Skip to main content

The Manual may earn a commission when you buy through links on our site.

You’ll Want to Take This Potato Gratin Recipe to Every Potluck

Any time we get a chance to cook potatoes and cheese together, we are happy staff members here at The Manual. A starch mixed with melty, gooey cheese is just about the best thing ever (other than a lifetime’s worth of mail-order bacon, of course). That is why one of our favorite side dishes is potato gratin. Not only does it have the melty cheese, but the traditional technique for cooking gratin — a dish that has a browned crust of breadcrumbs or cheese — gives us a nice crisp, allowing for a mixture of textures and sensations that are sure to please just about anyone.

Most of the gratins we’ve had, though, came from a box. You know what we’re talking about: cheese powder, dehydrated potatoes, a final product that doesn’t have any of the character that it should.

Related Videos

We decided that we wanted to change that, so we went on the hunt for the best potato gratin recipe that uses real potatoes and cheese. This version comes to us from the fine folks at Happens at the Bean. We loved it and we’re pretty sure you are going to as well, though we did have one amendment to make: add bacon. You’d do this around step seven or eight, when you are layering the potatoes. Cook up some of your favorite bacon, crumble it up, and sprinkle it on before you add the liquid. You can thank us later.

Note: A gratin dish is typically shallower than other baking dishes. If you don’t have one, you can pick one up here.

Potato Gratin

potato gratin recipe

Ingredients:

  • 1.5 c heavy cream
  • 1.5 c Chicken stock
  • 5 cloves garlic, smashed with side of a knife
  • 1-2 Sprigs Rosemary
  • 2 tsp Kosher salt
  • 2 tsp fresh ground black pepper
  • 6 Idaho russet potatoes
  • 2 tbsp unsalted butter
  • .75-1 c Grated Gruyere
  • .5 tsp Grated nutmeg

Method:

  1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit.
  2. Rub one clove of garlic split in half all over a 10-by-14-inch gratin dish. Let rest for 10 minutes. Butter gratin dish and place aside.
  3. Combine stock, heavy cream, garlic, rosemary, nutmeg, salt and pepper in a medium saucepan.
  4. Bring to a medium simmer, lower heat and continue to simmer for 30-45 minutes. Cook until thick and slightly reduced.
  5. Strain out garlic cloves and rosemary.
  6. Peel potatoes and cut into 1/8-inch slices.
  7. Arrange first layer of potatoes in the butttered pan, overlapping the potatoes a bit.
  8. Sprinkle the potatoes with .5 cup of the liquid and 2 tablespoons of the grated cheese.
  9. Repeat with remaining potatoes and cream, about 4 layers.
  10. Add the remaining cheese after the final layer of potatoes.
  11. Cover with aluminum foil and bake for 45 minutes. Remove foil and bake another 30 minutes, until top turns golden brown.
  12. Remove from oven, let rest for 10 minutes before serving.

Editors' Recommendations

Colombian or Kona coffee: Which is the superior drink?
Colombian or Kona coffee: Sweet and spicy, or rich and chocolatey? Which do you prefer?
Ways to Make Coffee

If you're anything of a coffee connoisseur, you're well aware that coffee beans come from coffea plants, which is grown all around the world. Depending on your preference of flavor, boldness, and acidity, you may already have a preferred location from where your coffee originates. Brazil, Ethiopia, India, Honduras, and Vietnam all grow a delicious bean. And while all of these types and their rich, complex flavors are worth exploring, the two coffee varieties that people seem to be the most drawn to at the moment are Kona and Colombian.

While there are over 120 varieties of coffea plant, and each makes its own unique bean, coffee beans are usually broken down into four categories of flavor: Arabica, Robusta, Liberica, and Excelsa.

Read more
How to make your own cold brew coffee at home (no, it isn’t just iced coffee)
Cold brew coffee: Making this popular drink is easier than you think it is
international coffee drinks that arent dalgona cold brew ice

I grew up in a house where iced coffee was made by pouring the hours-old coffee pot leftovers over a glass of ice. Maybe a little milk was added, or, if you were feeling extra fancy, a splash of flavored creamer. Embarrassingly far into adulthood (before Keurig came along and cramped my style), that's how I made my "cold brew." For years, this was how I drank my warm-weather coffee. But oh, did I have it wrong.
In case you're unaware, cold brew, real cold brew, is made using an entirely different method than hot coffee. While hot coffee is generally made by running hot water through finely-ground coffee beans, cold brew is made more like our grandmothers made sun tea - set to steep for a while, becoming flavorful and delicious on its own with nothing added but love, water, and time.
The result is a much smoother, silkier, bolder and more flavorful cup of morning magic. When coffee is steeped this way, much of the bitterness smooths to be much gentler on the palette, allowing you to really taste the flavor of the beans in a whole new way. So how do you make cold brew at home?
There are plenty of gizmos out there, like cold brew coffee makers, jugs, and infusers, but there's no need for these. Like many needless kitchen tools, these accessories end up being shoved into the back of the pantry, never to be seen again. Our favorite method of making cold brew coffee involves nothing more than a good old-fashioned French press.

How to make cold brew coffee

Read more
This Toronto cocktail recipe is the perfect whiskey drink
Escape to Canada with the lovely Toronto cocktail
drinkers guide to aspen aspenkitchen obiwanoldfashioned3

When you think about signature cocktails, names like Tom Collins, Brandy Alexander, and Old Fashioned come to mind. Yet, for whiskey lovers especially, there's an unsung hero that's deserving of a big-time comeback. It's named Toronto, and it's a cocktail well-suited for the chilly days of midwinter.

The drink dates back to 1922 and is a riff on the beloved Old Fashioned. It's a great whiskey cocktail, for certain, but also one that can be experimented with, as the best versions tend to involve a mix of a couple of different whiskies. The key ingredient, however, is Fernet, the intense and medicinal amaro from Italy.

Read more