Cheesy Potatoes

These cheesy potatoes are topped with savory caramelized onions and two kinds of melted cheese. As a potato side dish, they're a perfect companion to your dinner time offerings; but they're so good, you'll want to have them any time!

Cheesy Potatoes, the Melt-in-Your-Mouth Potato Side Dish

Rustic recipes with an elegant twist are my kind of cooking, and potatoes are a scrumptious little canvas for me when it comes to that.

Red potatoes are probably the variety of potato that I turn to the most for everyday uses because they are splendid mashed or even roasted.

But when they're sliced thinly, baked until crisp around the edges and golden before being smothered in caramelized onions and two kinds of cheeses, then we're talking the best cheesy potatoes you've ever had the pleasure of enjoying. Indeed, it's one of my favorite ways to enjoy potatoes, I must say!

So I've made sure my cheesy potato recipe is loaded with lots of savory, delicious flavor. I've been known to enjoy this potato side dish totally on its own, it's so good!. 😉

How to Make Cheesy Potatoes

To create the most amount of flavor when it comes to cheesy potatoes, I like to include some onions in my recipe (a potato's best friend!). I also use two types of cheeses to make it extra savory.

And I love fresh thyme leaves as a finishing touch, adding to these cheesy potatoes a bit of a sophisticated flavor and more depth.

Here's my cheesy potato recipe at a glance:

1. To begin, I caramelize my onions until golden-brown and soft, and set them aside.
2. Next, I slice my red potatoes fairly thin, and season them liberally with sea salt, black pepper, paprika, granulated garlic and onion.
3. Then, I spoon about half of my caramelized onions onto a baking sheet, layer my potato slices over top of the onions, season the potato slices and bake until they are tender and golden.
4. Finally, I top the tender potato slices with the rest of the caramelize onions plus some fontina and asiago cheese, then bake for a few minutes more until the cheese is melted.
5. I finish it off with a sprinkle of fresh thyme leaves.

(My full recipe is below...)

Tips & Tidbits for Cheesy Potatoes:

• Waxing poetic for waxy potatoes: You can certainly use russet potatoes, if that is what you have on hand; but red skin potatoes (or even yellow skin) are of the waxy variety, and yield a more buttery texture that is not as dry/starchy as the russet.
• Caramelized onions, a potato's BFF: Potatoes and onions go hand in hand in my mind, so that extra step of first caramelizing some onions is crucial to this cheesy potatoes recipe. The onions are mildly sweet yet earthy, and offer some added texture and flavor to the dish. But if you prefer to leave them out, you certainly can. Just proceed with the recipe without the onions, and finish by topping with just the cheese.
• Herb-a-licious: I opt for fresh thyme leaves as a fresh finisher, but you can substitute fresh chopped rosemary leaves, parsley, or even chives.
• Gooey cheeses: Fontina and asiago add lots of amazing flavor to these cheesy potatoes, and they melt nicely to create that golden-brown top; however, you can sub whole milk mozzarella, cheddar, or jack cheeses as well.
• Reheating these cheesy spuds: If you end up with leftovers, those can easily be reheated in a toaster oven at 350-400° for about 15 minutes with great results.

Feast your eyes on these, or just jump to the recipe:

Recipe

Cheesy Potatoes

by Ingrid Beer

Print Recipe

These cheesy potatoes are scrumptious as an extra savory potato side dish topped with caramelized onions and two cheeses—you'll love their crispy edges!

Category: Side
Cuisine: American

Yield: Serves 6

Nutrition Info: 433 calories

Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook time: 55 minutes
Total time: 1 hour, 10 minutes

Ingredients:

• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 2 tablespoons olive or avocado oil
• 3 large white onions, quartered and sliced thinly
• Salt
• Black pepper
• ½ teaspoon paprika
• ½ teaspoon granulated garlic
• ½ teaspoon granulated onion
• 6 large, red-skin potatoes, sliced into ¼” thick circles
• ½ cup grated fontina cheese
• ½ cup asiago cheese
• 2 teaspoons fresh thyme leaves

Preparation:

-To a large pan set placed over medium-high heat, add the butter and the oil; once melted, add in the sliced onions, plus a good pinch of salt and pepper, and saute for about 20-22 minutes, or until a nice, deep golden-brown color; spoon into a dish to hold.

-In a small ramekin, combine ½ teaspoon of salt, ½ teaspoon of black pepper, the paprika, and the granulated garlic and onion, and set this seasoning mixture aside for a moment.

-Preheat the oven to 400°, and line a baking sheet (½ sheet size) with parchment paper; spread about half of the caramelized onions over it, and begin adding the potato slices over the onions in a single layer with just the bottoms overlapping, keeping most of the slices exposed and not covering one another.

-Once finished, sprinkle a good amount of the seasoning mixture over top, and bake, uncovered, for about 30 minutes, or until the potato slices are tender and golden.

-Remove from oven, and turn the broiler on high; add the remainder of the caramelized onions over top of the potato slices, plus the two cheese, and place back under the broiler, just until cheese is melted and golden-brown, about 3-5 minutes.

-Sprinkle the thyme leaves over top, and serve right on the baking sheet with a knife and spatula to cut pieces out, and scoop up some of the onions on the bottom.

Craving more tasty potato recipes? Check out these Roasted Potatoes, these Garlic Mashed Potatoes, this Hungarian Red Potato Goulash, or these Skillet Potatoes with Chicken!

Cook's Note: This recipe was originally published in 2016, and has been updated with even more love!