Tuscan Cheese Potato Bake

Tasty combination of potatoes, cheese, and cream sauce with a crispy topping. You may add more cheese as a topping under the panko crumbs if desired. For a lighter version, use milk to replace the heavy cream and light sour cream instead of regular. You may also use Cheddar, Parmesan, or low-fat cheese.

• Preparation Time: 20 mins
• Cooking Time: 1 hr 5 mins
• Total Time: 1 hr 25 mins
• Calories: 426 Calories

Ingredients

• 2 cups milk
• 1 cup heavy whipping cream
• 5 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• ½ teaspoon ground black pepper
• 1 (8 ounce) container sour cream
• 5 tablespoons butter
• 1 ¼ teaspoons salt
• 2 green onions, chopped
• 1 cup shredded fontina cheese
• 3 cloves garlic, minced, or more to taste
• 1 ½ teaspoons chopped fresh thyme
• 2 pounds red potatoes, thinly sliced, ends discarded
• ¼ cup Italian-style panko bread crumbs, or as needed

Recipe Instructions

Step 1

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease a 3-quart baking dish.

Step 2

Melt butter in a large saucepan over medium-high heat. Saute onion, garlic, and thyme in hot butter until onion is tender, 3 to 5 minutes. Whisk flour, salt, and black pepper into onion mixture.

Step 3

Gradually whisk milk and cream into onion mixture; bring to a boil, reduce heat to low, and simmer until sauce thickens, about 2 minutes.

Step 4

Stir sour cream into sauce until smooth; add fontina cheese and stir until cheese melts.

Step 5

Arrange 1/2 the potatoes in the bottom of the prepared baking dish. Pour 1/2 the cheese sauce over the potatoes. Repeat with remaining potatoes and cheese sauce. Top with bread crumbs to cover potatoes entirely.

Step 6

Bake in the preheated oven until potatoes are tender and bread crumbs are golden brown, 60 to 70 minutes.