Slow Cooker Cheesy Scalloped Potatoes
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This crockpot version of scalloped potatoes is so EASY, creamy, tender and cheesy! And it frees up your oven space!
In an ideal world, we would all have double ovens in our kitchen for the holidays.
Because cooking 8 different dishes that require 4 varying oven temps would be near impossible without any of the food getting cold.
That’s why your slow cooker becomes another type of “oven” for you.
An even better oven, really. Because now, you don’t have to babysit what’s in it the entire time.
Like with these scalloped potatoes. All you have to do is layer your potatoes between the homemade cream sauce and Gruyere cheese.
You can certainly serve this as is, but if you really want to impress your guests, you can go the extra mile in two ways.
- If your slow cooker has an oven-safe insert, you can pop that right in the oven for a 2-3 minute broil just to give it some color. That’s what I did here.
- If you happen to have a handy dandy creme brûlée torch, you can also use that to add a little bit of browning.
Either option works so choose wisely. I mean, at the end of the day, you can’t go wrong here – it’s potatoes layered with cheese!
Slow Cooker Cheesy Scalloped Potatoes
Ingredients
- 1 ½ cups heavy cream
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- ½ teaspoon dried thyme
- Pinch of nutmeg
- 2 pounds russet potatoes, peeled and cut into 1/8-inch thick slices
- Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
- 1 cup shredded Gruyere cheese
- ¼ cup freshly grated Parmesan
- ½ teaspoon fresh thyme leaves
Instructions
- In a medium saucepan, whisk together heavy cream, garlic, thyme and nutmeg over medium heat until heated through, about 1-2 minutes.
- Add a layer of potatoes to a 4-qt slow cooker in an overlapping pattern; season with salt and pepper, to taste. Pour 1/3 cup cream mixture over potatoes; sprinkle with Gruyere. Repeat with remaining potato slices, cream mixture and Gruyere to create 2 more layers.
- Cover and cook on high heat for 4-5 hours, or until potatoes are tender. Sprinkle with Parmesan. Cover and cook until melted, about 5 minutes.
- Remove lid and let potatoes rest for 15 minutes, allowing the sauce to thicken as it sits.
- Serve, garnished with thyme, if desired.
Did you make this recipe?
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Your potato recipe looks very delicious and healthy. I will try it soon. Thank for share!
Since I need these ready by 11:30 Christmas morning for brunch, can I make them the day before and warm up in slow cooker starting around 9 am?
Yes!
Hi, I am wanting to make this tomorrow morning and cook it low for 8-10 hours instead of high for 4-6 since i will need them to be ready when I’m home from work. not sure if this is a good idea since everyone is talking about the cheese curdling? what is your recomendation?
Either setting should work. I have had no issues of curdling and I have made this recipe over a dozen times! Please let me know how it turns out!
Hi! How did this turn out? I’m trying the same thing right now and kind of nervous!
I did this recipe and used cream of chicken soup and one mushroom soup instead of cream Delicious
Sorry, I saw that it can be doubled. How about tripled?
Yes, but cooking time may have to be altered as needed.
Looks delish! I probably need to double the recipe (or at least x 1.5), but I don’t know if it will all fit in my 6 qt crockpot. What size slow cooker did you use for the recipe proportions above?
Just saw that you used a 4 qt. Thanks!
Hi:
I want to make a double batch of these for Christmas.
I want to use Boursin Shallots and Chive for the cheese.
How would I adjust the liquid so that it is the right consistancy.
Should I use milk instead of cream? And would I need more liquid? How much?
Unfortunately, without further recipe testing, I cannot answer with certainty. As always, please use your best judgment regarding substitutions and modifications.
I actually made this recently in the slow cooker with Boursin and 2 cups of cream and 3 lbs of red potatoes . I cheated by microwaving the potatoes before slicing for a few minutes because I was short on time . My family couldn’t tell the difference between the slow cooker method and the normal Bon Appetit oven method .
OMG – yummy!!! Made this with cheddar and Asiago and baked in the oven with a wee bit more garlic and a bit of chopped white onion….best scalloped potatoes ever!!
Patie, How long did you bake it for, what temperture, and how big of a dish?
Can this recipe be doubled to feed 15 people?
Yes.
Can you use half-and-half?
Yes.
Slow cookcooker ffor Scalloped potatoes Is ggreat idea!!! ccan I use SSharp CCheddar ccheese IInsteat of Cyrere ccheese? Dianne
Yes.
Hello! I really want to try this recipe but I’m a little confused cause I’ve read plenty of times that is you cook diary product on the slow cooker for too many hours it will begin to curdle. Won’t the heavy cream curdle in the slow cooker by the time is done?
Because the heavy cream is somewhat diluted with other ingredients, you should be fine! 🙂
I made this for Thanksgiving and everyone liked it but they said the Gruyere cheese was a little too assertive. I want to try it out again, would you have any suggestions on a cheese that would mix well with Gruyere and help tone down the flavor a little bit? Thank you!
Swiss would be a great alternative!
Would you recommend the high or low setting?
Also, I see a few comments about curdling, how would you avoid that? Either way its already in the slow cooker so here’s hoping it turns out!
Either high or low should work!
How long would you recommend cooking this on low? Trying to make this for a company event.
What a great idea! But unfortunately, without having tried this myself, I cannot answer with certainty. As always, please use your best judgment when making substitutions and modifications.
I made these yesterday for thanksgiving and they were pretty good, but I will make some adjustments in the future. I couldn’t find gruyere at my grocery store so I used a combo of parmesan and asiago which was awesome. I have a 6-quart slow cooker so I doubled the recipe and it fit in my cooker perfectly. Thankfully I didn’t have an issue with my cream curdling, but my potatoes were not the right texture. They were still edible, and tasted delicious, but not quite as soft as I was hoping for. I know my slow cooker runs pretty warm, so I think a double batch just needs a longer cooking time. The sauce was super simple and delicious and the potatoes smelled amazing while they were cooking. But heads up, if you are increasing the recipe, you may want to lengthen the cooking time. I think next time I will try at least 6 hours.
I tried this and unfortunately the cream curdled and separated. It was an oily mess. Was able to salvage potatoes and put a new cream/rue sauce on it for the oven. Not sure why it didn’t work for me.
Does this recipe curdle? Many of my cream sauces do, but some don’t.
Do you have tips on how to stop the dreaded curdle?!
Cream sauces will curdle if you cook them until a boil. Pretend if you are boiling water. When the water is hot there is just a small amount of tiny bubbles on the bottom of the pan. That’s the temp that you want cream sauces at. It’s hot enough to melt things but NOT boiling. While stirring I often remove mine from the heat. I hope this helps.
My recipe for Scalloped Potatoes always comes out curdled. M
Would love to make. I do not have a slow cooker ( on my Xmas list) Could I do in the oven as recipe reads? How long and at what temp
Thank you
You can try this stovetop recipe instead! 🙂
https://damndelicious.net/2013/11/23/parmesan-crusted-scalloped-potatoes/
Sounds amazing! Anyway this could be prepped/assembled the night before and put on to cook the next morning??? Thanks
I worry that the potatoes may brown a bit so I would recommend against assembling the night before. But as always, please use your best judgment.
I love scalloped potatoes! Putting them in the slow cooker means I don’t have to use up the oven for it, perfect for Thanksgiving.