Dauphinoise potatoes, or gratin dauphinois, is a traditional dish from the Dauphiné region in southeast France that is similar to scalloped potatoes. But unlike our Americanized versions, they use crème fraîche rather than copious amounts of cheese. To make dairy-free dauphinoise potatoes, this recipe uses a quick creamy sauce made from cashews. It’s a wonderful comforting dish for the cooler months or for the holidays.
Raw cashews are actually quite soft and blend easily, but I still recommend pre-grinding them, particularly if you don’t have a high-power blender.You can pre-soak the nuts to soften them (1 to 2 hours), but this will produce a slightly thinner sauce for your dairy-free dauphinoise potatoes. Dry cashews will soak up liquid from your sauce as it cooks, but pre-soaked ones are already quite saturated.
I also highly recommend using a mandolin to prepare the potatoes. The one I use was very inexpensive, and it makes very quick work of the slicing process.
Special Diet Notes: Dairy-Free Dauphinoise Potatoes
By ingredients, this recipe is dairy-free / non-dairy, egg-free, gluten-free, grain-free, peanut-free, soy-free, vegan / plant-based, and vegetarian.
- 5 medium potatoes (see note below)
- ½ cup raw cashews (see note below)
- 2 cups water, divided
- 2 tablespoons arrowroot starch (can sub non-GMO cornstarch)
- 1 tablespoon dried onion flakes
- ¾ teaspoon salt
- Pinch cayenne pepper (optional)
- Paprika, for topping
- Preheat your oven to 375ºF.
- Slice the potatoes very thin. A mandolin is very helpful here (I use this one).
- Spread the potatoes evenly in a 7x11-inch baking dish or oven-safe skillet.
- Place the cashews in your blender and add half of the water. Blend until smooth. Add the remaining water, starch, onion flakes, salt, and cayenne (if using. Blend until smooth.
- Pour the cream over the sliced potatoes, and lightly sprinkle the potatoes paprika.
- Bake for 1 hour or until the potatoes are fork tender and appear crispy on top.
Cashew Tip: To avoid chunks of cashew, I recommend grinding the cashews into a powder in a spice grinder before adding them to the blender. This only takes a minute.
Key Pantry Supplies: Dairy-Free Dauphinoise Potatoes
More Recipes for Potato Lovers
Buttery Scalloped Potato Stacks (vegan, gluten-free & allergy-friendly)
Mama’s Mashed Potatoes (vegan, gluten-free & allergy-friendly)
Twice Baked Hummus Potatoes (vegan, gluten-free & allergy-friendly)
8 Comments
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This looks incredibly yummy! Such a cozy and perfect dinner for these chilly evenings. Going to have to try this one!
Oh my! that looks so creamy to be dairy free! How delicious!
What a delicious dairy free side dish! I would have to go back for seconds on these!
I feel like there was a boxed version my mom made like this growing up. I’d sooooo much rather have these!!!
Seriously love everything about these creamy potatoes! And it looks so easy to make. I might have just found what I’m taking to Christmas dinner! 🙂
Okay these look mouth-watering delicious! I love potatoes au gratin and this vegan version looks ridiculously good! I am making this ASAP…Thank you for the recipe 🙂
Yum! I admit I’ve never heard of this type of potatoes before but I definitely want to try them.