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 2/3 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.
More potato recipes!
If you’ve tried this cream cheese scalloped potato recipe, don’t forget to rate the recipe and leave me a comment below. I love to hear from people who’ve made my recipes!
You can SUBSCRIBE to receive my latest recipe newsletters or FOLLOW ME on FACEBOOK, INSTAGRAM and PINTEREST for even more delicious food.
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
- 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
- 1/2 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 2/3 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
Did You Make This Recipe?
Share it with me on Instagram @i_heart_eating and follow on Youtube @katedean and Pinterest @katedean for more!
Originally published 12/19/12. Updated with video, additional photos, and tips 4/1/21.
Reader Interactions
Love this recipe?
Share your thoughts below and let’s chat! Make sure to connect with me on your favorite social platform below and show me what you made!
Comments & Reviews
Tanzy Weaver says
Hi Kate.thank you for your recipe! I used all you said plus added bacon and onions.its delish.God bless yall and Happy New Year!!
Kate says
Sounds delicious! Happy New Year!
Danny says
Do you have to boil the potatoes briefly before layering? To ensure they will get done? Or will the 50 mins in the oven coover that? Also, do you put little dollops of cream cheese between each layer, or just on top? I appreciate any tips or thoughts!
Kate says
I don’t pre-boil them. I just slice them thinly, and I’ve never had any issues with the potatoes cooking through. Ovens do bake differently, so you may find that you need to adjust the baking time accordingly. I dot the cream cheese over the top, but there’s no reason that you couldn’t add some between the layers, too.
Robert says
Not sure why, but it’s taken over 2 hours for them to cook properly. I know they are gonna be a hit but not sure what I did wrong. I sliced potatoes thin as well
Kate says
Hi! It’s difficult to say without being there. It may not be that you did anything wrong. Oven can vary by quite a lot in how they bake, so it may just be a matter of something like that.
Pam says
Thanks for your recipe. I had a hard time finding a recipe without canned soup, which I didn’t have on hand. I adjusted for doing in a slow cooker by using cooked cubed potatoes, and adding the cream cheese to the sauce after taking it off the burner.
Kate says
I’m glad that it was helpful!
Laura says
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 says
Yay!! Thank you so much!
Tanya says
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 says
I’m so glad that it was a hit! Thanks for commenting!
Ellen Beck says
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 says
I’m glad it worked out!
Amanda says
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 says
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 says
Could I cube the potatoes instead of slice? I think cubed would be easier for my 2 year olds to eat?
Kate says
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 says
Great tasting an easy!!
Kate says
Thank you! So glad that you liked the potatoes. =)
Esther says
Has anyone tried to measure the potatoes? I would like to know how many cups.Thanks much
Ray Fratti says
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 says
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 says
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 says
Thank you for sharing your tips!