Cheesy Easy Creamy Au Gratin Potatoes for a Crowd

Cheesy Easy Creamy Au Gratin Potatoes for a Crowd

Creamy cheesy au gratin potatoes are easy to make for a crowd with the flavors of French gratin and the ease of American hash brown casserole.

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Course: Side Dish

Cuisine: American, French

Keyword: au gratin potatoes for a crowd

Prep Time: 10

Cook Time: 1 45

Total Time: 1 55

Calories: 426kcal

Author: Erica

Servings: 16

Equipment

Ingredients

8 Tbsp unsalted butter divided
2 yellow onions small dice (2 cups)
2 pints regular cream (see Notes)
1 tsp garlic powder
2 tsp kosher salt
60 oz frozen shredded hash brown potatoes thawed
20 slices Gouda cheese 14 ounces (see Notes)
cooking spray
4 oz shredded Swiss cheese
64 Ritz buttery crackers 2 sleeves
garnish: fresh flat-leaf parsley chopped

Instructions

Heat oven to 350℉.
Heat 4 tablespoons butter in a large, nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add the onion and cook, tossing, 1 minute to take the edge off the onions.
Add the cream, garlic powder, and salt to the skillet, and cook 1 minute, stirring constantly, to combine flavors and warm the cream. Remove from the heat.
Toss the potatoes and Swiss cheese with the cream in a large mixing bowl. Layer half of this mixture in a single hotel pan or split between two 13x9-in bake dishes sprayed with cooking spray.
Layer half of the Gouda cheese slices, leaving space between each slice (see photo above).
Layer the remainder of the potato-cream mixture, followed by the remainder of the Gouda cheese.
Melt the remaining 4 tablespoons butter. Crush the crackers in the sleeves and dump cracker crumbs into the butter. Stir to combine. Spread this cracker-butter mixture over the casserole. Cover casserole tightly with foil.
Bake at 350℉ covered for 1 hr and 20 minutes. Uncover, and bake another 20 minutes until top is golden and potatoes are soft in the center. Garnish and serve.

Notes

Regular cream is not the same as heavy whipping cream, so take care when shopping to not buy the wrong ingredient.

Sliced Gouda cheese is available in the dairy section with the sandwich sliced cheeses. I get Sargento brand, which comes in 7 oz bags, 10 slices each. If not available, replace with an 8 oz block of Gouda, which will have to be shredded.

Nutrition