This is a recipe for good old fashioned creamy scalloped potatoes without cheese. Simple ingredients and big on flavor. A tried and true recipe where scalloped potatoes taste pure, creamy and very special. Irresistibly delicious.
Sometimes you just have to go on faith that, when it comes to a Creamy Scalloped Potatoes, less is better. And following the purist path, this is a recipe for scalloped potatoes with cheese.
I’m not sure when I fell in with a bad crowd, probably sometime in the 70’s. I was lured into making a glorified pan of potatoes that included cream of this and cream of that soup, more than a cup of greasy shredded cheese and voila, I was serving up a monstrosity of a potato casserole.
Scalloped potatoes without cheese produces a cleaner potato flavor and still gives you a creamy casserole.
Taking a cue from how my mom made them, thin sliced potatoes and onions simmered in a cream sauce with a little sprinkle of paprika for color…bingo. It’s perfect, a classic, its creamy, it’s decadent and a sure crowd pleaser.
Of course Mom didn’t use a recipe and I remember when I first started cooking, it was difficult to get the combination right for a perfect pan of scalloped potatoes. With trial and error, I’ve reproduced her recipe and have been wanting to share it with you.
If you have a mandolin, get it out for this recipe. Evenly sliced thin potatoes make this melt in your mouth even creamier.
If you don’t have a mandolin and are thinking about a purchase, I’ve had my OXO Good Grips Mandolin Slicer for years and it’s been worth every penny of the $99 I paid. It works beautifully. Prices have come down a bit. It’s now available on Amazon for around $70. And thanks so some very clever designers owning a mandolin has become an even less inexpensive proposition. This past week at a Sur la Table cooking class, we used two smaller versions. I thought the Kyocera Advanced Ceramic Adjustable Mandolin Slicer worked just fine, and with its smaller size would be easier to store. $18.
I’ve never found the guiding tools that come with any mandolin easy to use. I wouldn’t use my mandolin without my Victorinox Cutlery UltraShield Cut Resistant Glove you see in the photo above. It protects your hands from cuts and guiding the food with your palm makes mandolin use much more manageable. I’m slicing fibrous jicama in the photo.
How do you make creamy scalloped potatoes even creamer?
- Evenly sliced potatoes will cook more consistently … use a mandolin.
- Heavy whipping cream. Don’t try to skimp on fat calories and use half and half. The fat content in cream simply cooks better and doesn’t separate like milk or half and half. In addition, when the potatoes cook, they will release some moisture into the cream. Better to have that moisture mix with thick luscious cream for a beautiful thick sauce.
- Use Yukon Gold Potatoes. I find them creamier.
Now for this killer recipe, it’s the best scalloped potatoes recipe I’ve found. Enjoy!
Recipe for Scalloped Potatoes without Cheese
I hope you give this creamy scalloped potatoes recipe a try. And if you do, please come back and give the recipe a star rating. And leave a comment about your experience with the recipe.
And if you have a favorite creamy scalloped potatoes recipe, let me know, I’d love to give it a try.
More Potato Casserole Recipes
And of course no self respecting spoon full of scalloped potatoes would not be served without a slice of ham and a spear or two of asparagus. Take a look at this Honey and Thyme Glazed Ham Recipe.
Old Fashioned Scalloped Potatoes without Cheese
Ingredients
- 4 tablespoons unsalted butter plus more for greasing
- 3 cloves garlic finely chopped
- 1 medium yellow onion thinly sliced
- 1/4 cup flour
- 1 1/2 cups heavy cream
- 1/2 cup milk
- 3 tablespoons finely chopped thyme
- Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
- 1 1/2 lb Yukon gold potatoes peeled and very thinly sliced
- 1/4 teaspoon paprika
Instructions
- Heat oven to 350°. Grease an 8" square baking dish with butter; set aside.
- Melt butter in a 6-qt. saucepan over medium-high heat. Add garlic and onion; cook, stirring occasionally, until golden, 8–10 minutes.
- Add flour; cook, stirring, until smooth, 2 minutes.
- Add cream, milk, thyme, salt, and pepper; bring to a boil. Add potatoes; cook, stirring occasionally, until potatoes are just tender, 8–10 minutes.
- Transfer mixture to prepared baking dish. Using a spoon, press mixture down; sprinkle with paprika. Bake until golden brown and a knife inserted into middle of potatoes slides in easily, about 40 minutes.
Nutrition
Old Fashioned Creamy Scalloped Potatoes Casserole …It’s what’s for a Side Dish.
Hey, when my grandma made scalloped potatoes the HAM was the side dish and no one except my dad cared if we even had any ham and NO cheese ever! Cheese just ruined the taste of the potatoes. Need to make sure it had a lot of thinly sliced onions and plenty of salt and pepper too. My grandma sprinkled the top pf each layer with flour as the thickener. Many years ago I worked at a roast beef fast food restaurant and we had to wear those metal mesh like gloves to protect our hands from blade nicks. I eventually bought myself a pair of them. They are inexpensive and well worth the cost. I think a lot of people are going to be making those potatoes soon and I just bought a 3 pound bag of the Yukon Gold potatoes so I am all set. I inherited my great grandma’s handwritten cookbook written in the 1890’s so just trying to decipher her old style handwriting has been difficult but recipes are familiar and well worth it.
Hi Mertie, and thanks so much for your delightful note. When I first started cooking I used to pile on the cheese for scalloped potatoes and soon realized that the potatoes simply didn’t need it. They’re too delicious on their own. And I agree, those gloves are fabulous. Make it a delicious day.
Could you omit the thyme in the recipe?
Absolutely. If you don’t like thyme, just leave it out. Let me know if you have any other questions.
Hello. I inherited this cookbook from my Mom called Modern Encyclopedia of Cooking, by Meta Given. Published 1947. It still has little scribbles in it from my baby hands. It literally has thousands of recipes…a lot I’d never even heard of ! But there is a scalloped potato recipe called Escalloped Potatoes and Ham, and is very similar to the one here on your site. Except there is no flour use in it. Just ham, potatoes, milk and salt. It involves bringing everything to a boil, adding the potatoes, then to a boil again. I can’t really see how it would thicken….. Anyway I was excited to find your recipe as it’s very close to the one in the “Modern” cookbook lol. I plan on following it tonight and using my mandolin of course. I’m still debating whether or not to add ham or not…..
Cheers,
Lee
I have a couple of extremely old cookbooks similar to the one you describe. And yes, so many recipes that I have not idea what they are. Rather fun to browse.
When my mom started making scalloped potatoes when I was a child, there was always ham involved. So delicious.
With regard to making scalloped potatoes without flour: The starch that is released from the potatoes, after they boil in the milk should thicken the sauce. The only way it wouldn’t is if the recipe calls for too much milk.
Did you try it? Did it thicken?
Add the ham – that is how my Mom always made it – YUMMY YUMMY and WOW when leftovers are heated up the next day!
Seems like the recipe is missing and/or a bad link to continue reading “Click Here” just brings you back to the previous/same description page. sure would like to try it. : )
Thanks so much for letting me know. I’ve fixed it. 🙂
Thank you,thank you,thank you. My mom made scalloped potatoes exactly this way,and they were always so delicious. Most all recipes today include some type of cheese…. Those are au gratin potatoes,not true scalloped potatoes. Now-I have to go make some potatoes.
I’m going to make this one. Ree Drummond has one that is similar, but includes diced ham to make it a “meal”. I have made that one several times and my wife and I love it. I’m going to be adding the ham and will let you know how it turns out 🙂
My mom always made this too, usually when we had ham.
I’m definitely giving it a try this weekend.
Scalloped potatoes are just the best.
Well, I’ve got to eat soon – I’m salivating. Bob loves scalloped potatoes, and I’ve made them recently. My recipe mimics yours, but I do put some shredded sharp cheddar in the sauce. If we have leftover, we wrap them into a breakfast burrito.
One of my fondest memories was that after Easter my mother would make scalloped potatoes. She would layer left-over ham slices in between the potatoes and onions and it was thickened with just flour and milk with very little salt. So simple and so good. I love the sound of this recipe with the thyme.
These potatoes are my idea of comfort food. I’d eat them alone for my meal– nothing else needed even though that ham is gorgeous.
I haven’t had scalloped potatoes in years. Your meal would be a delicious one for Easter.
I love scalloped potatoes and thanks so much for the reminder as I have not made these for such a long time. Loving the photo of you using your mandolin with the glove. I am sure you have heard about my dreaded mandolin incident. One cannot be too careful!. Have a super weekend.
Hi Lea Ann, love potatoes prepared any way. This looks delicious, what a great classic dish.
These sound delicious – I don’t know why I’ve never added thyme! Mmm
We just love scalloped potatoes and yours look very good.
Thank you Larry – we love scalloped potatoes too. Tis the season for ham and scalloped potatoes.
Lea Ann, with a gorgeous potato dish like that, I don’t need anything else. Meat and potatoes? Hold the meat!
I agree Jean! 🙂
Now I’m craving scalloped potatoes and it’s only breakfast time here…
Sam
I wish I had a big ol bowl of scalloped potatoes for breakfast!
I grew up on these…out of the box…yours look SOOOO much better 🙂
Always good to hear from you Sue. I’ve never had them out of a box, but I had my fill of mac and cheese from that blue box. Good stuff.