Alright – we know you are probably seeing a million new Thanksgiving recipes you could try but we wanted to share another one with you. This is our Cheesy Root Vegetable Gratin. It is one of those dishes that is not only delicious but super super pretty. So that makes it really perfect for thanksgiving. Yes the cutting of the vegetables is a little time consuming but not if you have a mandolin! This side dish is packed with cheese and cream which makes everything taste better. Baked in the oven so the top gets crispy – this is a very perfect side dish recipe. :)
♥ Teri
Cheesy Root Vegetable Gratin
Servings: 8
Ingredients
- 1-2 long sweet potatoes (about 2 inches thick), peeled
- 4 large parsnips, ends trimmed and peeled
- 5 medium beets, peeled
- 2 ½ cups 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
- 2 ounces shredded gruyere
- salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400˚F.
- Slice sweet potato, parsnips and beets into very thin rounds (using a mandoline is easiest) and transfer each vegetable to its own bowl.
- Pour ⅔ cup cream over each bowl of vegetables and top each 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 cream into the bottom of a 2 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 ounce of Parmesan.
- Cover with foil and bake for 25 to 30 minutes or until vegetables are soft.
- Remove from oven, uncover gratin and top with shredded gruyere.
- Set oven to broil and broil gratin for 3 to 5 minutes or until browned and bubbling on top.
- Finish with a sprinkle of fresh thyme leaves. Serve.
Notes
- *Makes 1 casserole
Any tips for making sure that the colors don’t bleed and to ensure that all elements cook evenly?
Cut beets first, then soak your beets in cold water, drain and pat dry. Or grow or buy rainbow beets, they don’t bleed. You will be much happier with the results.
Actually, quite on accident I left the cut beets out and they dried a little bit and they did not bleed.
Personally, when I make this I will sub carrots for beets. Won’t be as colorful but it won’t suffer from beet bleed and I think I will like the flavors a bit more.
I would use both carrots and beets as well as potatoes, sweet and white.
Where did you get that pan?? It’s amazing, vintage?
Yes, vintage! :)
You might be able to find something pretty close at Home Goods..they have a great selection of cooking ware.
Can’t this dish be made ahead and then frozen?
Hm, I’m not sure. I get weird about freezing things (trying to be better about it)…i worry the potatoes may get mushy, once you reheat…but maybe not! Perhaps others who freeze dishes more often may have better insight!
Potatoes don’t freeze well at all. Their structure breaks down & becomes soupy.
Omit white potatoes only. Add rutabagas if desired. Cook completely, refrigerate until cold, cover with cling film, wrap with foil, and freeze. Thaw, remove cling film, replace foil, and heat. Bon ap!
Only par-bake this dish, it is better fresh but I did freeze it and finished the bake on the reheat.
I got a similar pan as a gift – Mauviel from Williams Sonoma.
Can this made the day ahead of Thanksgiving and then just pop it in the oven?
Totally!
This looks so delicious. Do you think the cream could be substituted with something other than dairy. My kids can’t have that much dairy, since there is also cheese in it. I would love to make this.
Hi! You can use a cow dairy alternative like almond milk or cashew milk. You may need to drain some of the excess liquid that gathers at the bottom of the dish, once you uncover the gratin, but should still work out just fine!
Or possibly thicken the liquid?
Hi! I’ve read that you can substitute blended firm tofu for the heavy cream. That’s what I’m going to be trying today.
Will try this weekend. Any idea of calorie intake per portion? I know it shouldn’t really matter but I thought I’d ask
Hi! So sorry, but we don’t do nutritional info for our recipes!
Did you (or anyone who has made this) have issues with beet bleed? Any advice for avoiding it?
I actually didn’t have any issues with beet bleeding. They bled a little bit, when they were tossed in a mixing bowl with cream, but not while assembling or baking :)
Looks beautiful. Can you substitute potatoes for the turnips and can you substitute broccoli crowns for the beets?
Yes! love the idea of using broccoli crown for this!
Some rutabaga sounds good.
i think its just perfect,i wouldn’t change a thing.the pan ,the ingredients,its perfect..thank you
How many people do you think this would serve? It looks lovely!
I would say about 6 to 8 people
This recipe was SO delish and beautiful. We didn’t have Gruyere on hand so I subbed Raclette. This is one of my new fave recipes. Thank you.
This looks delicious! Definitely going on my meal plan soon.
Do all the veggies cook evely soft during the given time? In my experience bertroots cook much longer than sweet potatoes, theough I haven’t tried to cook them sliced this fine, only whole in a foil..
With them all sliced into very thin rounds, they do cook evenly!
I made this for Christmas dinner in a lovely French oval baking dish my dad bought for my mom probably 30 years ago. It looked and tasted wonderful.
Hi! I made this and it didn’t cook through even spending twice the amount of time in the oven. The beets stayed hard. Sweet potatoes finally got soft. Did anyone else have this issue? The flavors were delicious, though.
Yes! They were practically cold still! Please refine this so it has a more accurate cooktime.
A lot of things can effect this like the depth of baking dish and whether the oven runs hot or cold and even how thick or thin the oven runs
Do you think it would be okay to leave the veg soaking in the cream mixture overnight?
I think that should be fine, but i would soak the vegetables separately to make sure the beets don’t bleed over everything!
This looks lovely but I was wondering if the parsnip might go off colour if i make it ahead of time. I thought the other vegetables would be ok.
I think the parsnips will be fine if made a day ahead of time!
I made this for Valentine’s Day. I added golden beets as well. It turned out creamier then I thought but my honey loved it. Will definitely be making it again.
I want to make this for Easter. Do you pour the leftover cream from each bowl back into the main serving dish with the other cream?
The cream that the vegetables are originally coated in are discarded to ensure the entire dish doesn’t become discolored (specifically from the beet infused cream)
This recipe keeps coming to me every week. How do I break this loop?
I used a 2qt oval corningware ceramic dish as opposed to a Oval Baking Tray (because I didn’t have one on-hand)… Did not work as well as I thought for 2 reasons. One, because the extra depth meant that all the required cream pooled and left me with half-vegetable soup below the surface of the veggie rounds. Two, all the veggie rounds did not fit in the dish; I had to use another dish to make a mini version of this. I haven’t tried the mini yet, but I have a feeling it will be better than the large one because there was less of a cream pool at the bottom. Other than that, the dish was surprisingly satisfying.
What could you use as a healthy option to the cream
Thanks
You could use a whole or low fat milk, but i wouldn’t use fat-free as the dish won’t really come together
Hullo, just a suggestion – there is a baked Greek potato dish, layered with feta, olives, rosemary and instead of cream, we use a vegetable stock. It works really well if you can’t use dairy, and I thought it might also work with these veg?
What size oval dish or pan should all of this be placed in. I am making it now but I think I am using too small of a pan because it is taking longer than 30 minutes.
I make a similar dish, using the mandolin on thin slicing Yukons, Russets (some get melty, some crisp up) a few onion sticks and soaking in cream/garlic while I load the pan. I wedge in Gryure cheese and rosemary. I bake slow at 325 in a convection over uncovered. No need to broil. Salt and pepper as desired. (let me know if you try it. It goes fast here!)
Hello! I don’t see the size dish or how many servings this makes – could you advise? i’m looking to make this for Thanksgiving. Thanks!
Hi! Depending on how upright or flat the pieces are laid down, this works in an 8”x8”, a shallow 9”x13” or about a 2 1/2 quart baking dish!
The recipe turned out good but it came out very liquidy. The sauce was not thick at all. I followed the recipse to the tee. Any advice?
Hm, i haven’t had a problem with the thickness of the ‘sauce’ before! When i make it the sauce usually thickens up and almost evaporates into the vegetables. Sorry you had issues with this one. :/
Absolutely delicious and looks fantastic! I used Golden and Chioggia beets so I had no issue with bleeding. Unfortunately I packed in too many vegetables into the roasting pan and it took around 50 minutes to cook(before broiling). Using a mandoline is a must. So good, I will definitely make this again. I included butternut squash and it did not disappoint.
This dish was a huge success for thanksgiving dinner!!!!
So glad to hear that!
Hey this look awesome and I’m going to make it for a dinner party tomorrow and this maybe a stupid question but about how much cups woud the 4 oz of parm be and the 2 oz of gruyere? 1 cup and 1/2 cup? or maybe 1/2 cup and 1/4 cup?
Can I prep and cook the next day or should I cook and place in fridge?
You can definitely prep this the day before and store it in the fridge, then bake it off the next day
I’ve made this twice now. Tips- the day before…to minimize beet bleed, first slice the beets, put in a bath of ice cold water, then spread them out on a rack on top of a baking sheet to dry for several hours. Mix the spices, cheese & cream altogether. After slicing the veggies & separated into individual bowls, pour over the cream mix, toss and let marinate overnight in the fridge. Assemble the day of baking, pour remaining cream from each bowl over the arranged veggies. Sprinkle a little more parmigiana on top. Cover and follow the recipe as directed. Make sure they’re cooked through! Mine took almost 2x as long before a fork would easily pierce the hardest veggies. Came out beautifully. I’ll post pics on Pinterest when I have a chance! Guests love love it ❤️