The Hands-Down Best Shortcut For Quicker Scalloped Potatoes

On the dining table, old-fashioned scalloped potatoes are the epitome of comfort. Golden slices of potatoes are baked to tender perfection, drenched in a creamy, bubbling sauce. In the kitchen, unfortunately, those very same slices are more or less a tedious hassle. One potato after another, you have to go through the repetitive motion of peeling off the skin and thinly slicing until there are enough to fill the baking dish. When it's last-minute, or you simply don't have the energy for them, try breezing through these steps with canned sliced potatoes. The dish will be done before you know it.

Instead of starting from scratch, canned sliced potatoes let you begin 15 minutes ahead with a pop of the can. No more knife work that feels like it takes forever, the dish is already halfway assembled the moment you think about making it. All that's left to do is drain the liquid, pat the slices dry, and stack them into the baking dish as you usually would. And just like that, a dish typically saved for special occasions becomes an easy weeknight treat for whenever the mood demands it.

You'd think that this convenience comes with a caveat, that saving time also means compromising the integrity of the dish. In reality, canned sliced potatoes taste almost indistinguishable from fresh ones, especially when they're coated in sauces and spices. They do have a more noticeable softness, but in a baked dish like scalloped potatoes, that's never a bad thing.

Take a quick look into the pantry; you might already have everything you need to make scalloped potatoes. Undoubtedly, this baked dish is one of the best ways to use canned potatoes, but it can also be home to a few other canned products. Sprinkled into the dish, canned peas (or any of your preferred canned veggies) bring joy in every bite as they tenderly pop between the starchy potatoes. It can also be evaporated canned milk stirred into the sauce, laying a richly sweet base that takes the dish to a whole new level of flavors.

On an entirely different yet no less spectacular approach, there are canned soups that will make scalloped potatoes beyond creamy. Cream of mushrooms, cream of chicken, cream of celery, etc., any cream soup you've got, toss it in, and make your own version of scalloped potatoes. For a cheesier, au gratin spin, canned cheese soup never disappoints as it seeps into every nook and cranny, coating the slices in that decadent tanginess.

Beyond canned convenience, there are plenty of ingredients you can use to upgrade your scalloped potatoes. That bag of frozen hash browns sitting in your freezer is an unconventional way to buff up the texture, but it works like a charm for an experimental twist. And if it's extra flavors you seek, why not find it in caramelized onions, which you can quickly put together with a packet of onion soup mix? If nothing else, just sprinkle in ham pieces for pops of savory to cut through all that richness and give your dish a subtle extra dimension.