One-Pan Chicken Potato Gratin

Incredibly creamy one-pan chicken potato gratin using only three main ingredients: chicken quarters, potatoes, and cream.

This chicken and potato gratin is one of the most comforting and delicious meals you can imagine!!! No kidding! Not really diet food, but you will love this so much, you will keep making it.

Not to mention that you only need three ingredients to make it and that the recipe is also super easy and cheap to make.

One meal in a casserole dish: soft, creamy scalloped potatoes or potatoes dauphinoise with crispy and tender roasted chicken quarters on top.

What do you need?

Potatoes:

• Starchy potatoes are the best choice for potato gratin or potato dauphinoise. They will breakdown in that cream sauce and become soft and creamy, the perfect “bed” for the crispy and delicious chicken quarters roasted on top.
• The only “thing” about this recipe is the slicing of the potatoes. The slices have to be really thin in order to make sure that the potatoes will be perfectly cooked in one hour.
• You can do that with a sharp knife, but this will take its time and you have to make sure that all the slices are equally thick.
• The best way to ensure that the slices are regular is to use a mandolin. This way you will have all your potatoes ready in no time.

Meat:

• Chicken quarters are the most common cut of chicken in Germany, together with the boneless skinless breast.
• I use them a lot in my cooking, they are easy to handle, versatile, and always delicious. You could try these roasted chicken quarters, for instance – a super easy, basic recipe for cooking whole legs.

Cream:

• The last main ingredient is the cream, you will need about 125 ml/ ½ cup heavy cream.
• Otherwise, you will need 1 garlic clove, some sweet paprika powder, some fresh or dried thyme and rosemary, salt, and pepper.

How to prepare chicken quarters for roasting

• The quarters have more skin and fat than the already trimmed drumsticks and thighs.
• As they will be roasted on top of the potato gratin, all of the rendered fat will remain in the dish and will help cook the dauphinoise potatoes, making them even more delicious than regular scalloped potatoes already are.
• But, of course, we don’t want to overdo it with the fat, otherwise the dish will become too heavy.
• So, make sure you remove all the extra fat and skin wobbling on the underside of the thigh. Only leave the skin surrounding the drumstick and the skin on the upper side of the thigh.

How to prepare?

• This scalloped potatoes and chicken recipe serves two, three at the most. It can be easily doubled, but you will have to use a larger casserole dish that will fit four quarters.
• Peel the potatoes and slice them thinly, about 2-3 mm/ 0.07 – 0.11 inches thick. The best and fastest way of slicing potatoes for potato gratin is to use a mandolin/slicer (Amazon affiliate link).
• Spread the slices into a lightly buttered casserole dish of about 20×25 cm/ 8×10 inches.
• Mix together the heavy cream, grated garlic, and herbs. Add ½ teaspoon fine sea salt and black pepper.
• Pour the mixture over the potatoes and shake the casserole dish slightly to ensure that the cream is evenly distributed into the dish.

•  Remove the fat and skin wobbling on the underside of the chicken thigh. Only leave the skin surrounding the drumstick and the skin on the upper side of the chicken thigh.
• Pat the chicken quarters dry with kitchen paper. Rub well with salt, pepper, and sweet paprika. Place the chicken legs on top of the potatoes.

• Bake the chicken potato gratin in the preheated oven for 1 hour or until the meat is cooked through and the potatoes are soft.
• To check if it is cooked through, pierce it in the thickest part of the thigh, the juices should run clear.

What to serve with the dish?

So many choices! Try a regular green salad with yogurt dressing, it probably goes quicker than anything else, it is fresh and versatile. You could have sauteed asparagus with garlic in spring, sauteed zucchini and onions in summer, green beans in autumn, and roasted carrots in winter.

More chicken and potatoes:

Greek Baked Chicken and Potatoes

Spicy Korean Stew

Tunisian Tajine

Roasted Chicken Thighs and Potatoes

Baked Mango Chicken