Creamy Cheddar and Bacon Hasselback Potato Gratin

These creamy cheddar and bacon hasselback potatoes gratin are creamy, cheesy baked potatoes loaded with bacon and cheddar. Its flavor the whole family will love!

These Hasselback potatoes are extra flavorful, thanks to the creamy cheddar and bacon base they cook in. If you love rich potato and cheese flavor this good twist on Hasselback potatoes is for you! If you've ever had Hasselback potatoes, you know how good they are – but we're seriously upping the ante with these good potatoes baked in a creamy cheddar sauce for the mot unbelievable flavor ever!

At Avdaye, we add lots of tips in all of our recipes – because we are a home cook without any formal training, and we find we are more confident making dishes when we understand why it works, and what each ingredient means to the flavor of a recipe. Our goal is for even the most beginner home cook to feel empowered in the kitchen.

How to Make Creamy Cheddar and Bacon Hasselback Potato Gratin

Assembly the following ingredients.

• Yukon gold potatoes – Yukon golds crisp up fabulously when baked and have a lovely rich potato flavor. This recipe will work with other types of potatoes too.
• Salt and pepper – potatoes love and need salt and pepper, use both generously and taste your potatoes before you serve.
• Butter – salted butter adds fat to this recipe, you need it to be the good base to the gratin. You can substitute with a vegan margarine for similar results.
• All-purpose flour – flour helps thicken the gratin sauce. Make sure you let it cook off in the butter for a few minutes to get less of a flour taste.
• Milk – milk adds a great texture to the sauce and is used to thin it. If you want a thinner sauce add more.
• Cheddar cheese – you want to use shredded cheese here to let it distribute evenly.
• Bacon – bacon has a -rich intense salty flavor that compliments the potatoes and gives this potato side direction.
• Shallots – shallots have a flavor between onions and garlic so substitute with garlic and onion if you don't have shallots. Slice them into thin half moons

When you have assembled the ingredients use the following method

Prep

Slice the potatoes with a sharp knife almost all the way through. Leave them connected at the bottom. Crisp the bacon in an oven safe pan and set aside.

Make Sauce

Pour the bacon grease out of the pan (pour it into a jar to save!). Melt the butter in the pan, add the shallots and cook 3-4 minutes. Mix in the flour, salt, and pepper and let cook for 1 minute. Whisk in the milk and cook until thickened. Stir in the cheese and melt about a minute.

Bake

Place the potatoes in the pan and coat in the sauce. Top with the cheese and bacon and cover with foil. Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes or until cheese is bubbling and potatoes are soft. Remove foil and bake 20-30 minutes till cheese is browned. Enjoy!

Kitchen notes

Don't skimp on the salt. Potatoes need lots of salt, so you don't want to skimp on the salt. Make sure you taste the potatoes before serving too.

Make sure you cut the potatoes deep enough. You want to make sure you cut the potatoes as far as you can without cutting through. You want the sauce to be able to penetrate all the way through.

A few answers

Do we need to pre-bake potatoes?

Yes, for the right texture, you'll partially bake potatoes before baking in the cheddar cream sauce.

How long will these keep?

These cheddar and bacon hasselback potatoes in gratin will keep for 3-4 days in an airtight container in the refrigerator. Re-heat in the microwave.

Other Potato Recipes You'll Love

check out more of our favorite side dishes if you love this recipe!

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Ingredients

• 4 Yukon gold potatoes
• 4 strips bacon, sliced
• 3 tablespoons butter
• 2 shallots, sliced into thin half moons
• 1 tsp salt
• ¼ tsp pepper
• 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 2 cups milk
• 1½ cups shredded Cheddar cheese

Method

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Slice potatoes with a sharp knife – making a thin slice, but do not cut the potato all the way through – leave them connected at the bottom of the potato.
3. Crisp bacon in an ovenproof pan. Set aside.
4. In a medium-size saucepan, melt butter over medium heat. Add the shallots to the pan and cook 3-4 minutes until softened.
5. Mix the flour and salt and stir into pan with a whisk for one minute.
6. Whisk in milk.
7. Cook until flour and milk mixture has thickened.
8. Stir in 1 cup of cheese, and continue stirring until melted, about 30 to 60 seconds.
9. Place the sliced potatoes in the pan and spoon the cheese sauce over the potatoes.
10. Top with 1/2 cup of shredded cheddar cheese and bacon.
11. Cover with foil.
12. Bake 45 minutes to an hour, until cheese is bubbling, and potatoes are soft.
13. Remove foil, and bake additional 20-30 minutes, until cheese has browned slightly and potatoes crisp.
14. Serve and enjoy!