What is Gratin Dauphinois?

Thin potato slices baked slowly in garlic-infused cream until the top blisters gold — Alpine comfort at its purest.

Where does Gratin Dauphinois come from?

Gratin Dauphinois is a French (Alpine) dish from Dauphiné (Alps), France.

Can Gratin Dauphinois be made vegan, gluten-free, or dairy-free?

Yes. This Gratin Dauphinois recipe includes ingredient substitutions to make it vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free, dairy-free, nut-free, or egg-free — including several of those at once, such as gluten-free and dairy-free together.

How long does Gratin Dauphinois take to make?

About 95 minutes total (20 minutes prep, 75 minutes cooking), serving 6.

Recipe

Name: Gratin Dauphinois
Prep time: 20 min
Cook time: 75 min
Total time: 95 min
Yield: 6 servings
Cuisine: French (Alpine)
Ingredients: 2.5 lbs waxy potatoes, sliced 1/8-inch thin; 2 cups heavy cream; 1 cup whole milk; 3 cloves — one for the dish, two in the cream garlic; a good scrape nutmeg, freshly grated; 2 tbsp butter

Europe → 🇫🇷 France → Dauphiné (Alps)

Gratin Dauphinois

French (Alpine) · easy · serves 6

prep 20 min · cook 75 min

~481 cal · 7g protein · 37g carbs · 34g fat (estimated, per serving)

🍽️

Golden-topped potato gratin in an oval baking dish

🇫🇷 Dauphiné (Alps)

The Dauphiné served this gratin to town officials in 1788, and the recipe has barely moved since: potatoes, cream, garlic, nutmeg — and famously no cheese, which locals will tell you belongs to the Savoyard gratin next door.

Make it yours

Toggle a diet and the ingredients rewrite themselves with regional substitutes.

🥕 Vegetarian

🌱 Vegan

🌾 Gluten-Free

🥛 Dairy-Free

🥜 Nut-Free

🥚 Egg-Free

Ingredients

Serves 6 —

•

2.5 lbs waxy potatoes, sliced 1/8-inch thin

•

2 cups heavy cream

•

1 cup whole milk

•

3 cloves — one for the dish, two in the cream garlic

•

a good scrape nutmeg, freshly grated

•

2 tbsp butter

Instructions

Warm the cream and milk with two smashed garlic cloves, nutmeg, salt, and white pepper; steep 10 minutes.

Rub a baking dish hard with the remaining garlic clove, then butter it.

Layer the potato slices in overlapping rows, seasoning lightly as you go. Pour the infused cream over to just reach the top layer.

Bake at 325°F for 60 minutes, then 400°F for 15 until the top blisters deep gold and a knife slides through without resistance.

Rest 15 minutes so it slices instead of slides. No cheese — that’s the Savoyard gratin, and this isn’t Savoie.

Dauphiné, French Alps tradition.

Ratings & reviews

No reviews yet — be the first to cook it.

🌏 While it simmers — know your destination

📍

Dauphiné (Alps). Alpine valleys that perfected the potato gratin.

🗺️

France. The country that turned cooking into a discipline.

🌍

Europe. Village recipes guarded for generations.

The story behind this dish is up top — worth a read while the pot works.

👩‍🍳

Richard Moore & Kelsey Tucker

Recipes cooked, tested, and researched by the creators of Spin the Globe. How we build our recipes →