Description
This somewhat old-fashioned recipe of my mom's causes fights at Easter over who will get to take home the most potatoes. It's potatoey, cheesy and delightful!
Ingredients
Scale
The Potatoes
- 6-7 med. to large yukon potatoes
- ½ stick butter
- 1 ½ pounds of American cheese, cubed
- ½ onion, finely diced
- 3 cups of whole milk, divided
Cracker Crumbs
- 1 sleeve of Ritz-type crackers, crushed
- 3 tablespoons butter
Instructions
NOTE: You’ll need 2 baking dishes for this. Should be 1.5-2 quarts each. Or if you have one large rectangular baking dish that could work too.
- Peel the potatoes.
- Finely dice the onion.
- Cut cheese into cubes. I usually buy 1 ½ pounds of sliced American cheese and cut that stack into cubes. Then I divide the pile in two – one pile of cheese for each baking dish since I use two baking dishes for this.
- Cut the ½ stick of butter into pieces or cubes. My butter in the video was frozen so I had to slice it first, then break it down into smaller pieces. I also divide that into two portions – one for each baking dish.
- Slice all the potatoes into about ¼ inch slices. The slices should be uniform in size so they’ll cook evenly.
- Layer some potatoes on the bottom of the baking dish. Then add onion, cheese, butter. Repeat the layers until baking dish is full. If you’re using a second baking dish, repeat the process there too.
- Split the milk evenly and add to your baking dishes if using two. If you're only using one large baking dish, then all the milk will go there.
- Cook in a preheated over at 375 degrees for one hour.
- Crush a sleeve of Ritz-like crackers and toast in a pan with 3 tablespoons of butter.
- After the potatoes have cooked for one hour, take out the potatoes for a fork test. Make sure tender all the way through.
- Add cracker crumbs to the top of your potatoes, then bake an additional 10 minutes.
- Let the potatoes rest a good 10-15 minutes (or longer) before serving.
Notes
- Whole milk is needed for this recipe. It does not taste the same with low or no-fat milk.
- If you don’t need to make a big batch like this, just cut the recipe in half and make one baking dish.
- I don't salt and pepper between the layers because the cheese already has a lot of salt. I don't care for black pepper on my potatoes au gratin so I don't use it. If you want to use a pinch of salt and pepper between your layers go for it.