This Easy Creamy Cheesy Potato Bake is true to its name – easy and creamy and cheesy! Made with cubes of potato which are cooked with the sauce so there’s no need to par boil the potatoes or make the sauce separately. Plus, it’s a whole lot faster to chop potatoes than slice them thinly – and you get more sauce in every bite!
Easy Creamy Cheesy Potato Bake. How’s that for a tongue twister, eh? Try saying that 3 times real fast (even harder, after a couple of glasses of wine). I keep getting myself confused, and I’ve probably gotten it wrong a few times in this post even though I’ve gone back to check several times!
When you think of potato bakes, you probably think of sliced potatoes. Otherwise known as Potato Gratin, Potato Dauphinoise and Scalloped Potatoes to those in the States. And here’s my recipe (well, Julia Child’s!) for Potato Dauphinoise, if that’s what you’re after. But hear me out on this chunky style before you go running off!
Not only is this easier and faster to put together – i.e. no need to thinly slice mounds of potato then layer them in the baking dish – with this “chunky style” creamy potato bake, you get soft pieces of potato bathed in creamy cheesy sauce. Whereas with potato gratin, the sliced potatoes tends to be packed more closely together so there’s less creamy cheesy goodness with every bite. Some might even say it’s packed too densely for their taste (gasp!).
I wasn’t actually planning to share this recipe. A couple of weeks ago, I had an Easter Taste Testing Lunch at my place, primarily to get feedback on the Salmon Gravlax that I shared last week (resounding success! Almost unanimously Top Pick of the Day). I called upon a group of my mother’s golfing friends who are always willing and able taste testers. Ahhh the luxury of retirement. A leisurely game of golf then a 3 course lunch!
I enjoy these Taste Testing sessions because they bring both years of years of experience and complete honesty to the table. No one holds back providing very constructive feedback, as well as useful suggestions. Suffice to say a number of recipes have never made this blog because of the feedback from this group of Taste Testers! 😂
Anyway, I made this Easy Creamy Cheesy Potato Bake (well, my mother did, under my instruction) because I had so many other things to prepare, I wanted to put something together quickly. And it was a topic of hot discussion that it was an afterthought-side-dish that I really didn’t think was that special but everyone loved it! So I had to share it!
I’m not going to lie to you. This ain’t the healthiest recipe on this blog. It’s basically made up of all things that are the first to go when trying to be “healthy” – potatoes, cream and cheese.
And that, my friends, is why it is so darn good. OK, so it’s not the sort of thing I’d make on for a usual midweek meal. But weekends and feasting occasions? Heck yes! Especially when I want to steal the show. 😉 – Nagi x
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Easy Creamy Cheesy Potato Bake
Ingredients
- 1.25kg/ 2.5lb potatoes (any, other than waxy potatoes, see Note 1)
- 2/3 cup (160 ml) milk (full or low fat)
- 3/4 cup (185 ml) thickened cream (heavy cream) (heavy cream)
- 1/3 cup mayonnaise , preferably whole egg (or 1/4 cup cream) (Note 2)
- 1 1/2 tsp fresh thyme leaves , plus more for garnish (or 1 tsp dried)
- 2 large garlic cloves , minced
- 3/4 tsp salt
- Black pepper
- 2 cups (200g) shredded cheese , for mixing (Note 3)
- 1 cup (100g) shredded mozzarella cheese (or sub with another cheese, Note 3)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 180C/350F (all types).
- Peel and cut the potatoes into 1 3/4 cm / 2/3" cubes. Place in a large bowl.
- Add all remaining ingredients except mozzarella. Mix.
- Pour into a 3 litre / quart baking dish (mine is 22cm / 9" square x 6 cm / 2.3" high).
- Cover with foil. Bake 60 minutes, or until potatoes are tender.
- Remove foil, sprinkle over mozzarella cheese. Bake for 25 minutes or until cheese is golden.
- Rest for 5 - 10 minutes before serving, garnished with extra theme leaves if desired.
Recipe Notes:
Nutrition Information:
WATCH HOW TO MAKE IT
Easy Creamy Cheesy Potato Bake recipe video! Maybe have a napkin handy? 😉
LIFE OF DOZER
Snap photo of dish, then swing camera 30 cm / 1 foot to the left and photograph Dozer. Efficiency of motion. 🙌🏼
I love how easy this recipe is – and it’s also really versatile. I substituted about half of the potato with a quarter cauliflower and a quarter cabbage. I reckon you could use carrots and other veg lurking in the depths of the fridge, too.
Grateful if the scale feature could be fixed so it’s easy to use up all stray veggies 🙂
@Nagi – OMG. I’ve made some great scalloped potatoes in my life but these were so good; a big hit in my house. So glad we have leftovers so we can enjoy this again tomorrow. This will be made again and again – many thanks for the great recipes.
I’ve made this (and so many other) recipes. This one I made tonight again. I didn’t have much time so I did parboil the potatoes, peel on, for 10 minutes. Baked for 30 under foil then 15 without. Doubled the dried thyme to 2tsp. I highly recommend as is but just commenting in case anyone else is wondering about a quicker version. Nagi, you’re my BFF in the kitchen, lifting me up to look like I know what I’m doing. Thank you 😊
Can I omit the thickened cream as I don’t have it available atm and just use milk and mayo? Will that work?
Hey there. I had the same dilemma. I used coffee cream instead (18% instead of 35%) but I added some corn starch (dissolved 1 heaping tsp in a bit of cold water and added it to the potato mixture. It worked out perfectly.
Hey Nagi,
Such a great fan,
Many of our meals are your recipes which we love ❤️
About to cook your potato bake thinking of adding sweet potato also what do you think ??
Thanks again for so many wonderful recipes, p.s love your recipe book 😊
Tap or hover to scale please.
would using cooking cream stop it from splitting and would it alter the taste?
Used this recipe to re-introduce potatoes to my extremely fussy eater and it went great! Halved the garlic and thyme to make it more “kid palatable” but otherwise made as-is. Delicious and easy recipe!
Hello, can I substitute sour cream for the cream??
Made this for dinner this evening….deeeeeelish! Followed the recipe exactly but for substituting fresh parsley for the thyme as I had none fresh. I also made the mistake of putting my Pyrex baking tray onto a metal one worried the cold potatoes might make it crack if put into a hot oven. Unfortunately this slowed down the cooking significantly until we realised what was happening and put the baking tray directly onto the racks….oopsies. Anyway, the wait was worth it. Delicious and I’m NEVER scalloping a potato for a bake ever again…..thank you for sharing!
The great debate in my house is which is better…the creamy cheesey potatoes or the cauliflower cheese recipe. Love them both. Thank you.
Best potato bake ever so simple no mayo was replaced with Dijon mustard creamy no mozzarella just shredded cheese I followed recipe I believe the difference is MILK I mixed it all in a large plastic basin generous seasoning bingo it’s a winner
Woo hoo!! I am happy that you liked it Jane! Thanks for commenting!! N x
Hi Nagi
The serving scale function on this recipe isn’t working. Was easy to work out as I only needed half but thought you’d like to know to fix it.
Thanks Samantha for letting me know! N x
This recipe still hasn’t got how many serves it makes
For many of us potato lovers it would be one serve!
I omitted the mayonnaise and it tasted delicious. I’m gonna bookmark this one!
I made this recipe twice now (I’m in Jozi) and I can’t figure out what is going wrong. The first time the potatoes were still quite hard (though edible) and the second time I had to bake the dish for two hours before they softened up. I used all-purpose potatoes as neither of the two supermarkets I went to had specific types. My SIL thinks the oven loses heat (she thinks the seal is not working properly as the oven is quite old) and I’m wondering if it’s the potatoes. Do you have any idea?
I had the exact same experience! I baked it for two hours the first time but like you said, they were hard but edible. Since I didn’t want to waste electricity the second time round, I tried parboiling the potatoes before baking, but they got over boiled so I just made a baked mash
Hi Nagi, I am making a number of your delicious recipes and freezing them as we have guests for New Year and I don’t want to be navigating recipes after a couple of wines! So Nagi, would this recipe freeze OK?
If you bake it first it should freeze ok although the texture of the sauce might change a bit. N x
I am a bit lazy! I also cook for only 2. I dice & boil the potatoes until just under cooked. Add to remaining ingredients. Reduces baking time to 30 minutes.
Another one of your fantastic recipes Nagi. Thanks again
Great tip Hilary! N x
How many servings does this make? It’s just two of us and I’d like to scale the recipe. Thanks!
This makes about 6-8 servings. Thank you! N x
My husband and I loved this recipe. I’ve always put ham or bacon in potato bake so I added some lightly fried diced bacon too. Very rich, very tasty. Thank you!
I cooked this tonight for my family and they loved it !!
Once out of the oven, it looked like the picture. It was perfect and tasted like it too. Thankyou Nagi. Yet again – beautiful.