Rich & Creamy Vegan Scalloped Potatoes

These vegan scalloped potatoes are rich, decadent, and surprisingly easy to make! Layered with a silky cashew sauce and baked to perfection, you’d never guess that this cozy potato casserole was dairy-free.

This holiday season I’m all about veganized versions of classic holiday classics — you know, dishes like green bean casserole, pecan pie, and candied yams. And today I’m adding vegan scalloped potatoes to my classics list.

This side dish turned out to a pretty easy recipe to create. Regular old scalloped potatoes are pretty simple — they’re basically sliced potatoes baked up in creamy sauce. I went with a blend of cashews and non-dairy milk, thickened up with a bit of flour for the creamy sauce. Super simple!

Let’s talk about how it’s done!

What You’ll Need

• Raw cashews. They absolutely need to be raw. Roasted cashews have a much stronger flavor and will make your sauce taste like cashew butter. We’re going to be blending our cashews, so you’ll need to soak them in water for a few hours before getting started.
• Vegetable broth. I used Better Than Bouillon in seasoned vegetable flavor.
• Olive oil. Another type of high-heat oil can be substituted if you’d like, such as peanut, canola, or avocado oil.
• Onion.
• Garlic.
• Flour. We’re using regular all-purpose wheat flour. Other varieties such as gluten-free blends might work, but I haven’t tested any.
• Non-dairy milk. Just about any variety that’s unflavored and unsweetened should work, such as soy milk, almond milk, or cashew milk.
• Salt & pepper.
• Potatoes. We’re using regular old russet potatoes, but feel free to substitute another variety such as red potatoes or yukon golds.
• Fresh chives. These are for sprinkling over your vegan scalloped potatoes and are totally optional.

How to Make Vegan Scalloped Potatoes

The following is a detailed photo tutorial on how to make this dish. Scroll all the way down if you’d like to skip right to the recipe!

• Drain and rinse your cashews, then place them into a blender with your vegetable broth.
• Blend the mixture until smooth. Be patient! This can take a few minutes.

• Heat up your olive oil in a skillet and add diced onion. Cook the onion for a few minutes until it begins to soften up and brown, then add minced garlic and cook it with the onion very briefly.
• Sprinkle the flour into the skillet and give it a good stir so that it forms a coating on the onion and garlic.

• Slowly being stirring in your non-dairy milk, followed by the blended cashew mixture. Once both have been added, raise the heat and let your sauce simmer for a few minutes. It will thicken up as it cooks.

• Once the sauce is finished simmering, ladle a bit into the bottom of a baking dish, then top it with a layer of sliced potatoes. Keep layering sauce and potatoes until both have been totally used up, finishing with a layer of sauce.

Tip: It’s a good idea to peel and slice your potatoes before getting started so they’re ready to go when you need them, but they tend to turn brown as they sit. My solution is to submerge the sliced potatoes in cold water. This will prevent browning.

• Pop your baking dish into the oven and bake your non-dairy scalloped potatoes the casserole is lightly browed on top and the sauce is bubbly. The potatoes should be fork tender at this point.

Tip: If you’d like a little extra browning on top of your potatoes, pop them under a broiler for a few minutes towards the end of baking. Keep an eye on them though — they can burn quickly!

• The sauce will seem pretty runny when you first take the potatoes out of the oven. Let them sit for a few minutes and it will thicken up.
• Serve your vegan scalloped potatoes with a sprinkle of fresh chives.

Variations

• For scalloped sweet potatoes, simply substitute sweet potatoes for russets.
• For extra umami flavor, season your sauce with miso paste to taste instead of salt.
• For cheesy vegan scalloped potatoes, add ¼ cup of nutritional yeast and 2 tablespoons of hot sauce to your sauce. Sounds weird, I know! But it works. You can optionally also add a sprinkle shredded vegan cheese on top during the last 10 minutes of cooking.
• For herbed scalloped potatoes, add 1 to 2 teaspoons of dried thyme, sage, rosemary, or any combination of the three to your sauce.

Leftovers & Storage

Leftover vegan scalloped potatoes will keep in a sealed container in the fridge for up to 3 days. I don’t recommend freezing them, as this often changes the texture of cooked potatoes.

More Vegan Potato Side-Dishes

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Rich & Creamy Vegan Scalloped Potatoes

These vegan scalloped potatoes are rich, decadent, and surprisingly easy to make! Layered with a silky cashew sauce and baked to perfection, you’d never guess they were dairy-free.

Total Time 5 hours 10 minutes

Ingredients

• ½
  cup
  raw cashews,
  soaked in water 4 to 8 hours, drained and rinsed
• 1
  cup
  vegetable broth
• 3
  tablespoons
  olive oil,
  plus a bit more for the pan
• 1
  small onion,
  diced
• 3
  garlic cloves,
  minced
• 3
  tablespoons
  all-purpose flour
• 2
  cups
  unflavored and unsweetened non-dairy milk
• ¾
  teaspoon
  salt,
  plus more to taste
• Black pepper to taste
• 2
  pounds
  russet potatoes,
  peeled and thinly sliced (about 3 medium potatoes)
• Chopped fresh chives

Instructions

1. Place the cashews and broth into a blender and blend until completely smooth. Set aside.

2. Preheat the oven to 400°.

3. Coat the bottom of a medium pot or skillet with 3 tablespoons of olive oil and place it over medium heat.

4. When the oil is hot, add the onion. Cook the onion, stirring frequently until very soft and translucent, about 5 minutes. Add the garlic and cook it with the onion for about 1 minute more, until very fragrant.

5. Stir in the flour, a bit at a time, until a thick paste forms and coats the onions.

6. Slowly stir in the milk, followed by the cashew mixture. Raise the heat and bring the mixture to a boil.

7. Lower the heat and allow the sauce to simmer until it thickens up a bit, about 7 minutes, stirring frequently.

8. Remove from the pot heat and stir in the salt. Season with additional salt to taste and black pepper.

9. Lightly oil an approximately 2-quart baking dish (a 10-inch cast iron skillet or 9 x 9 inch dish will both work).

10. Ladle 1 cup of the sauce into the bottom of the dish. Arrange a layer of potatoes over the sauce, then top with about ½ cup more sauce. Repeat the layering until all of the potatoes and sauce are used (you’ll about need 3-4 layers of potatoes), finishing with a layer of sauce.

11. Bake uncovered until bubbly and lightly browned on top, 40-45 minutes.

12. Optionally, place the dish under the broiler for a few minutes towards the end of baking, until some dark brown spots appear.

13. Remove the potatoes from the oven and allow them to sit for 5 to 10 minutes, until the sauce thickens.

14. Sprinkle with chives, divide onto plates, and serve.

Recipe Notes

Make sure to use a really good quality, creamy non-dairy milk for this recipe — it does make a difference! I used WestSoy and it worked out great.

Variations:

Use sweet potatoes instead of russet, or use a blend of sweet and russet potaotes.

Instead of salt, season the sauce with some white miso paste to taste. This will give it some extra savory flavor.

For cheesy scalloped potatoes, add some nutritional yeast, or even some hot sauce.

Swap the chives out with fresh parsley, thyme, sage or rosemary.

Nutrition Facts

Rich & Creamy Vegan Scalloped Potatoes

Amount Per Serving

Calories 295
Calories from Fat 125

% Daily Value*

Fat 13.9g21%

Saturated Fat 2.3g12%

Sodium 480mg20%

Potassium 810mg23%

Carbohydrates 37.3g12%

Fiber 4.9g20%

Sugar 6.1g7%

Protein 7.7g15%

Calcium 40mg4%

Iron 2.3mg13%

* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.