These deliciously creamy vegan dauphinoise potatoes are a decadent treat. Thinly sliced potato layers baked in a garlicky cream sauce with a crispy, golden crust.
🍴 Why you will love this recipe
A decadent and delicious potato gratin that's easy to make and creamily good. The perfect side-dish to serve up to friends and family - they won't believe it is vegan!
A waxy potato variety helps the dauphinoise potatoes to retain their texture and bite rather than turning mushy. Dairy-free cream, milk and cheese give the gratin its characteristic creaminess with a good hit of garlic and fresh thyme.
Vegan Dauphinoise Potatoes are perfect to serve up as a side dish with all sorts of main dishes - how about a Vegan Sausage Casserole, Tuscan Bean Stew, or Vegan Toad in the Hole? Or sometimes we serve it as a main meal with a crisp rocket salad... yum!
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📝 What you need
Ingredients
Waxy Potatoes In my humble opinion these make a far better dauphinoise than floury varieties, but by all means use whichever you prefer. I ususally use Charlotte or Maris Peer potatoes.
Vegan Double Cream The range of dairy-free cream available here in the UK has improved so much in recent years. I use the Elmlea Plant double cream pictured above, with great results.
Dairy-free milk Use whatever milk you have to hand, (as long as it is unsweetened) - soya, oat or nut milks all work well.
Dairy-free cheese is entirely optional but adds even more richness to the dish. I used half-and-half Violife Epic Mature and vegan 'parmesan', but use whatever you have available.
Equipment
Slicing the potatoes thinly enough for dauphinoise is very tricky to do by hand - I would really recommend using a mandoline or food processor to make quick and easy work of the job.
I use this mandoline by OXO Good Grips - a Grate and Slice Set which comes with a julienne cutter and graters too, and is very sturdy and easy to use.
My food processor is this Magimix Pro which has all sorts of different blades and attachments for pretty much any job in the kitchen. (This one was a gift for review from Magimix some years ago, but I'm a big fan and haven't ever been paid to say so!)
👩🏽🍳 How to make your Vegan Dauphinoise Potatoes
For a full, printable recipe with ingredients and detailed instructions, scroll to the bottom of this page.
Peel and thinly slice the potatoes using a mandoline (watch your fingers!), or a food processor. Bring the vegan cream and milk to the boil in a large saucepan, and add the garlic, thyme leaves and nutmeg.
Add the potatoes to the saucepan and simmer for 10-12 minutes until soft (but not cooked through). Stir through the vegan cheese.
Tip the potatoes into an ovenproof dish and bake for 30 minutes covered with foil, then a further 15 minutes uncovered until golden brown and bubbling.
🔪 Top Tips & FAQs
Slice the potatoes as finely as possible. As I mentioned above, it really is best to use a mandoline or food processor for this job as it is very difficult to get them thin and even enough by hand, to create those lovely creamy layers.
Use a waxy potato variety to ensure the potatoes retain their texture and bite, rather than collapsing into mush. Charlotte, Maris Peer or any variety of salad potato will work well.
If the top doesn't turn golden brown, just pop the dauphinoise potatoes under the grill for a minute or two before serving. Keep an eye on them.... they turn from pale to over-cooked in the blink of an eye!
Yes, though I would only prepare them earlier in the day you will be serving them, rather than the day before - or they might start to dry out.
You can either follow the recipe up to step 5, (tip the part-cooked potatoes into an ovenproof dish), then bake them just in time to serve, or you could bake them for half an hour ahead of time, then return to the oven to reheat and pop under the grill at the last minute to get that lovely crispy crust.
You can, but it does lose a bit of its creaminess and lovely crispy top in freezing. I would recommend making it fresh to serve to guests, but by all means freeze leftovers in individual portions for a delicious weeknight supper.
These are usually served as a side dish, and work well with a hearty main like a Vegan Sausage Casserole, Tuscan Bean Stew, or Vegan Toad in the Hole. But they are special enough to be the main centrepiece, perhaps with steamed Tenderstem broccoli and green beans, stir-fried kale or in summer a crisp green salad with vinaigrette?
🍽 If you liked that...
.... you might also enjoy these vegan recipes from The Veg Space:
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📖 Recipe
Vegan Dauphinoise Potatoes
Ingredients
- 1 kg waxy potatoes (I like Charlotte or Maris Peer)
- 250 ml vegan double cream (I used Elmlea Plant Cream)
- 150 ml unsweetened plant milk (soya, oat or nut are all fine)
- 2-3 cloves garlic
- nutmeg
- 4 stalks fresh thyme (or ½ teaspoon dried thyme)
- 30 g dairy-free cheese
- salt and black pepper
- oil or vegan butter for greasing the dish
Instructions
- Peel and thinly slice the potatoes, (see notes below).
- In a large saucepan heat the vegan cream and plant milk. Peel and crush the garlic cloves and add them to the saucepan. Grate in a little nutmeg. Pick the thyme leaves from the stalks and add the leaves to the pan. Bring to the boil.
- Tip the sliced potatoes into the saucepan then simmer for 10-12 minutes. They should be soft and turning floppy, but not completely cooked through.
- Whilst the potatoes are cooking, preheat the oven to 160°C (fan) / 325°F / Gas Mark 3.
- Grease a large ovenproof dish with a little oil or vegan butter. Stir the grated vegan cheese through the potato mixture, then season generously with salt and black pepper. Tip into the baking dish and level out with a spatula.
- Cover with foil then bake for 30 minutes. Then remove the foil and cook for a further 10-15 minutes until golden brown on top and cooked through.
Video
Notes
Nutrition
Method inspired by The Guardian's How to cook the perfect gratin dauphinois. Veganising and recipe adjustments my own.
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Ro says
Wish you had conversions to cups ! I can do this but not always accurate depending on ingredient.
Kate Ford says
Hi there, yes there are cup conversions in the recipe - where it says 'Ingredients' in the recipe card just click on 'US Customary' underneath instead of metric and it will show the recipe in cups. Thanks x
Diane Lloyd-Jones says
Delicious and very moreish... I added some chopped kale, mainly because I love to see some green in what I'm eating. The whole family loved it. Thank you.
Jake Rayson says
This is the most amazing recipe. I added half a jar of sauerkraut, worked really well to cut through the creaminess
Kate Ford says
Oh love the idea of sauerkraut! Yum.
Regina Webb says
Cooked it for my daughter’s birthday dinner, and it tasted fantastic! This used to be one of her favourite food before she turned vegan, and this recipe tasted as good as nom vegan. It is a winner. Thank you
Kate Ford says
That's so great to hear - thanks Regina, and happy birthday to your daughter! X
Lubna says
Loving this warm and soul hugging recipe. I love potatoes and I will surely try this...
AISilva says
Oh wow this vegan dauphinoise potatoes dish looks so good! I can't wait to try it with some of the other main dishes you mentioned. Thank you for this recipe!
Alisa Infanti says
I love how you turned this classic side dish into a wonderful vegan option.
Aimee Mars says
Wow, these potatoes look incredible. I've recently had to cut dairy and gluten and find side dishes, especially comfort food side dishes hard to make. Thanks for making a recipe I can have, I can't wait to try it.
Dannii says
This is one of my favourite potatoes dishes an this vegan version sounds delicious.
sonia says
This vegan potato recipe is a real treat.