If you follow me on Instagram, and more specifically in my Instagram stories you probably know almost every Monday night we eat Potato Scallop for supper. Since I work Mon-Thurs evenings, it makes life a bit simpler if we have a set supper schedule for those nights. Since I started sharing our supper routine a few months ago, I’ve had so many requests for my potato scallop recipe, which I found a bit surprising since I thought it was such a basic recipe most everyone just knew how to make it.

But as always, one should never assume things, so this week as I made our Monday night potato scallop, I took the time to take a few pictures of the steps so I could share this (non) recipe for you!

While many recipes for potato scallop include using a can of cream of mushroom or cheddar cheese soup, mine does not. I promise you, it is still super easy but avoids the sodium bomb that a can of condensed soup can cause, and when it comes to salt – I’d rather add it using bacon and cheese rather than canned soup! Priorities people.

Potato scallop (using a can of soup or from scratch) does take a while to bake in the oven, so it is pretty quick to put together, it does take around 60-90 minutes to bake, so it’s the sort of recipe you need a bit of time to make. The nice thing is, once you’ve thrown it in the oven, aside from checking on it and throwing some cheese and bacon on top partway through the baking process, you can pretty much forget it and go about your day.

Easy Potato Scallop from Scratch

To start you will need to peel and slice some white potatoes. I use russet, but whatever kind you have or like will be fine. You don’t even need to peel them if like the rustic look (and additional fibre) of the skins. Because my husband has ulcerative colitis, I peel our potatoes as the skins can be too rough for his body to digest easily.

I weigh my potatoes and generally use 700-800g of peeled potatoes to make potato scallop in a 1.7L oval baking dish. If you are using a similar sized dish you can use as many potatoes as are needed to fill the dish nearly to the top, if using a smaller or larger dish you will need to increase or decrease the amounts listed in the recipe card below.

If your family enjoys onions, you can incorporate sliced onions with the sliced potatoes for added flavour, because of the UC we are in an onion free zone so I keep mine plain.

Next up we are going to make a roux – but don’t get scared, I swear it’s simple.

Wait….that doesn’t look like my roux!

Kitties just cannot help themselves, as soon as you get a photo board out to take pictures they MUST get involved. This picture of Rose was too cute not to share. Look at those crazy whiskers!

To make your roux, you are going to melt 2Tbsp of butter in a saucepan. Once melted, add 2 Tbsp of flour and whisk together. Allow the roux to cook for about a minute and then add 1 1/2-2 cups of milk. Whisk, whisk, whisk, and keep over medium-high heat for about 5 minutes until it thickens. You don’t need to stir it constantly, but keep an eye on it. Milk can boil over quickly if you aren’t watching it! Once it has thickened, add any spices you like (salt, pepper, garlic powder, parsley – we only use parsley and salt) and then pour over your potatoes.

You now can choose to either top the potatoes with cheese and ham or bacon now or let it cook partway through and then add the cheese and bacon closer to the end. Both work just fine, but if you add the cheese at the start, you’ll end up with a crunchier cheese crust versus a more “meltly” top f you add it later. This time I decided to add it later.

Bake in a 350 degree oven for 45 minutes, take out and using a knife poke the potatoes in the centre of the dish to see how cooked they are.

[clickToTweet tweet=”This easy potato scallop recipe will have you wondering why you ever made it using a can of soup! #recipe #food #yum” quote=”This easy potato scallop recipe will have you wondering why you ever made it using a can of soup! #recipe #food #yum”]

This is the point to add your cheese and bacon/ham if you haven’t already, and then return to the oven for another 15 minutes, or until a table knife easily moves through the potatoes.

THe depth of your dish, your oven and the barometric pressure can all cause your cooking time to change, which is why it can take anywhere from 60-90 minutes to cook through. I like to start a bit early so if it takes longer than expected I’m not rushing to eat and run out the door.

And that my friends, is how simple it is to make potato scallop from scratch. If you want to print out a copy to have on hand, you can do that easily using the recipe card below.

Easy Potato Scallop from Scratch

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Ingredients

• 700-800g potatoes, peeled, washed and sliced into 1/8-1/4 inch thick slices
• 2 Tbsp butter
• 2 Tbsp flour
• 1 1/2-2 cups milk
• salt and pepper to taste
• shredded cheese
• bacon bits or ham pieces
• spices of your choice

Instructions

Pre-heat oven to 375

Layer potatoes in an oven safe dish

Melt butter in a small saucepan.

Add flour and whisk together to incorporate.

Let flour/butter mixture cook for approx 1 minute, then add milk.

Whisk to incorporate roux into the milk.

Over medium-high heat let milk mixture cook until thickened, whisking occasionally. About 5 minutes.

Pour over potatoes.

Add cheese and bacon/ham now, or add halfway through the cooking process

Bake 60 minutes or until a table knife easily moves through the potatoes at the centre of the dish.

Let stand 5-10 minutes then serve.

If you try this recipe out I’d love to hear how it goes! It’s a favourite here and is especially lovely during cold or rainy days!

Enjoy!