Au Gratin Potatoes cooked in the Instant Pot or Pressure Cooker, the perfect side dish. Creamy and cheesy, you will LOVE these potatoes.
These cheesy delicious potatoes are soaked in a flavorful cream sauce, and cooked to perfection in the instant pot pressure cooker. Au Gratin potatoes are one of our family’s favorite site dishes, and are surprisingly easy to make, especially with the right tools (an instant pot pressure cooker and mandolin slicer).
Instant Pot Au Gratin Potatoes
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When I was a kid, I thought these kind of potatoes were only served at funerals. I lived in a neighborhood where the average age of the residents was 80+ so I attended a LOT of funerals. And these Au Gratin Potatoes were served at all of them. And I loved them. It wasn’t until I was an adult that I realized you could make them whenever, and they are commonly served at holidays, especially with ham, but are good ALL THE TIME.
I mean, how awesome does that cheese look? Every time I make these, my family gobbles them up. And who can blame them? They are delicious and a surprisingly easy to make.
Au Gratin Potatoes
What is the difference between scalloped potatoes and au gratin potatoes?
Technically, the difference between scalloped potatoes and Potatoes Au Gratin is scalloped potatoes are cut thicker than the potatoes used in au gratin, and Au Gratin potatoes usually have Gruyere cheese added to them. But if you do not have Gruyere you can use a different option, I love these potatoes with mozzarella.
What potatoes are best for making au gratin potatoes?
While you could use whatever potatoes you like for this dish, the potatoes you use will make a difference in the consistency and flavor of the dish. The best potatoes for au gratin is Russet or Yukon Gold. They are the starchiest, which makes the cream sauce the thickest and creamiest.
You cook these in the pot-in-pot method, basically you do not want to put the creamy-cheesy sauce directly in the bottom of your instant pot because it will read “burn” and never come to pressure because the sauce is too thick. So instead, you put water in the bottom, and cook it over the water by placing the pot on a trivet.
There are a number of different pots you could use, I used a 7 inch by 3 inch spring form pan, but have made it in a 7 inch by 3 inch cake pan as well. The spring form pan leaked a little, so I recommend the cake pan. You can find it here on Amazon.
The top cheese should be added after the fact, and broiled to get that delicious cheesy top. However, if you want to skip a step, you can add the cheese at the very end, and put the lid back on and let it melt, it won’t get that crispy brown bits, but it will melt.
Then add some fresh parsley to lighten it up and add some color.
Tools for making Instant Pot Au Gratin Potatoes
- Fat Daddio’s 7×3 inch Cake Pan: This is the perfect pan for making Au Gratin potatoes. It is going to fit in your 8 Qt Instant Pot without an issue, and because it is 3 inches deep, all of your potatoes will fit.
- Mandolin Slicer: To get a nice even and thin slice on your potatoes, the mandolin slicer is awesome. It will help your potatoes cook evenly, and keep them thin enough to cook perfectly.
- Instant Pot: I used an 8 QT DuoPlus Instant Pot, it is the perfect size pressure cooker for making these scalloped potatoes.
- Trivet: You need a trivet because you have to have steam for the pot to come to pressure, which means you need liquid, so you put the liquid in, then the trivet, and then the pot of food.
Other great accessories:
- Fat Diddio’s 7” Cheesecake Pan: Yes you can make your cheesecakes in a pan that actually fits into your Instant Pot. But it is also great for these Au Gratin potatoes. If you don’t have the cake pan, the springform works great. You may want to make sure the seal is good so the sauce does not leak, but this works great.
- Stackable steamer pots: Great for cooking pot in pot, cooking veggies, rice, etc.
- Colored Sealing Rings: I love having multiple sealing rings, one for sweet, one for savory so you don’t accidentally flavor your other foods to taste like whatever you last cooked, such as Mexican Shredded Chicken.
Recipes that go great with Au Gratin Potatoes:
Instant Pot Scalloped Potatoes
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 lbs russet potatoes washed and peeled, sliced thin with a mandolin slicer
- 1 cup heavy whipping cream
- 1/2 cup milk
- 1/2 cup chicken stock
- 1/2 Tbs minced garlic
- 2 Tbs all-purpose flour
- 1 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 tsp ground black pepper
- 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
- 1 Tbs brown mustard
- 1 cup grated mozzarella cheese or gruyere cheese
- 1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese
- 1 cup grated cheddar cheese
Garnish
- Fresh Parsley
Instructions
- Thinly slice the potatoes using a mandoline slicer. Slice thin.
- In a medium bowl whisk together heavy cream, milk, chicken stock, garlic, flour, salt, black pepper, mustard and cayenne. Taste, and adjust taste to preference.
- In another bowl, mix the three cheeses together, and set aside.
- Spray a round cake pan that can easily fit inside your pressure cooker with non-stick cooking spray. For the 8 qt instant pot an 8 inch round with 2 inch sides should work. If using a smaller pressure cooker, use a 6-7 inch round with 3 inch sides.
- Layer half of the potatoes into the round pan, followed by half of the cheese.
- Pour half of the liquid over the top.
- Add the remaining potatoes, and remaining liquid. But reserve cheese for after cooking time is up.
- Pour 2 cups of water into the liner of your pressure cooker and place the trivet in the bottom, with the handles up.
- Carefully place your round cake pan full of potatoes into the pan on top of the trivet.
- Place the lid on your pot, and lock into place. Set the valve to sealing.
- Cook on HIGH pressure for 35 minutes, followed by a QUICK RELEASE of the pressure.
- Preheat oven to broil on high.
- Carefully pull the round cake pan out by the trivet handles, and put on a baking sheet.
- Top with the remaining cheese and place under the broiler in your oven until cheese is bubbly and starting to brown, approximately 3 minutes.
- Let the potatoes rest for about 5 minutes to give sauce a chance to thicken, and top with fresh parsley garnish if desired, and serve.
Notes
Nutrition
Our recipe card software calculates these nutrition facts based on averages for the above ingredients, different brands, and quality of produce/meats may have different nutritional information, always calculate your own based on the specific products you use in order to achieve accurate macros for this recipe.
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