Parmesan & Thyme Potatoes Au Gratin – Thinly sliced russet potatoes layered in a casserole dish with heavy cream, Parmesan cheese, and fresh thyme. This dish is so simple to make but is super impressive for any occasion!

This week I spent some time at the Everything Food Conference in Salt Lake City. Did you see me document the whole thing on Instagram stories? I am starting to love that feature because I can share so much more of my life outside of these regular posts. I’m trying harder to do it more regularly so check it out, if you haven’t yet!

Anywho, at the conference, I got to meet with tons of other food bloggers and influencers and brands to talk about…FOOOOOOD! It’s only my favorite subject in the whole world. Shocking.

But aside from networking, I also learned an insane amount of information. Just when I thought I knew so much about the blogging basics, the speakers at this conference blew. my. mind.

One thing I learned in the sessions was to understand my mission; my why. Why do I do this blog? What do I want to provide each one of you guys? I started this blog because I loved talking about food, trying new recipes, and then sharing them with you guys.

But along the way, I’ve learned that I continue to do this blog to inspire you to try new things and challenge yourself and have the confidence to step outside of your comfort zone. This blog has quickly shifted from something I did for myself to something that I do for you guys.

So, if there is anything that you want me to add to the blog or recipe that you just NEED me to make, let me know! This is all for you, after all. Thank you for inspiring me everyday and making this blog so successful!!!

Alrighty, now on to the recipe for today: Parmesan & Thyme Potatoes Au Gratin!!

Okay guys…now it’s time for some honesty. How many of you have only made au gratin/scalloped potatoes from a packet? It’s okay…this is a safe space.

Now, I will be honest with you, too…for the longest time, the only au gratin potatoes that I knew were the ones from a packet that my dad would make. Gasp! But he wasn’t into cooking unless it was meat so that’s just what we did to keep things simple.

As I got older and learned how to make things from scratch (thanks, Food Network!!), I finally knew how to make these yummy potatoes using FRESH potatoes. And the craziest thing about the process is that it takes almost no time at all. I swear!

So step one is to slice the potatoes. I have always used a mandoline slicer to get perfectly even slices because I just can’t get them thin enough with a knife. I love this slicer because it is super easy to use AND clean. Check and check.

After you slice the potatoes, you literally just warm the cream, add the potatoes, and then bake. THAT’S IT! Isn’t it just insanity that you can do so little so get the most incredible, impressive dish?? There is absolutely no reason why you should be making these from a packet anymore. Nope, no excuses!

Let’s talk about the ingredients in these parmesan & thyme potatoes au gratin. There are your basic food groups: carbs, cheese, and cream. I could really stop here but there’s more.

In addition to the trifecta of mouth-watering ingredients in these potatoes, there is one last game-changing ingredient that I can’t ignore: fresh thyme. Thyme adds such subtle, yet powerful flavor to poultry and creamy dishes. But we don’t want it to overpower the dish so we simple boil the twigs of thyme in the cream to infuse it and then remove them before adding in the potatoes.

I personally love to make this for date nights at home so I will cut the recipe in half so we aren’t eating left overs for too long after. But you can easily serve it for Mother’s Day, Thanksgiving, Christmas, Easter, you name it!

I gave you some great tips above, but here are a couple more to help you get this recipe right the first time:

1. When using a mandoline slicer, be EXTREMELY careful! You want to use the provided holder for the potato so you don’t allow your fingers to get close to the blades. If your mandoline doesn’t have that holder, please, please use knife gloves.
2. My potatoes were super “juicy” on the inside (is juicy the right word? Moist? Watery? You get the idea) so I gave them a pat down before I added them to the cream. Otherwise, the potatoes will be too runny and won’t crisp up. I didn’t have to do this every time but if you ever get juicy potatoes, keep this tip in mind.
3. Make sure you are using grated Parmesan, not shredded. Shredded Parmesan is super dry and won’t melt together like grated Parmesan does. Therefore, you will get a whole bunch of crispy brown flakes of Parmesan on top of the potatoes that doesn’t look super pretty. But if presentation isn’t important to you, then don’t worry about it!

And that’s all there is to it! See, aren’t these the simplest potatoes ever?! Let me know how you like them!

Here are all the kitchen tools and serveware that I used in today’s recipe. For each item sold below, I make a small commission. I only recommend items that I own and love so you can trust that each recommendation is tried and true. Thank you for supporting CPA!

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