For breakfast with eggs? As party food? As a side for a fancy dinner? The possibilities are endless. And these Mini Potato Gratin Stacks are just 85 calories per serving!
All you need to know is that these Mini Potato Gratin Stacks are cheesy, creamy and ridiculously irresistible. I mean, come on. Potatoes + cheese + cream + garlic + butter. BAM! That’s a home run right there!
These are inspired by the French Food Goddess Julia Childs and her classic French Potato Gratin / Dauphinoise which I posted last year. It is dangerous for me to make her Potato Dauphinoise when I don’t have company because I literally cannot stop eating it. I swear, she is single handedly responsible for the abnormal amount of stretchy clothes in my wardrobe.
French food. Butter. Cream. Butter. Garlic. Cream.
CHEESE.
SO GOOD.
By making these in mini form, you can convince yourself they are almost healthy because each mini stack only has 85 calories. Believe me when I say it DOES NOT TASTE LIKE THAT! The reason there is no photo with all 12 that this recipe makes is because I simply could not resist helping myself to 1 2 3.
It was lunch!! LUNCH! Don’t judge me!!
Whenever I post a recipe like this, I can anticipate the email I’ll get from my mother. “Who ate it all? Aren’t you supposed to be on a DIET?” “Did you deliver all these to the homeless? Hot?”
So this is the thing. With all the cooking I’ve been doing for my blog and also for clients, I have found myself with an extraordinarily excessive amount of food. And I have connected with the less fortunate in my area. So at the end of almost every day, I do a food delivery. I pack up the food I have made, reheat it, then do a food delivery,
Then the next day when I do my next food delivery, I request feedback. They approved of these Mini Potato Gratin Stacks. 🙂
This is a recipe for all the potato-loving cheese monsters out there. Hail to us. All the recommended food groups, right there in one little stack! – Nagi x
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Cheesy Potato Gratin Stacks (Muffin Tin)
Ingredients
- Oil spray
- 1 kg / 2 lb potatoes, large long ones (Note 1)
- 2 tbsp / 30 g butter
- 2 garlic cloves, minced
- 1/2 cup cream, heavy / thickened (Note 4)
- 1 tsp dried thyme
- 1/2 tsp salt
- Black pepper
- 1 cup grated melting cheese (cheddar, gruyere, swiss, mozzarella)
- Fresh thyme leaves for garnish, optional
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350F/180C.
- Spray a standard 12 hole muffin tin with oil.
- Peel potatoes. Stand upright then cut into cylinder shapes, then slice potatoes into thin slices around 2mm/ 1/10" thick.
- Place butter, garlic, cream, salt, pepper and dried thyme in a microwave proof cup or bowl, then melt in 30 second bursts.
- Stir, then set aside.
- Place potato slices into the muffin tin so they go halfway up the muffin tin holes. Try to match by size to make them into neat stacks.
- Drizzle each potato stack with 1/2 tsp of cream mixture.
- Sprinkle HALF the cheese over the potato stacks.
- Top with remaining potato slices. Drizzle with remaining cream mixture and remaining thyme.
- Cover loosely with foil and bake for 35 minutes.
- Remove from oven, sprinkle with remaining cheese and bake without foil for 10 minutes or until golden and the potato is soft.
- Let stand for 5 minutes before removing. Use a tablespoon or butter knife to help scope them out. (Note 3)
To Serve
- Breakfast - serve with eggs and bacon.
- Dinner - serve as a side.
- Finger food - serve warm as is.
Recipe Notes:
Nutrition Information:
WATCH HOW TO MAKE IT
As always a magnificent dish! I also made this with Tilapia in the lemon butter sauce. I am not sure I followed the correct order of potatoes, sauce, and cheese but they turned out wonderfully. Thanks for all the tips on this one.
Oh my goodness these look sooo scrummy!
I’d love to have a go at making them, but I don’t understand the “cup”measuring system. Could you tell me in grams how much cream and cheese to use please. Thank you.
“Cups” refers to measuring cups used as standards in cooking. You can google “convert 1/2 cup cream to mls (it’s liquid so mls not grams)” and you will find the equivalent, same with grated cheese or any other food. I did it for you but you can figure it out yourself for future recipes: 1/2 cup cream = 125ml (or 120g if you must), 1 cup grated cheese = 83g. Hope this helps 🙂
Omg Nagi, these are delicious so simple to make but full of flavour and presentation is very eloquent.
Thank you
You’re so welcome Rebecca, I’m so glad you love them!!! N x
Sensational. We had these with eye fillet steak, cafe de paris butter and veggies & my husband said they were so good we could’ve left the steak off the plate. 12/10
These are now my husbands favourites and a great way to mix up dinner sides! Thanks Nagi! ☺️
OMG, I am hooked on your recipes after only trying two. I made these with Tilapia in your Lemon butter sauce. What a killer combination. You are so talented and make the recipes easy for someone like myself. I bow to you and cannot wait to try all of your recipes. Thank you. Linda from Oceanside, CA
When reheating, do you have to put them back into a muffin tin so they maintain their shape? I’m looking forward to impressing friends with this gem!!
Hi Patty – no you can just reheat on a tray 🙂 N x
Lovely recipie Nagi,however mine did not crisp up underneath and round the edges..family loved them anyway..thank you.
Absolutely wonderful, easy and tasty. Did these with your bbq chicken, brilliant combination. Thanks Nagi😁
Can I cook at 400 so I can bake with my Brussels sprouts?
Hi Kelly, you may find that they may brown too quickly before cooking through – N x
I made this with regular potatoes and sweet potato and alternated each layer…delicious!
Sounds fabulous Rachael!! N x
These were decadently delicious and are definitely worthy of serving at a dinner party. Mine took a bit longer to cook because I hand sliced them. I’d love to use a mandoline slicer but my husband has banned them. He says he likes my finger tips where they are. Are they really that dangerous?
Yes – within 15 seconds of picking up my very first mandolin – I sliced the top of my finger. Definitely dangerous.
I use the slicer on the side of my upright grater, safer and same result.
About the mandoline, yes, I have cut the tip off of my finger and the nurses in the ER were making bets on how it happened. They see this all of the time!
Just cooked these individual potatoes au gratin and they were superb! They looked exactly like the pic and super delicious to the taste buds.
Thanks so much for letting me know Liz!
Looks wonderful…I am hosting a shower where there is only a microwave for reheating ….can these be warmed up in a microwave?
Yes definitely Leslie, although the crispy edges may go a little soggy (but they will still be divine!!)
If baked ahead and later on warmed will the stacks become saggy? Or what would be the best way to make ahead and later on either reheat or bake?
I have not made these yet but want to try tomorrow.
Question: can I use 2% milk and only aged Parmesan cheese?
Thank you.
We had these with our Christmas dinner and they were lovely. A touch rich for me so I will try a again with an alternate mix of cream and stock. Perfect for make ahead choices if you’re feeding a crowd and definitely worth the effort. Thanks Nagi.
I’m so glad you enjoyed them Veronica! – N x
Please explain alternate cream and stock