Gruyere and Thyme Stacked Potatoes are so easy to make in a muffin tin. They have layers upon layers of thinly sliced potatoes, gruyere and parmesan cheese, fresh thyme, and of course garlic. Their edges are crispy while the inside melts in your mouth. A must make for the holidays, and easy enough for a side to a weeknight dinner.
Pre-heat oven to 400°F. Optional: lightly grease 12 muffin tins.
In a medium bowl, mix together gruyere, parmesan, thyme, salt, and garlic.
1 ½ cups gruyere cheese*, ⅔ cup parmesan cheese*, 1 Tablespoon fresh thyme, 1 to 1 ¼ tsp coarse sea salt, 2-4 garlic cloves
In a second large bowl, coat the sliced potatoes with melted butter (I usually just use my clean hands to make sure all the potato slices are coated as evenly as possible).
In a regular-sized (12) muffin tin, layer 4 potato slices and then approximately 1/2 teaspoon of the cheese mixture. Continue this pattern of 4 potato slices, then cheese, until the potatoes are taller than the tin (they will shrink when they cook). You'll have 3-4 layers total, ending with cheese on top.
Cover with foil and bake for 15 minutes. Remove foil and continue to bake for an additional 25-30 minutes until golden brown and bubbly. How thinly you sliced your potatoes and how high you stacked will affect the bake time, you want them to be fork-tender with the tops and sides golden brown. Remove potato stacks with a spoon (I "scoop" them out) and serve with additional thyme as desired.
Notes
Use a mandoline to slice the potatoes really thin. I use the 1.5 or 2.5mm setting on my handheld mandoline (or 1/16 to 1/8 of an inch).
The potatoes themselves generally release enough oil from the butter and cheese to not require any greasing of a non-stick muffin tin. If you know your pan likes to stick, I'd recommend lightly greasing it.
*Look for cheese specifically labeled vegetarian, if needed.
Press the cheese down a bit when measuring, or have "heaping" measurements. :)
The recipe card was updated 11/2020; the cooking time was reduced by 5-10 minutes after further testing and feedback. The cook time will depend on the thickness of your potato slices and how high you stack them, as noted. Please keep this in mind and check for doneness as the tops and sides become golden brown and bubbly.