When it comes to crowd-pleasing holiday comfort foods, you can’t beat scalloped potatoes. Rich, creamy, and refreshingly unfussy, this versatile side dish is great for everything from Friendsgivings to church basement potlucks to Easter dinners. Read on for our top tips to guarantee yours are best they can be, every time you make them:

Scalloped potatoes versus potatoes au gratin:
Unlike potatoes au gratin, which typically contain cheese, traditional scalloped potatoes are very simple: just thinly sliced potatoes cooked in a mixture of milk and heavy cream that’s infused with aromatics ,such as shallots, garlic, and herbs. Some modern recipes do include chopped onions, meat, and cheese and may even thicken their creamy sauce with a roux, but for this classic version, we’ve stripped it right back to basics. Our only concession? A bit of finely shredded Parmesan—we love the savory umami undertones it adds to the sauce!

How to make the best scalloped potatoes:
The secret to the creamiest scalloped potatoes is actually simmering the sliced potatoes in the cream mixture on the stove just until tender before baking them in the oven. This “pre-cooking” step allows the potatoes to meld with the cream in the sauce while simultaneously cooking off a little of the excess moisture from the potato. The result is a final dish with an ultra silky-smooth texture. Don’t skip that step—it might seem like a little thing, but it pays huge dividends.

How to store scalloped potatoes:
If you want to make these scalloped potatoes in advance, you can cook them all the way through, let them cool, and then cover and store in the refrigerator for up to 3 days. Reheat, covered, in a 350° oven, just until warmed through. This goes for leftovers too!

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