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This Vegan Dauphinoise Potatoes recipe with dairy-free cashew cream sauce is the perfect gluten-free side dish for the holiday season! Super creamy and flavourful, vegans and non-vegans alike will swoon over this classic recipe.
Recipe Difficulty – Easy
Table of Contents
Why this recipe works
There’s something about the holiday season that makes me crave cheesy, creamy potatoes. I knew there had to be a way to satisfy this craving while sticking to my dairy-free diet. Thus, these vegan dauphinoise potatoes were born!
Vegans and non-vegans alike will love this healthy side dish. It’s bursting with flavour from the fresh thyme and dijon mustard. And it gets its creaminess from my secret ingredient — cashews. I use a similar cashew based creamy sauce in my Vegan Cauliflower Cheese and Vegan Lasagne or my Vegan Mac & Cheese recipe.
Not vegan? These dauphinoise potatoes can easily be made with dairy-based ingredients!
And if you love potatoes as much as I do, then you’ve got to try my smashed potatoes, Boulangere Potatoes and my herb-salted hasselback potatoes recipes!
Ingredients to make Vegan Dauphinoise Potatoes
- Cashews – raw, aka not roasted
- Fresh thyme – You can also use a pinch of dried
- Dijon mustard
- Dairy-free milk – I used unsweetened almond milk, but any milk will work
- Potatoes – Maris piper works best. For another fun vegan recipe using potatoes then try out my Vegan Fishcakes.
- Grated cheese – I used vegan, but any mild or sharp cheese will work
See recipe card at the bottom of this page for quantities.
Substitutions
Here are a few suggestions for how you can adapt or substitute ingredients:
- More herbs — Instead of or in addition to the fresh thyme, you could use fresh rosemary, parsley, or sage.
- Sweet potatoes — If you prefer sweet potatoes over maris pipers, then you can swap them in this recipe.
Variations
A primary reason I love this gluten-free dauphinoise potatoes recipe is because it’s so flexible. I use gluten-free, dairy-free and meat-free ingredients due to allergies and personal choices but you can easily use:
- Bacon — Top with some crispy, crumble bacon or pancetta before serving.
- Dairy — If you’re not vegan or lactose intolerant, then use standard dairy-based ingredients like cream and cheddar cheese.
How to make Vegan Dauphinoise Potatoes
Step 1: Start by measuring out all of the ingredients for the dairy-free cream sauce. Add the cashews, milk, thyme, and mustard to a blender, and blend until completely combined.
Step 2: Next, prepare the maris piper potatoes. You can slice them with a knife like I did or use a mandolin. You just want them to be roughly the same size and thickness so they cook evenly.
Boil them in a small pot for 3 minutes to soften them before baking.
Step 3: Next, assemble the vegan dauphinoise potatoes in a prepared casserole dish. Start by adding a layer of potatoes to the bottom of a large baking dish. Then, pour over some of the cashew sauce with a generous sprinkle of the grated cheese and more fresh thyme.
Step 4: Repeat two more times. (I like to have three layers total, ending with the cheese and herbs.)
Bake at 200C (390F) for 30 minutes until the cheese is golden and the potatoes are cooked through. It should be bubbling around the edges.
Serving Suggestions
These vegan dauphinoise potatoes are a signature side dish that goes well with nearly any main, especially around the holidays. Here are some of my favourite dishes to serve alongside them:
- Easy Lentil Wellington
- Stuffed Butternut Squash
- Plant-Based Sausage Tray Bake
- Summer Salmon Kebabs
- BBQ Salmon Burgers
Leftovers
If you have a portion of these dairy-free dauphinoise potatoes leftover, simply place in a sealed container in the fridge overnight. You can either reheat in the oven or microwave the next day for lunch or dinner.
Cooked potatoes don’t freeze that well, so eat within a few days of making.
Recipe FAQs
Nope! I prefer fresh when I have them on-hand, but dried works just as well.
Potatoes with waxy peels don’t do well with this recipe. I prefer maris pipers or sweet potatoes so that the sliced potatoes are cooked fully and remain fluffy, even when coated in the dairy-free cheese sauce.
Absolutely! They probably wouldn’t even know this dauphinoise potatoes recipe was dairy-free if you didn’t tell them. It’s a crowd-pleaser!
Truthfully, cashews are the best nut to use in this vegan dauphinoise potatoes recipe’s dairy-free cream sauce. They’re full of delicious and healthy fats and truly come close to real cream in terms of texture and flavor when blended.
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Vegan Dauphinoise Potatoes
Ingredients
- 100 g cashews
- 2 sprigs fresh thyme
- 1 tsp dijon mustard
- 250 ml milk of choice, (I used unsweetened almond milk)
- 1 kg potatoes, (I used maris piper)
- 150 g cheese of choice, (I used vegan)
Instructions
- To a blender cup add the cashews + thyme + mustard + salt & pepper + milk and blend until smooth
- Thinly slice your potatoes and add to a pot with boiling water for 3 minutes to help soften
- Add a layer of potatoes to the bottom of a large baking dish, pour over some of the cashew sauce + grated cheese + fresh thyme and repeat to layer it up (I go for 3 layers)
- Bake at 200C (390F) for 30 minutes until golden and the potatoes are cooked through
Video
Notes
Nutrition
Iam not bed bound but I am disabled,80 in a fortnight and ingood health generally and am very fond of cooking and is one of my hobbies, I look at your blog regularly.
Sounds tasty my friend is alerget to nuts can I use a substitute
Just use creamy coconut milk instead of the cashew nuts and plant milk. Coconut milk has its own oil and doesn’t need nuts. This way you won’t need a blender. Of course you need to add the other ingredients like rosemary, mustard, salt, pepper etc.
Wow a great inspiration . Thank you for these ideas.