This low fat dauphinoise potatoes recipe is a healthy way to enjoy comforting, garlicky potatoes with far less fat and calories than you'd get in a conventional recipe. These healthy dauphinoise are made without cream, or you can add some low fat creme fraiche.
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What you'll love about the recipe
- This recipe is much lower in fat. Compared to a classic recipe, these healthy low fat dauphinoise potatoes have just 25% of the fat, plus significantly lower calories. Or omit the creme fraiche in the recipe if you want to make very low fat dauphinoise potatoes without cream
- A delicious comforting side dish to enjoy with Sunday roast
- Great for meal prep
- Low fat dauphinoise potatoes is a flexible recipe which can be cooked on the stovetop or in the oven or slow cooker
Ingredients
Potatoes. Many recipes specify Maris Piper or King Edward, so if you're buying potatoes especially for this recipe, use those.
Otherwise you can use most varieties, although I'd avoid very waxy salad potatoes as they won't cook down as well.
Garlic, plus a teaspoon of olive oil for frying. I think garlic is an essential flavour in dauphinoise, but it is important that it's not too overpowering.
I used just one small clove for this quantity of potatoes, very finely chopped.
If you've got some ready-roasted garlic, you could also use that for a subtle mild flavour.
Seasoning and nutmeg. Nutmeg and creamy potato is a marriage made in heaven (although if you don't like nutmeg please feel free to leave it out!). I prefer freshly grated nutmeg as I think it has a better flavour.
Milk. I used skimmed milk to keep the level of fat lower, but use whatever you prefer.
Creme fraiche. Reduced fat creme fraiche is a great product, it seems to be as creamy as full fat, and doesn't split when cooking. I think the fat levels vary a little across supermarkets, the one that I used had 40% less fat than regular creme fraiche.
If you want to make ultra low fat dauphinoise potatoes without cream, you can omit the creme fraiche and just use milk in the recipe.
Cornflour (cornstarch) is the magic ingredient that makes the best low fat dauphinoise potatoes. It allows you to have a thick unctuous sauce that's creamy yet low in fat.
Cornflour is naturally gluten free.
Optional ingredients
- Some dauphinoise potatoes have a little cheese sprinkled on top. I prefer them without, and of course cheese will add extra fat to the recipe, but it does make a lovely golden topping. You could use cheddar, gruyere or parmesan.
- You can also sprinkle a teaspoon of thyme into the sauce if you like.
- For a healthier dauphinoise, add some veggies such as onions or leeks. Chop them finely and saute them at the start of the recipe so that they cook through properly.
How to make healthy low fat dauphinoise potatoes
You'll need to cut the potatoes really thinly to have a good dauphinoise so that they cook through evenly.
If the potatoes are thin skinned, don't worry about peeling them.
You can either slice the potatoes with a food processor, with a mandoline or by hand (take care!). Some box graters also have a slicer on the side which would be ideal.
You're aiming for each slice to be about the thickness of a £1 coin.
Heat a large frying pan over a low heat. A non stick pan is useful as the starch on potatoes can cause them to stick to the pan.
Very lightly fry the garlic for a minute or so. It should be very lightly browned to soften the flavour, but no darker as it may taste bitter.
If you are using ready roasted garlic you can skip this stage.
Then stir the cornflour into cold milk and mix well.
Tip the milk into the pan with the garlic, and bring up to a simmer stirring constantly. The milk will thicken to the consistency of double cream.
Stir in the seasoning, nutmeg and creme fraiche, and mix well.
For dauphinoise without cream, omit the creme fraiche.
Add the potatoes, stirring them gently so that the slices separate and can cook properly.
Cover the pan and simmer very gently for 8-10 minutes. Stir occasionally so that the mixture doesn't stick.
The potatoes should start to soften but not be quite fully cooked.
Tip the mixture into an ovenproof baking dish and bake in a preheated oven at 200 degrees (180 fan) for 30 minutes.
The potatoes should be soft if you insert the tip of a knife.
Recipe tips
Depending on what else you are cooking for your meal, you might prefer to cook your low fat dauphinoise for longer in the oven without precooking the potatoes on the stove.
(I made this easy spatchcock chicken recipe at the same time as the oven temperature is the same.)
Just make the sauce on the stove, add it to the potatoes and cook the dish from scratch in the oven - it'll take up to an hour and a half. Use a slightly lower oven temperature (160 degrees) so that the potatoes don't burn and if necessary cover the dish with foil.
Alternatively, cook the healthy dauphinoise in the slow cooker. Lightly grease the slow cooker insert, add the raw potatoes and cover with the sauce. Gently lift the slices of potato so that some of the sauce runs underneath. Cook on high for 3 hours or 6 hours on low.
You can also cook low fat dauphinoise potatoes on the hob without using the oven. Cook the potatoes for a couple of extra minutes on the stove until they are completely cooked through and then pop them under the grill to brown.
Serving
Serve these healthy low fat dauphinoise potatoes hot.
Leftovers reheat very well. If you're just reheating a small amount, you can reheat them in a lightly greased pan on the stove.
Or to reheat a whole tray, pop them in a preheated oven at 160 degrees for 30 minutes. Cover the dish with foil so that the dauphinoise doesn't dry out or go too brown.
Frequently asked questions
These healthy low fat dauphinoise potatoes have 178 calories per portion (or 139 calories if you omit the creme fraiche). A standard recipe can have anything up to 500 calories. Fat is very high in calories, so cutting down on the fat makes a big difference to the calorie count.
As the cream sauce cooks in the oven it naturally thickens, especially when combined with the starch in the potatoes. As this low fat dauphinoise is made without cream, it needs additional thickening with cornstarch.
Yes you can freeze dauphinoise. However, the texture will be slightly softer. I prefer to just freeze small amounts of leftovers rather than making the dish in advance to freeze as I don't think it is quite so nice.
Other healthy side dishes
For another healthy potato side dish, you might also like these mashed potatoes without butter.
Or try one of the other vegetable dishes below as an alternative to potatoes.
Recipe
Low Fat Dauphinoise Potatoes
Equipment
- large pan, ideally non-stick
- oven proof baking dish approx 30cm x 24cm
Ingredients
- 600 g potatoes cut into 2mm slices
- 1 clove garlic peeled and very finely chopped
- 1 teaspoon olive oil
- 1 tablespoon cornflour
- 400 ml milk
- 100 ml reduced fat creme fraiche
- pinch grated nutmeg
- salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
- Place a large non stick pan on a low heat. Add the olive oil and fry the garlic for a minute until slightly softened.
- Stir the cornflour into cold milk.
- Add the milk to the pan. Stirring continuously, bring up to a simmer. The milk will thicken to the consistency of double cream.
- Mix in the seasoning, nutmeg and creme fraiche. The sauce should be smooth, thick and creamy.
- Add the potatoes to the sauce. Gently stir to ensure that the potatoes are well coated.
- Preheat the oven to 200 degrees (180 fan).
- Cover the pan and simmer gently for 8-10 minutes. Stir occasionally so that the potatoes don't stick to the bottom of the pan. The potatoes should be starting to soften but not quite fully cooked through.
- Arrange the potatoes and sauce into an ovenproof baking dish. Bake for 30 minutes until the potatoes are completely cooked.
Notes
- For a healthier dauphinoise, add some chopped onion or leek. Fry the veggies for a few minutes at the start of the recipe.
- Thyme also goes very well with potato - add a teaspoonful to the sauce.
- You can also add a little grated cheese to the top of the dish before baking (cheese will increase the level of fat in the recipe).
Nutrition
Please note nutritional information is for guidance only
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