Simple Scalloped Potatoes from Scratch
These simple scalloped potatoes from scratch are the perfect comfort food, with a creamy white sauce smothering layers of potatoes, topped with golden baked cheese.
Ingredients
- 4 Tbsp butter
- ½ cup flour
- 1 ½ tsp salt
- ⅛ tsp black pepper
- 3½-4 cups milk or 1 cup beef broth, 2 1/2 c milk
- 6 medium potatoes
- 1 small onion
Instructions
- Optional: Fry 1-2 pounds of ground meat. I use ground beef or ground elk. Preheat oven to 350.
- While the beef is browning, peel your potatoes. Use whatever you have on hand; Yukon gold potatoes, russet potatoes, red potatoes. No need to be fussy. Slice the potatoes thinly. A mandolin slicer is handy here, but I keep my kitchen very minimal, so I just slice them by hand. Place your sliced potatoes in a bowl and cover with cold water. This will keep them from turning brown while you prepare the creamy sauce.
- In a small saucepan on medium heat, melt butter. Add salt and pepper. While its heating, chop a small onion and add it to the butter to saute. When the onions are soft, add 1/4 c flour and stir to combine. This is a roux. You can be creative and make all sorts of gravies and sauces from this point on. Slowly pour in milk (you can substitute 1 cup of milk for 1 cup of beef broth, if you are adding fried hamburger, or add one cup of heavy cream to make a delicious rich cream sauce). Whisk the sauce constantly while the milk is heating and coming to a boil. Reduce heat to medium low. As it simmers it will thicken. Remove from heat.
- In a 9x13 casserole dish, layer your thin slices of potato (as well as all of the ground beef if applicable), and cover with 1/2 of the sauce. Spread the remain layer of potatoes on top and pour remaining cream sauce over. If you find that your sauce is on the thick side, just pour some milk right on top of the casserole.
- Cover with aluminum foil and bake for 50 min.
- Grate 1-2 cups of cheddar cheese. After 50 minutes, pierce potatoes with a fork, if they are tender remover the potato casserole from the oven. Sprinkle cheese on top. Add some parmesan cheese as well. Return to oven uncovered for 10 min. Or broil the casserole for a few minutes to melt the cheese golden brown.
- Serve!
Notes
Variations:
Next time, try adding the shredded cheddar cheese right into the cream sauce to make ultra cheesy potatoes. Once the cream sauce is thickened, add your cheese and stir to melt, then continue as directed to construct this impressive side dish.
Comment if you've added different proteins to your scalloped potatoes and what you thought! Shredded chicken? Leftover roast? Pork chops? Tuna? Ground turkey? Don't be afraid to be creative using up whats in your fridge.
Make ahead as a freezer meal. Add a splash of milk before you reheat it to ensure its creamy enough since the potatoes absorb some of the liquid as they rest. Cover with tin foil and reheat for 1 1/2 hrs at 350, or until heated through. *Take it out the night before and defrost it in the fridge to reduce your cooking time to 1 hour.