Potatoes Dauphinoise casserole with blue cheese and a crunchy buttered panko topping. Thin sliced potatoes are cooked in cream and modestly seasoned with blue cheese, salt and pepper. Creamy and deliciously dreamy.
And if you love creamy potato side dishes, don’t miss my recipe for old fashioned Scalloped Potatoes with No Cheese.
What To Expect From This Recipe
Potatoes Dauphinoise are simply a French name for sliced potatoes cooked in cream. Potatoes Dauphinoise contain cheese but no crumb topping. Julia Child is probably responsible for our awareness of Dauphinoise, with her casserole of sliced potatoes, Swiss cheese and milk (rather than cream).
So with all that said, you’ll find a jillion recipes where classic definitions are often ignored, but no matter how we slice our potatoes or what we call it, it’s a very popular dish and very serious comfort food.
- The potatoes are evenly thin sliced to ⅛″ thick. Once baked they cream and layer themselves into a neat little stack of goodness that melts in your mouth.
- The potatoes are not par-boiled before baking. Parboiling potatoes means the starch from the potatoes seep into the water they’re cooked in. For potatoes dauphinoise, the potatoes are baked directly in cream in the casserole dish. Meaning the starch from the potatoes seep into the cream as they cook, making this even more creamy and luxurious.
- There’s just enough blue cheese between those layers of potatoes to get our attention … and not overpower the dish.
And you can expect a lot of compliments when you make Potatoes Dauphinoise.
Au Gratin or Dauphinoise?
So what am I calling my potato casserole creation? It’s a combination of two of these classic creamy potato casseroles. There’s cheese And there’s also a Panko bread crumb topping. The potatoes are cooked in cream and there’s no flour roux.
My au-gratin topping is sprinkled on the casserole after it’s cooked so it’s not creating that sealing layer. It’s just to add a delicious little crispy crunch. So I’m sticking with calling this a Dauphinoise Potatoes, with Blue Cheese.
Mise en Place
Gathering everything you need is easy for this potato casserole as the ingredients are minimal. Gather your cream, potatoes, blue cheese and mandolin. You’re ready to rock.
Ingredients You’ll Need
- Potatoes: Yukon gold potatoes work very well here because they’re a waxy potato with a firmer texture. Save those starchy Russet Potatoes for baked potatoes, like my recipe for Slow Cooker Garlic Butter Baked Potatoes.
- Blue Cheese: Potatoes Dauphinoise are routinely made with Gruyere. Please feel free to use Gruyere or even Swiss cheese.
- Cream
“These are the best potatoes I’ve ever had in my life.”
Bob Brown, husband and potato aficionado
How To Make This Easy Dauphinoise
- Slice potatoes ⅛″ thick. You’ll need a mandolin to take on this a super easy task. Or be very skilled with a chef’s knife.
- Butter or Pam spray a 9 x 13″ casserole dish and layer a third of the sliced potatoes in the dish. Salt and pepper the potatoes
- Sprinkle on ⅓ of the crumbled blue cheese.
- Repeat with two more layers of the blue cheese, the sliced potatoes and salt and pepper.
- Pour the cream over the potatoes making sure the cream just covers the top layer of potatoes.
- With your hands gently press the potatoes down into the cream mixture. This will compress the casserole a bit and coat the top layer of potatoes.
- Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes, or until potatoes are tender.
- In the meantime, make the toasted Panko bread crumb topping.
- When the potatoes are out of the over, sprinkle a single layer of the Panko bead crumb topping over the potatoes.
Questions You May Have
Scalloped Potatoes are made with a roux with flour, butter and and milk. And are sometimes infused with aromatics such as garlic, thyme and even fresh nutmeg. Potatoes Dauphinoise are sliced potatoes cooked in cream and can include cheese.
When making a special side dish for a special dinner, this is not the time to worry about fat calories. The fat content in cream is much better suited for a long bake in the oven. Half and half will have a tendency to separate which will result in a less creamy consistency.
Skip the Panko bread crumb topping and this recipe will be gluten free.
Tips For Success
- Use a mandolin. Uniformly sliced potatoes will create evenly cooked potatoes for a perfect texture for the final dish.
- If you’re like me, you find that guiding tool that came with your mandolin is a little unwieldy and awkward. Your hands make a much better tool. But wait, don’t want to lose a finger? I love my cut resistant gloves with stainless steel filament and knit construction that is guaranteed not to slice your skin.
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Recipe for Blue Cheese Potato Dauphinoise
Promise me you’ll give this easy creamy potatoes dauphinoise recipe a try. It’s a perfect side dish the upcoming holiday season. It’s my go-to side dish for a Prime Rib Dinner .
More Potato Side Dish Recipes
What do Dauphinoise Potatoes Go With?
- Roasted Veal chops with Red Grapes
- Four Rib Standing Prime Rib Roast
- Boneless Rib Eye Roast
- Dijon and Pistachio Crusted Rack of Lamb
- Mirin Glazed Roasted Salmon
And if you’re looking for more side dish recipes, you won’t want to miss my Side Dish Category. You’ll find lots of ideas including my most popular recipe for Broccoli Cheez Whiz Rice Casserole.
If you liked this recipe, please leave a star ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ rating in the recipe card below and leave a comment. I always appreciate your feedback and hearing how everything went.
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Blue Cheese Potatoes Dauphinoise
Ingredients
- 3 pounds Yukon Gold Potatoes peeled and sliced ⅛" thick
- 5 ounces Blue Cheese crumbled
- 3 cups cream
- salt and pepper to taste
- 4 ounces Panko Bread Crumbs
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- Grease or spray a 9 x 13" pan with Pam
- Using a mandolin, slice peeled potatoes using the ⅛' setting.
- Layer ⅓ of the potatoes in the casserole dish. Salt and pepper the layer and sprinkle on ⅓ of the crumbled blue cheese.
- Repeat this layering process two more times.
- Pour the cream over the potatoes. The cream should just cover the top of the potatoes.
- Gently press down on the potatoes to create a more compact layering effect.
- Bake for 45 minutes. Or until potatoes are tender.
- In the meantime make the Panko Bread Crumb topping.
- Heat a large non-stick skillet over medium high heat. Once the pan is hot, add the butter.
- When the butter is sizzling, turn down the heat and add the Panko Bread Crumbs. Cook the Panko Crumbs until they start to turn golden brown. Stir often to insure an even browning. This should take about 10 minutes.
- Set aside until casserole is done.
- Remove casserole from oven and sprinkle a thin layer of toasted Panko crumbs over the top of the casserole.
- Save unused toasted crumbs in a covered container. They'll keep for a couple of weeks.
Nutrition
Potatoes Dauphinoise … It’s What’s For A Special Dinner
Why Trust These Recipes? Lea Ann Brown has lived, worked and played in Colorado for 45 years. She has immersed herself in the Colorado Culinary space, is a Culinary School Graduate and publishes her Colorado food Blog, Cooking On The Ranch.
I am taking Bob’s word for it and would agree that these look like the best potatoes I’ve seen in my life. Blue cheese AND potatoes? Sign me up.
I just love dauphinoise potatoes and it’s been far too long since I’ve made them… and with blue cheese, WOW, that sure takes this wonderful dish to new levels, Lea Ann! Thanks for sharing this!!! Pinning!
Lea Ann, just reading the recipe I can tell this is a “PER-fect” potato dish. It has just the right amount of everything! I’m guess-timating about 3/4 to a teaspoon of regular salt might be about right for this.
I LOVE this dish. In France there’s argument about whether cheese should be included or not (it probably wasn’t there in the original dish eons ago), but most restaurants make it with cheese, so I do too. 🙂 Haven’t tried blue cheese — great idea. I’ll be doing that. 🙂
Oh YUM!!! Blue cheese mashed potatoes is one of my favorite sides, but this dauphinoise looks like it could become a contender. 🙂 Gorgeous dish and presentation! Hope you and your family had a wonderful Thanksgiving.