Indulge in healthy comfort food with these creamy, gluten-free, and vegan scalloped potatoes. They are everything you love about the classic side dish, without all the junk and artificial ingredients! Thinly sliced potatoes and a creamy vegan cheese sauce so flavorful you won’t even realize it’s the healthy version!
What Makes This Recipe Great
Scalloped potatoes are such a crowd-pleasing holiday staple. I remember looking forward to this delicious side dish even more than turkey on the holidays. There was something so comforting about those creamy, decadent bites.
We often ate the boxed version, which was full of flour, cheese, and soy. Ingredients that would now give me a stomachache with my dairy and gluten sensitivity. Feeling nostalgic, I was determined to create a delicious and satisfying dairy-free, gluten-free, and vegan scalloped potatoes recipe.
After several attempts, I’m so thrilled to share my version of vegan, dairy-free, and gluten-free scalloped potatoes. They actually taste better than the traditional version while being way healthier at the same time! Next time you’re looking for the best side dish, this easy recipe is it!
Ingredient Notes
These gluten-free scalloped potatoes are actually much easier to make than they look. You’ll only find healthy, real food ingredients to keep them Paleo & Whole30-friendly. See the full list of ingredients in the printable recipe card below.
- Potatoes: I’ve found that Yukon Gold potatoes work best for a creamy but light texture. You can use russet potatoes in a pinch.
- Vegan Butter and Cassava Flour: These two will make a roux to thicken the sauce. You can substitute it with ghee or coconut oil if needed. Cassava flour is an excellent flour to use to make gluten-free scalloped potatoes.
- Coconut Milk: I recommend using a can of full-fat coconut milk for the creamy sauce. You can also use cashew milk because it is thicker than other refrigerated non-dairy milk options like almond milk or soy milk.
- Broth: For vegan scalloped potatoes, use vegetable broth. For dairy-free scalloped potatoes, I like to use bone broth for extra nutrients!
- Nutritional Yeast: This is what will give these gluten-free scalloped potatoes their cheesy flavor while remaining completely vegan. It makes a super yummy vegan cheesy sauce that tastes like the real thing!
- Fresh Herbs: I used Thyme and Rosemary to give this dish amazing flavor.
- Oil: You can use coconut oil or olive oil for a vegan version. If you’re not dairy-free, feel free to use ghee.
Watch a Short Video of This Recipe
Recipe Step by Step
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees F and grease a 9×13 casserole dish.
- Use a mandoline slicer or a sharp knife to cut the potato into thin slices and set aside.
- Heat ghee in a saucepan over medium heat and whisk in cassava flour until thick, about 1 minute.
- Add in coconut milk, broth, nutritional yeast, garlic powder, thyme, rosemary, salt, and pepper. Whisk constantly for 5 minutes or until the sauce begins to thicken and turn opaque. Remove from heat.
- Place 1/3 of the potato slices on the baking dish in an overlapping layer. Then, pour 1/3 of the sauce over the potatoes. Repeat this process 2 more times.
- Cover the baking dish with foil and bake for 40 minutes.
- Remove the aluminum foil and bake for an additional 30 minutes. They are done when the potatoes are tender, and the top layer is golden brown and crispy.
- Serve your vegan scalloped potatoes for Christmas dinner or any holiday meal, or use them as the perfect side dish for a special occasion year-round!
Tips & Tricks
Leftovers: Store leftovers in an airtight container and eat within 3-4 days.
Paleo/Whole30: These vegan, dairy-free, and gluten-free scalloped potatoes are completely Paleo and Whole30. Even the vegan cheese sauce!
Presentation: Honestly, it’s not difficult to make gorgeous layers of scalloped potatoes. Although taste is the most important if you want to impress your guests with your presentation, here are a few tips:
- Unless you have awesome knife skills (I do not), I highly recommend you use a mandoline slicer. It’ll ensure that your potato slices are thin and even for beautiful layering. I have this one and it works so well.
- I like to layer the potato slices across from left to right or right to left, overlapping each slice about halfway. Start the next line by overlapping them over the upper row in the same direction.
- The potato slices don’t have to lay completely flat or look perfect. They’ll actually flatten out as they bake. The golden, crispy top layer will make the dish look drool-worthy no matter what.
Vegan vs: Dairy Free: Vegan means abstaining from all products derived from animals. Dairy-free is eating non-dairy items, but still eating other products derived from animals. These scalloped potatoes are easy to make either way!
For dairy-free scalloped potatoes, feel free to use ghee. For vegan scalloped potatoes, use vegan butter or coconut oil. If you aren’t dairy-free or vegan, you can also use regular butter. Keep in mind that any swaps will change the nutritional information.
Recipe FAQs
Some versions include eggs, however, they are not needed for this recipe.
It’s best to cook them covered for 2/3 of the time with foil, then remove them and cook for the remaining time. This will prevent the top from getting too dark or burning.
Yes! If you want to prepare ahead of time, slice your potatoes and store them in cold water in the refrigerator for up to 48 hours. This will prevent them from browning.
Absolutely! If you want to make these gluten-free scalloped potatoes a few days ahead of time, you can! Follow all steps to prepare the dish, then cover and store in the refrigerator for up to 3 days. When you are ready, cook according to the instructions on the recipe card. Freeze for up to 3 months.
Actually yes! The nutritional yeast in this recipe really does add a cheesy, delicious flavor. This vegan cheese sauce is a great way to enjoy the flavor of cheese without the side effects dairy can have.
If you make this recipe, please leave me a star rating and comment below! I love to hear your thoughts and feedback. Follow me on social media Instagram, Facebook, and Pinterest for even more delicious recipes!
Vegan Scalloped Potatoes | Gluten-Free
Ingredients
- 3 lb Yukon gold potatoes
- 1/4 cup ghee or coconut oil for vegan
- 3 tbsp cassava flour or arrowroot starch
- 1 1/2 cup full-fat coconut milk
- 1/2 cup vegetable broth bone broth or chicken broth for dairy-free.
- 1/3 cup nutritional yeast
- 1 tbsp garlic powder
- 1 tsp thyme leaves chopped
- 1/2 tsp rosemary chopped
- 1 tbsp sea salt
- 1/2 tsp ground black pepper
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees F and grease a 9×13 baking sheet.
- Use a mandoline slicer or a sharp knife to slice the potatoes thinly and set aside.
- Heat ghee in a saucepan over medium heat and whisk in cassava flour until thick, about 1 minute.
- Add in coconut milk, broth, nutritional yeast, garlic powder, thyme, rosemary, salt, and pepper, and continuously whisk for 5 minutes or until the sauce begins to thicken and turn opaque. Remove from heat.
- Place 1/3 of the potato slices on the baking dish in an overlapping layer, and pour 1/3 of the sauce over the potatoes. Repeat this process 2 more times.
- Cover the baking dish with foil and bake for 40 minutes. Remove foil and bake 30 additional minutes until potatoes are tender and the top layer is golden and crispy.
Video
Notes
- Unless you have awesome knife skills (I do not), I highly recommend you use a mandoline slicer. It’ll ensure that your potato slices are thin and even for beautiful layering. I have this one and it works so well.
- I like to layer the potato slices across from left to right or right to left, overlapping each slice about halfway. Start the next line by overlapping them over the upper row in the same direction.
- The potato slices don’t have to lay completely flat or look perfect. They’ll actually flatten out as they bake. The golden, crispy top layer will make the dish look drool-worthy no matter what.
Regarding other affiliate links and affiliate relationships: In order for me to support my blogging activities, I may receive monetary compensation or other types of remuneration for my endorsement, recommendation, testimonial and/or link to any products or services from this blog. Thank you for your support and understanding.
How beautiful! I can’t wait to serve this at our family’s Thanksgiving <3 I love your creative tweaks to such a traditional recipe.
Delicious! My family loves scalloped potatoes, and I love that these are grain-free!
Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! for creating a dairy free scalloped potatoes recipe that looks as decadent as the original. I am going out to buy cassava flour now so I can try this delicious looking recipe for Thanksgiving!
This dish is a crowd-pleaser for sure! Thanks for the great step-by-step recipe and the vegan option too!!
Yum, these were so creamy & luscious. I love scallop potatoes 🙂
These are some seriously good looking potatoes, and that golden color is so inviting!
I love scalloped potatoes! So creamy and delicious! And they’re easy to make, too!
Thanks for all your tips on making the dish look pretty (mine always looks like a jumble) and for the recommendation on the herbs.
looks really good and I love it too
I know right now I’m going to make them for Christmas and my family will LOVE it! Thanks so much for creating this!
This looks delicious! Is there a substitute for cassava flour? would another flour like arrowroot starch or tapioca starch work?
I haven’t tried, but I believe they’ll work!
Can this be made the day before serving without compromising the taste? What is the best way to reheat?
You can just put everything together up to the baking part, refrigerate, and then just let it come to room temp before baking it the next day. For reheating, I usually just use the microwave.
Wow, these look great! Do these have a strong coconut flavor because of the coconut milk?
There are so many spices that flavor the dish that I didn’t taste the coconut flavor at all. You might taste it a bit if you are very sensitive to the coconut taste though.
We love scalloped potatoes and since going Paleo a couple years ago, I have tried many recipes…. Not if them got to to my keepers book. I made your recipe today with Easter dinner and you nailed it. So good and I wil be using it in the future as my go to scalloped potatoes recipe. My husband said it might be good with onions, and I think mushrooms would be a great add. I will try a couple variations, but stick to your core recipe. Thanks!!!!
Aw, I’m so glad to hear that! And yes, you can definitely customize to your liking. Mushrooms sound amazing!
I made this to go with ham for our Easter dinner. The kids and my husband didn’t know it was vegan and that it didn’t have cheese. They gobbled it up! I will make it over and over again.
That’s amazing. Thanks so much for leaving a review!!
This blew away, can’t believe it has no dairy in it because it tastes like real cheese. The only negative thing I can say is that this recipe totally eclipsed everything else on the menu for the evening haha. I used tapioca powder instead of cassava 1:1 ratio. Worked great!
Thank you so much!! I’m so happy you enjoyed it! 🙂
This are awesome !
Thanks so much!
Mine didn’t look as good, but I didn’t have the yeast; so maybe that is it. These were great for everyone!
So glad you liked it!
I’ve made this twice. This is so unbelievably delicious, I followed the recipe to a T. This is the first recipe I’ve tried using at least three new ingredients that isn’t in my usual repertoire, it’s amazing how cheesy it is without dairy . Thanks so much !
Hi, I’ve made this recipe before and its incredible! I’m wondering if I can assemble this a few hours ahead of time, put it in the fridge and then bake it when I’m ready? Thanks
Just saw this, sorry for the late reply! Yes I don’t see why not.
Eating leftovers of this for breakfast–it’s even better the next day. I added ham to make this a main dish and served it with roasted broccoli. Everyone liked it, even though I’m the only one who can’t have dairy. Thanks so much for the wonderful recipe.
What an amazing idea to add ham!! So glad you enjoyed it. Thanks so much for trying it out and leaving a review!
I made half of this recipe and it was crowd pleaser. Everyone vane for seconds. Ill be making this for the holidays for sure. They didn’t even realize that it is dairy free!!
Ah I’m so happy to hear that!!
One tablespoon of salt seems pretty excessive. Just tasted the sauce and the salt taste in unbearable. Could this be a typo?
1 tbsp is correct. It’s going on a lot of potatoes so the spices will even out at the end
Can this be made ahead of time? I would like to make it for Christmas so it would be served for dinner on the 25th.
Ideally I’d like to prep the dish on the 24th, keep it in the fridge overnight then pop it in the oven the next day. Any thoughts on wether or not this would work?
Thanks
I’ve never tried but I don’t see why not!
I just made these for dinner, following the recipe exactly.
IT IS DELICIOUS!!!!!
I used Yukon gold potatoes and I think they’re necessary for this recipe, gold potatoes are so much more smooth & buttery than russets.
This recipe is definitely a keeper, and I will be making it as a side dish for Easter ham.
Make this recipe soon, you’ll be so happy you did!!!
Thanks so much for a great review!
Why did my potatoes turn gray when we dug this out? 🙁
There could be a variety of reasons. Coming in contact with aluminum can change the color, or if they are stored too cold. They might have also been bruised before. I can’t pinpoint the exact reason, but it sometimes happens!
I made this recipe two nights ago and it was my favorite side dish I have made since I got sick and had to start eating paleo five years ago. I left out the nutritional yeast and garlic but it was still amazing. Thank you so much for such a great recipe. I served mine with a meatloaf recipe I got from Our Oily House.
Aw, I’m so glad you enjoyed it!!
Beef bone broth or chicken bone broth— the recipe doesn’t specify which bone broth. Looking forward to making this tonight- the reviews make it sound amazing and it looks incredible!
Either one works!
Wow made these potatoes last night and they were amazing! What a beautiful compliment to the ham we cooked. I always know “”what great grandma ate” posts it’s going to be awesome thanks Jean!!
Aw you are so sweet! Thank you so much. I’m so glad you enjoyed it. It’s one of my favorites!
This recipe is insanely delicious! I used tapioca flour instead of the cassava (just what I had on hand) and it turned out great! Have been enjoying leftovers with eggs for breakfast and will 100% be making this again this week! Thanks for all the delicious recipes – you’re making this round of Whole30 so easy!
Amazing! Sounds wonderful alongside eggs!!
The flavor is amazing, it I’m curious why mine looks SO different and is SO oily.. I followed the recipe using ghee (have never used ghee in anything) and it turned a dark brown color.. also there is SO Much oil in the pan after baking and letting sit for about 15-20 minutes.. it looks nothing like your pictures, but again the flavor it fantastic. Any ideas on where I went wrong to make it look golden and creamy colored like yours? More potatoes? Thanks!
I’m not sure why it was so oily! There should be some oil but not an inordinate amount. Did you use 3lbs of potatoes?
I have made this recipe multiple times for my clients. They love it! I substitute arrowroot flour for the cassava flour and that works just fine! Thanks!!
Thank you so much!!