Cream Cheese Scalloped Potatoes are an easy, cheesy potato recipe! Perfect for holidays or for weeknights - these scalloped potatoes make a great side dish!
For me, figuring out the side dishes is the most difficult part of planning our holiday meals. The side dishes need to taste great and have to compliment whatever the main dish is.
These cream cheese scalloped potatoes are a no-brainer, though. They go well with turkey or ham, and they are more substantial than mashed potatoes,.
So they are a good offering if you have family and friends who are vegetarian. Oh, and they're ridiculously delicious - total cheesy potato perfection.
Ingredients and substitutions
Butter: I use salted butter in this recipe.
Milk: You can use any milk, from skim to whole milk, in this recipe. Whole milk will make for a richer dish.
Mustard: The dry mustard adds some extra flavor to the sauce. You can reduce or omit the mustard if you prefer.
Thyme: The thyme can be omitted if you prefer.
Cheddar cheese: I like to use sharp cheddar, but you could use white cheddar or another type of shredded cheese instead of the sharp cheddar.
Cream cheese: You can use regular or reduced-fat cream cheese. I don't recommend using fat-free cream cheese.
How to make
In a medium saucepan over medium-low heat, melt butter.
Stir in flour, and cook for 1 minute. Add milk, and whisk to combine.
Stir in mustard, salt, pepper, and thyme. Cook until milk thickens (it will be the consistency of a cream soup), stirring occasionally.
Reduce heat to low, and stir in cheese.
Place half of the sliced potatoes in prepared casserole dish.
Pour â…” cup of cheese sauce over potatoes.
Repeat layer with remaining potatoes. Dot cream cheese over potatoes.
Cover cream cheese and potatoes with remaining cheese sauce.
Cover and bake for about 60 minutes.
Storage
The potatoes will keep for up to 4 days in an airtight container in the fridge.
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Cream Cheese Scalloped Potatoes
Equipment
- Saucepan
- 1 ½ quart baking dish
Ingredients
- 5 medium baking potatoes peeled and thinly sliced
- 3 tablespoons butter
- 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
- 1 ½ cups milk
- 1 teaspoon ground mustard
- 1 teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon ground black pepper
- ½ teaspoon dried thyme
- 1 ½ cups sharp cheddar cheese shredded
- 4 ounces cream cheese cubed
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 F. Grease a 1 ½ quart casserole dish; set aside.
- In a medium saucepan over medium-low heat, melt butter.
- Stir in flour, and cook for 1 minute.
- Add milk, and whisk to combine.
- Stir in mustard, salt, pepper, and thyme.
- Cook until milk thickens, stirring occasionally. It will be the consistency of a cream soup.
- Reduce heat to low, and stir in cheese.
- Place half of the sliced potatoes in prepared casserole dish.
- Pour â…” cup of cheese sauce over potatoes.
- Repeat layer with remaining potatoes.
- Dot cream cheese over potatoes.
- Cover cream cheese and potatoes with remaining cheese sauce.
- Cover and bake for about 60 minutes.
Video
Notes
- Butter: I use salted butter in this recipe.
- Milk: You can use any milk, from skim to whole milk, in this recipe. Whole milk will make for a richer dish.
- Mustard: The dry mustard adds some extra flavor to the sauce. You can reduce or omit the mustard if you prefer.Â
- Thyme: The thyme can be omitted if you prefer.Â
- Cheddar cheese: I like to use sharp cheddar, but you could use white cheddar or another type of shredded cheese instead of the sharp cheddar.Â
- Cream cheese: You can use regular or reduced-fat cream cheese. I don't recommend using fat-free cream cheese.Â
- Nutrition values are estimates.Â
Nutrition
Originally published 12/19/12. Updated with video, additional photos, and tips 4/1/21.
Laura
I made these today and they are SCRUMPTIOUS!!!!!! OMG!!!! I added some very thin sliced onion because my mom always put onion in scalloped potatoes but I have no idea how she made her sauce. NOT LIKE YOURS!!!!! That’s for sure! You can be sure we’ll enjoy this dish MANY more times! Thank you for posting this recipe!
Kate
Yay!! Thank you so much!
Tanya
I saw this recipe pop up and had to write a review. I made this for a family gathering and fortunately I had doubled the recipe. It was the first thing gone on the table and there were requests for more.
Kate
I'm so glad that it was a hit! Thanks for commenting!
Ellen Beck
Hi! I decided to make cheesy scalloped potatoes as a side dish to go with our Easter ham & was specifically searching for a recipe that might include cream cheese, as I happened to have a brick of reduced fat cream cheese. Thank you for this recipe! It tasted wonderful! I did add some garlic powder to the seasonings, however, for extra flavor. I used my mandoline to slice the potatoes, which was a great time saver. The only thing that slowed me up was when it came to trying to dot the potatoes with the mushy cream cheese. I had put that cheese in the freezer for several minutes, hoping to firm it up enough to work with, but I guess not long enough. I had such a hard time trying to get each dot of cream cheese off the knife, & was using my fingers to help, & ended up with gobs of the goopy mass all over my fingers, & the challenge of getting the cheese to let go. I think it would have been easier & wasted less cheese (that had to be washed off my fingers) to just melt the cream cheese in the pot with the last 3rd of the cheese sauce, then pour it on top. Besides that change, I will definitely be using this recipe again & again! Thank you!
Kate
I'm glad it worked out!
Amanda
Can I use non Dairy Milk? The recipe says any kind of milk, but only gives dairy varieties as examples. I only keep non dairy milk on hand which is why i ask.
Kate
I think something like almond milk would work well. I've used it to make similar sauces, and I found that it worked well. Hope that helps!
Michelle Urban
Could I cube the potatoes instead of slice? I think cubed would be easier for my 2 year olds to eat?
Kate
Hi! I haven't tried cubing the potatoes. The thin slices help to ensure that the potatoes cook through in the given time. If you cube the potatoes, you may find that you need to adjust the baking time.
Beverly Ladner
Great tasting an easy!!
Kate
Thank you! So glad that you liked the potatoes. =)
Esther
Has anyone tried to measure the potatoes? I would like to know how many cups.Thanks much
Ray Fratti
I was looking for a simple recipe using cream cheese, as I did not have light or heavy cream in the fridge.
I followed as closely as possible ( sorry, I never heard of low fat cream cheese, ha).
SO GOOD!!!! Thank you!. I will keep this as my go to scalloped recipe. My wife worked for a locally renowned chef and I count on her for honest feedback...she loved it. Winning!
Kate
Good! I'm so glad that you two liked it! It's just the 1/3 less fat (neufchatel), but, really, any cream cheese other than fat-free works well. =) Thank you for taking the time to come back and comment!
Faye
Love this recipe! We have used this recipe for the last 3 years. As is, is great. The great thing about this recipe is you can substitute and add your own flair. We double the recipe during the holidays!
A few work arounds:
-Microwave the potatoe slices for 5 minutes in a glass dish with lid for shorter cooking time. -Substitute sweet white rice flour for gluten free yummy-ness!
-Add garlic to the butter saute - for garlic lovers!
-Substitue Boursin garlic or chive cream cheese
-Top with a bit of Parmesan after, broil till the top is brown 3-5 minutes.
Delish!
Thank you Kate!
Kate
Thank you for sharing your tips!