Red Potatoes and Ham Casserole Recipe (2024)

FAQs

Are red potatoes good for baking? ›

Red potatoes tend to be smaller and waxy. Their higher moisture and lower starch content are great for boiling or roasting, and they manage to hold their shape well. These properties tend to make them less desirable for a baked potato, which should be a little larger in size and easy to fluff up on the interior.

Flour: All-purpose flour helps thicken the sauce as the scalloped potatoes bake. You'll sprinkle flour over each layer of potatoes so the sauce thickens evenly. Butter: A generous amount of butter distributed on each layer of potatoes adds richness.

Scalloped potatoes are rich and filling. Lean proteins and other veggies pair nicely, try grilled ham, pan-seared fish, roast chicken, broiled lobster, or even a filet of beef tenderloin. If no animal proteins are desired a lovely side salad with a sharp vinaigrette works great.

Potatoes or rice can remain rock-hard after prolonged cooking. Starch will not swell if it is acidic. If you have a lot of sour cream in your scalloped potatoes or add something acidic, your potatoes may not soften. You can cook the potatoes with heavy cream or milk and then, after they soften, stir in sour cream.

Soaking potatoes in water helps remove excess starch. Excess starch can inhibit the potatoes from cooking evenly as well as creating a gummy or sticky texture on the outside of your potatoes. Cold water is used because hot water would react with the starch activating it, making it harder to separate from the potatoes.

Red potatoes are great for roasting, cooking in soups, or boiling or steaming for potato salad. The waxy nature of the flesh means they'll maintain their shape, but it also means they will get gluey when overworked, so you'll want to choose a different potato for mashing.

There are a few possibilities for why your ham and potatoes are watery: Small Pan: If you used a pan smaller than a 2-quart pan, it is likely that not as much water was evaporated when making the sauce. That would leave a thinner sauce. Be sure to boil the finished sauce for a minute, as directed in Step 2.

Make a cornstarch slurry for a fast and easy thickener.

Stir out all the lumps. A few minutes before your casserole is done, add it a little at a time until you are happy with the thickness. Then, let the casserole finish baking. You can also substitute chickpea flour for cornstarch.

My scalloped potatoes are bland

They are also in need of serious seasoning to ensure deliciousness. Make sure your sauce is well-seasoned, but also, season each layer of potatoes with salt and pepper before adding the sauce, to make sure they are as flavorful as you want them!

Why are they called funeral potatoes? Funeral potatoes get their unique name from being a crowd-pleasing casserole served as a side dish at after-funeral luncheons (particularly in the culture of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints).

Can potatoes be sliced ahead of time for scalloped potatoes? ›

If raw, once the potato is cut you can store in the refrigerator, covered with water for 12-24 hours. Be sure to keep submerged in water to prevent slices from turning gray or brown.

I love cooking these potatoes in a cast-iron skillet because it gives the potatoes a nice crispy edge and it makes the perfect amount of potatoes.

If you're here, you'll probably be glad to know that yes, you can peel and cut potatoes the day before you plan to serve them — and that it's super easy! All you have to do is submerge the bare potato pieces in water and refrigerate (more on that later).

Surprisingly, aluminum foil is his secret weapon. After beautifully shingling the potatoes (he's got a genius trick for doing this quickly, too) he covers the dish in foil before hitting the oven.

Here's a quick reference on which types of potatoes are ideal for which type of cooking technique: Baking: Russet, long white, Peruvian. Boiled: New potatoes, round red, white. Fried: Russets and white.

The ideal potato for baking is low in moisture with a high starch content. These qualities allow a potato to bake up with a delightfully fluffy center and crispy skin. Because it has all of these features, Russet potatoes are the ideal potato for baking and the most commonly used choice.

You absolutely can substitute red potatoes for the russets in potato soup. Red potatoes are waxy, have more moisture, and tend to keep their shape better when cooked, so some people actually prefer them when making soup. In fact, I prefer them in most soups with the exception of this recipe.

Prepping the Red Potatoes for Roasting

The potatoes are easy to prep; just a few quick steps: Scrub the potatoes or wash them well with water – There is no need to peel them – the skin is thin and waxy and provides a lot of flavor, so be sure to leave it on!