This Cheesy Root Vegetable Gratin might be one of my absolute favorite recipes ever for fall and winter. It’s equally as delicious as it is beautiful and always a crowd favorite as well.
I love the subtly sweet and earthy flavors of this combination of root vegetables mixed together with the savory and salty shredded gruyère cheese, garlic, thyme, and heavy cream. It’s the perfect side dish to any thanksgiving or holiday meal, or really any cozy meal!
How to Make Root Vegetable Gratin
Ingredients
Process
- Preheat oven. Grease baking dish with butter.
- Slice sweet potato, parsnips and beets into very thin rounds (using a mandoline is easiest).
- Transfer each vegetable to its own bowl and add heavy cream over each sweet potatoes and parsnips, and beets. Top each bowl of sliced vegetables with some grated Parmesan cheese and some minced thyme. Season each bowl generously with salt and black pepper and toss together until all vegetable slices are well coated.
- Pour remaining heavy cream into the greased baking dish and sprinkle with Parmesan and garlic.
- Grab a stack of sweet potatoes and line them standing up on a bias, at the top of the casserole dish. Follow the sweet potatoes with a row of parsnips, followed by a row of beets. Repeat with the remaining sweet potatoes, parsnips and beets, creating 6 rows of root vegetables. Season top of gratin with salt, black pepper and sprinkle of remaining Parmesan.
- Cover with aluminum foil and bake until vegetables are soft.
- Uncover gratin.
- Top with shredded gruyère. Place gratin back into oven, uncovered, and continue to bake until vegetables are fork tender, cheese has melted and the top has lightly browned. Finish cheesy root vegetable gratin with a sprinkle of fresh thyme leaves. Serve.
Tools You Will Need
- sharp knife
- cutting board
- mixing bowls
- vegetable peeler
- measuring spoons
- liquid measuring cup
- dry measuring cup
- cheese grater
- mandoline (optional, but preferred)
- 3 quart baking dish
Tips and Tricks for Cheesy Root Vegetable Gratin Success
- The aluminum foil should be tightly wrapped around the baking dish to allow the dish to steam a little and for the vegetables to get tender before uncovering it.
- Wear gloves when handling beets to prevent them from staining your hands. If you do stain your hands, wash them with a blend of baking soda and warm water and vigorous rub them together. You may need a couple rounds of this process to completely remove the stains.
- Keeping the slices as uniform in thickness as possible will greatly help even cooking throughout the gratin.
- Using a mandoline will not only ensure even thickness, but will also reduce the prep time. If you don’t have a mandoline a very sharp knife is the next best thing we recommend.
- Covering this dish in the beginning will allow the vegetables to soften without drying the dish out. Once the vegetables get to a good point, uncovering them will allow the top of the gratin brown and crisp up, while allowing some of the excess liquid to thicken/evaporate.
Tips for Preventing the Beets From Bleeding onto the Entire Root Vegetable Gratin
- Ensure all the vegetables are coated in cream so they don’t dry out. The beets should just be barely coated in cream because too much cream coating will result in them bleeding through the root vegetable gratin.
- You also want to make sure the bottom layer of your baking dish is just coated with a thin layer of cream and sprinkled with Parmesan. The amount of cream used may vary just a little bit, depending on the surface area of the baking dish you’re using, so it’s best to eyeball this.
Make Ahead Instructions
This dish can be made up to a day ahead of time and refrigerated, tightly wrapped in foil. When ready to bake, just place the covered gratin in the oven, adding about an extra 5-7 minutes of baking time to the dish (covered).
Just know that if you prep this dish ahead of time, you run the risk of the beets bleeding from sitting in the cream. This won’t effect the flavor at all, but it’ll change the look of this dish.
Figuring Out Exactly How Many of Each Vegetables You Will Need
We add a small range for each vegetable because not all 3 quart baking dishes are oval and we encourage you to use what you have on hand (which would change the amount of surface area there is).
This plus the fact that the thickness of the sliced vegetables, the size of each vegetable themselves, and the degree of the bias in which the sliced vegetables are placed into the baking dish will all vary slightly from person to person, effecting the number of vegetables needed for our root vegetable gratin.
**The nutrition facts are based on the lowest number vegetables in each range in the ingredient list. **
Variations for Cheesy Root Vegetable Gratin
- Chives, green onion, sage, and rosemary or a combination of herbs make a great alternative to the fresh thyme.
- Shredded fontina, Swiss, comté, gouda, and mild cheddar cheese all make great cheese alternatives for gruyere.
- Whole milk or half and half can be used in place of cream, although there will be more liquid pooled in the bottom of the gratin after it’s baked.
- Turnips and rutabaga make great root vegetable alternatives for any of the three used in this recipe.
What to Serve with Our Cheesy Root Vegetable Gratin
If you’re looking for other delicious thanksgiving or holiday side dishes, you can head on over to our Holiday Headquarters for some of our favorite ones! Enjoy!
Cheesy Root Vegetable Gratin
This beautiful Cheesy Root Vegetable Gratin is as beautiful as it is tasty. Sweet Potatoes, beets, and parsnips with cream and garlic baked to perfection. We love this side dish for special occasions like Thanksgiving.
Servings:
INGREDIENTS
- 1 tablespoon unsalted butter softened
- 1-2 long sweet potatoes (about 2 inches thick), peeled
- 3-4 large parsnips, ends trimmed and peeled
- 3-5 small beets, peeled
- 14 tablespoons heavy cream, divided (whole milk is fine, but mixture won't thicken as much or be as creamy)
- 4 ounces grated Parmesan, divided
- 1 tablespoon fresh minced thyme, divided plus more for garnish
- 1 garlic clove, minced
- 1 ounce shredded gruyere
- salt and pepper to taste
INSTRUCTIONS
- Preheat oven to 400˚F. Grease a 3 quart baking dish with butter.
- Slice sweet potato, parsnips and beets into very thin rounds (using a mandoline is easiest) and transfer each vegetable to its own bowl.
- Pour 4 tablespoons cream over each sweet potatoes and parsnips, and 2 tablespoons cream over beets. Top each bowl of sliced vegetables with ½ ounce grated Parmesan and 1 teaspoon minced thyme. Season each bowl generously with salt and pepper and toss together until all vegetable slices are well coated.
- Pour remaining 1/4 cup cream into the bottom of a 3 quart (oval) baking dish and sprinkle with ½ ounce of Parmesan and minced garlic.
- Grab a stack of sweet potatoes and line them standing up on a bias, at the top of the baking dish. Follow the sweet potato with a row of parsnips, followed by a row of beets. Repeat with the remaining sweet potatoes, parsnips and beets, creating 6 rows of root vegetables.
- Season top of gratin with salt, pepper and sprinkle of remaining Parmesan.
- Cover with foil and bake for 30 minutes or until vegetables are soft.
- Uncover gratin and top with shredded gruyere.
- Place gratin back into oven, uncovered, and continue to bake for an additional 18 to 20 minutes or until vegetables are fork tender, cheese has melted and the top has lightly browned.
- Finish with a sprinkle of fresh thyme leaves. Serve.
NOTES
*Makes 1 (3 quart) casserole
*Nutrition facts are based on the lowest number vegetables in each range in the ingredient list
- This dish can be made up to a day ahead of time and refrigerated, tightly wrapped in foil. When ready to bake, just place the covered gratin in the oven, adding about an extra 5-7 minutes of baking time to the dish (covered).
**Just know that if you prep this dish ahead of time, you run the risk of the beets bleeding from sitting in the cream. This won’t effect the flavor at all, but it’ll change the look of this dish.** - To prevent the beets from bleeding:
- Make sure the peeled and sliced beets are just barely coated in cream to ensure they don’t dry out while baking.
- You also want to make sure the bottom layer of your baking dish is just coated with a thin layer of cream and sprinkled with Parmesan. The amount of cream used may vary just a little bit, depending on the surface area of the baking dish you’re using, so it’s best to eyeball this.
Calories: 265kcal Carbohydrates: 22g Protein: 9g Fat: 17g Saturated Fat: 10g Cholesterol: 56mg Sodium: 292mg Potassium: 484mg Fiber: 5g Sugar: 7g Vitamin A: 4607IU Vitamin C: 13mg Calcium: 246mg Iron: 1mg
CUISINE: French
KEYWORD: gratin, root vegetable
COURSE: Side Dish
DIET : Vegetarian
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This was positively delicious. Everybody loved it. Thank you for the recipe!
This was easy to pull together ahead of time (sans red beets) and a HIT at Thanksgiving dinner. Will make a tradition!
Making this today! Could this be prepped before hand and just baked when the time comes?!
Yes, although the beets might bleed. Flavor-wise, it’ll taste great!
Love this dish, have made it several times in the past. I always use a whole cup of Gruyère because…. Cheese. ❤️
Are the nutrition facts per serving or the whole dish? I want to share this with my weight loss support group & want to be clear before I do. Thanks!
Per serving!
Trying this for Thanksgiving (tomorrow!). Not unlike me to try a new recipe the day of the holiday. Just reading the reviews and the ingredients, I know we’ll love it! I substituted golden beets to avoid the stained hands. Can’t wait to dig into this one!
Would squash work in place of the beets in terms of cooking time? Im thinking yes but wondering if any one has tried it.
Yes! The swap would work just fine!
What a perfect twist and beautiful twist on a side dish for Thanksgiving. As much as mashed potatoes and sweet potato casserole are a part of the tradition, I cannot wait to present this as a creative and delicious alternative.
This is gorgeous! Have you ever tried an ombré version??
Could this be made in stacks in a muffin tin? We do Thanksgiving in all-appetizer form using traditional foods/ingredients in slightly different forms. If I could make this work…Thanks!
Hi! This should work, but the baking times will have to be adjusted.
I ran across this recipe last month and asked my wife to make it for Thanksgiving. It was so delicious that I requested she make it again for Christmas. This is something I could see myself eating every month! Kudos to you for coming up with such a fabulous dish.
Hi!
If I’m making this ahead of time, can I also put the Gruyère cheese on top? And just bake the dish through once, without having to cover/uncover and take out of oven?
I’m making for Christmas but need to prepare it today.
Thanks
Any suggestions or hints appreciated
Hi Courtney, you can definitely prepare this dish ahead of time and reheat it when you’re ready to serve. I would maybe hold off on topping the gratin with grated cheese altogether and just baking this dish covered. When you’re ready to reheat it and serve, uncover the dish, add the grated cheese on top and bake uncovered until fully heated through and the cheese has melted.
5 stars for a beautiful dish. I soaked my beets in ice water and laid them out on parchment before starting the recipe and they still bled around the rows of beets, but I don’t care. All together it was a delicious dish and looked fabulous on our Thanksgiving table.
Best root vegetable dish ever! My husband loves root vegetables. Unfortunately, he doesn’t have a good recipe. I found this recipe and he raved about it! I actually ate some too and loved it. Thank you for your wonderful recipe.
Loved this but i was a little to liberal with salt forgetting how salty parm is. Tried it in advance of thanksgiving and will definitely make for thanksgiving. Used the leftover to make amazing cream of roasted veggie soup
I made this recipe for a dinner party last week and it was a huge hit!! Although I made a gorgeous Brisket, Emeril Lagasse stuffed mushrooms, and several other delightful dishes, this was the favorite. Had only a few leftovers and we ate them for lunch next day! Huge hit! Easy to make and worth the effort!
So so happy to hear that!!
Made this for Thanksgiving last year, HUGE hit!!!
This makes me SO happy!!
Can you use carrots/would they work well in this recipe?
You can definitely use carrots, although I would try to find the largest (thickest) carrots you can find and slice them slightly thicker than the other root vegetables, so that the size matches the others as much as possible and everything cooks evenly.
Fabuleux !!!
Nous avons adorés ce plat magnifique, les betteraves sont succulentes, on est fans !!! Aussitôt fait, aussitôt cuit, résultat impeccable…
Les non végétariens et les végétariens ont tous étaient d’accord pour dire que c’est de la bombe !!! Mille merci pour cette belle découverte
Fabulous !!!
We loved this magnificent dish, the beets are delicious, we are fans !!! Immediately done, immediately cooked, impeccable result …
Non-vegetarians and vegetarians all agreed that this is the bomb !!! Many thanks for this great discovery
I’m so happy you enjoyed this dish!!
Vos recettes ne servent à rien si elles sont écrites en anglais.
Nous sommes en France, me semble t-il !!!
Well we (the creators of this content) live in the U.S., so we will continue to write them in English….
I made this tonight, was perf for a full moon outdoor dinner🙌 I was able to find purpose sweet potatoes at my local store, so I swapped those for the beets because I’m not really a fan of beets..and everyone’s fav was the purple sweet potatoes. If they’re available anywhere close to you I recomment! I used about 4 or 5 of them since they’re pretty small