Recently, we made Bacon, Lettuce and Tomato sandwiches and had a half of a pack of bacon that we needed to do something with. Since I had told my wife that I would cook for her, and I decided to make homemade scalloped potatoes with bacon with the leftover bacon we had.
First Step - Bacon!
Before I could start, I needed to cook the bacon. I did not feel like dealing with frying it, so I decided to bake it instead. Roughly twenty five minutes at four hundred degrees on a cookie sheet, and I was good to go. I pulled the bacon out and put it on paper towel to drain the grease, and used the grease from the pan for my oil to fry my garlic and onion...
Next Up - Prep Work!
The next step in this process was to peel potatoes and onions, then peel and mince the garlic. I used about two pounds of potatoes and put them into water to keep them from browning, then I peeled two onions and four garlic cloves...
Peel 'Em Up!
Store in water to keep from browning...
Onion and garlic...
Peeled minced and diced...
Next I sautéed my onion and garlic until the onion was translucent. I used the bacon grease in preparation for making a gravy from it. While this was cooking on medium heat, I sliced my potatoes, cut up the bacon, and grated my cheese. I decided to use a sharp cheddar and a Colby jack for this dish, and I used roughly six ounces of each...
Sautéing the onion...
Slice up the potatoes...
Chop up your bacon...
Sharp cheddar and Colby jack...
Roughly six ounces per cheese...
Grate it up!
By this time, my onion and garlic was ready to go. I added some salt, pepper, thyme and paprika to taste. For me it was roughly a half of teaspoon of salt, pepper and thyme, but less than that of paprika. Then I added a third of a cup of flour and stirred that in, cooking for a couple of minutes to cook the flour...
Salt...
Pepper...
Thyme...
Paprika...
Stir in your flour...
While I was cooking the flour in for my gravy, I set my oven to three hundred and seventy five degrees for my dish. I was using a two quart casserole dish to hold everything, and I got that out as well...
Set oven to 375...
After my flour was cooked, it was time to whisk in my milk for my gravy. You want to make sure to stir constantly while doing this so you don't get any lumps. I added two and a half cups of milk into my flour mixture...
Whisk in the milk...
When my gravy was nice and thick, I added roughly two thirds of my cheese and my bacon. I stirred that up until the cheese was melted and everything was thoroughly mixed, then I added my potato slices and mixed until they were covered with the cheese mixture...
Add the bacon and cheese...
Stir in the potatoes to the melted cheese mixture until covered...
After the potatoes were covered with the cheese mixture, I filled the casserole dish and put it in the oven for an hour...
Put it in the dish...
Bake for one hour...
After the hour is up, remove the dish and cover with the rest of the cheese, place it back in the oven for about fifteen minutes until the top cheese is browned and melted...
After an hour...
Add the rest of the cheese...
Cook for fifteen more minutes...
After that, take the dish out of the oven and let it rest for about five minutes, then you are ready to eat! Believe me when I say this was so much better than I expected it to be! This is going to be something I make more often for sure!
Done!
Dinner is served!
As Always, Thank You For Reading!
Homemade Scalloped Potatoes with Bacon - From Scratch
