cheesy, mixture before stacking.
- Buy extra potatoes! Because potatoes come in all shapes and sizes, the exact precise amount of potato that will fit into a single baking dish varies… I learned this by running out of potatoes mid-stacking arrangement and am worried you’ll really dislike this recipe if that happens to ya too…and I want ya to love it!
- Remember to reserve the excess cream mixture, you’ll be adding it throughout the baking process. It’s like a basting-your-potatoes-kinda-situation.
- For easing cleaning, place casserole dish on a baking sheet to catch any creamy mixture goodness that may spill over.
- If you have other hard cheeses hanging out in your fridge, feel free to grate ‘em and add them too! No cheese shall be excluded from this party says I!
- Leftovers will keep in the fridge for up to 3 days.
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