Slow Cooker Beef and Potato Au Gratin
342 Comments Jan 08, 2023
Updated Jun 27, 2025
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If you’re looking for a hearty meal, this Slow Cooker Beef and Potato Au Gratin is the perfect recipe to try. Packed with hearty Russet potatoes, ground beef, and simple flavors, your family will love this dinner choice.
I love a hearty one-pot meal in the slow cooker like this one and my Crockpot Chicken, Potatoes and Green Beans Recipe or Crcokpot Pot Roast Dinner.
Au gratin potatoes are often confused with scalloped potatoes because they look similar. While scalloped potatoes typically call for a mix of milk and heavy cream, potato au gratin ingredients include lots of shredded cheese between its layers.
For this particular recipe, a combination of ground beef, white onion, and shredded sharp cheese are layered before slowly being cooked to perfection. Who knew you could make potatoes au gratin with ground beef?
Key Ingredients for Beef Au Gratin
You may already have many of these ingredients at home. For full recipe amounts, see the recipe card below the photos.
- Potatoes: The potatoes go in the slow cooker peeled; though I don’t mind skin on for most recipes, this one tastes great without. Be sure the potatoes are thinly sliced.
- Ground Beef: Adding beef to the recipe makes this au gratin potato dish a complete meal.
- Seasonings: These potatoes need heavy seasoning, so I went heavy with salt and pepper and added garlic powder, paprika, and parsley.
- Onion: White onion adds flavor and heartiness to this delicious casserole recipe.
- Beef broth: Evenly poured over all the layers to help everything cook evenly. Chicken broth works in a pinch!
- Cheese: It’s best to use a block of sharp cheddar cheese for shredding as it melts the best in meals like this.
Beef and Potato Au Grain Video
Variations
You can change this recipe up! Here are my approved adaptions.
- Use any potatoes (red, gold, or white potatoes). Just be sure they are thinly sliced. You can even use sweet potatoes for an entirely different meal.
- You can leave the skin on the potatoes if desired; it’s a personal preference.
- Brown one package (12-16 ounces) of bacon, crumble and use it in place of the beef in this recipe. You can also use ground turkey.
- Use swiss cheese for a totally different flavored meal.
How to Make Potatoes Au Gratin with Beef
Here is how to make this dish in a crockpot:
Step One – Brown ground beef on the stovetop in a large skillet; add salt and pepper to taste.
Step Two – Mix the paprika, garlic powder, parsley, salt, and pepper in a small bowl.
Step Three – Peel and slice russet potatoes thinly and lay them on the bottom of a 6-quart slow cooker. Add half of the potatoes to the slow cooker. Sprinkle over half of the onions and half of the seasonings.
Step Four – Add half of the meat.
Step Five – Sprinkle over half of the cheese.
Step Six – Add the remaining potato slices, seasoning, and onion.
Step Seven – Add the remaining beef.
Step Eight – Sprinkle over the remaining cheese and drizzle over the beef broth.
How to Serve Beef and Potato Au Gratin
Here is how I serve this easy ground beef dinner:
- Since this is a one-pot meal, you can serve it as-is by scooping a nice serving into a bowl.
- You can’t go wrong with sour cream and extra cheese for additional tasty topping suggestions. Hot sauce and green onion are great additions as well.
- This is a proper comfort food, so garlic bread, garlic sticks, or homemade rolls also complement this casserole perfectly.
Featured Comment
“I tried this and it was amazing. Definitely cooking it again and again. The taste was so good. Wish I could show you photo of mine.”
– Dawn
Slow Cooker Beef and Potatoes Au Gratin Recipe
How to Video
Ingredients
- 1 lb. ground beef, plus a touch of salt and pepper to season
- 3 lbs. peeled russet potatoes, sliced a ¼ inch thick (about 7 cups total after being sliced)
- 1 cup thinly sliced white onion
- 1 tsp. paprika
- ½ tsp. garlic powder
- 1 tsp. parsley
- 1 tsp salt
- ¼ tsp. pepper
- 3 cups shredded sharp cheese
- ½ cup beef broth, or chicken broth
Instructions
- Brown the ground beef on the stove top, drain fat. Add a touch of salt and pepper to season.
- In a small bowl combine the paprika, garlic powder, parsley, salt and pepper.
- Add half of the potatoes in the slow cooker. Sprinkle over half of the onions, half of the seasonings, half of the meat, and half of the cheese. Repeat the layers again.
- Drizzle over the broth evenly over the layers.
- Cover and cook on high for 4 hours. Do not open the lid during the cooking time or the potatoes will not get soft.
- Serve and enjoy!
Sarah’s Notes
- Use any potatoes (red, gold, or white potatoes). Just be sure they are thinly sliced. You can even use sweet potatoes for an entirely different meal.
- You can leave the skin on the potatoes if desired; it’s a personal preference.
- Brown one package (12-16 ounces) of bacon, crumble and use it in place of the beef in this recipe. You can also use ground turkey.
- Use swiss cheese for a totally different flavored meal.
- Since this is a one-pot meal, you can serve it as-is by scooping a nice serving into a bowl.
- You can’t go wrong with sour cream and extra cheese for additional tasty topping suggestions. Hot sauce and green onion are great additions as well.
- This is a proper comfort food, so garlic bread, garlic sticks, or homemade rolls also complement this casserole perfectly.
Nutrition
Nutrition info is auto-generated. This information is an estimate; if you are on a special diet, please use your own calculations.
More Ground Beef Crockpot Recipes
John Wayne Casserole and Hamburger Potato Casserole are layered, cheesy dishes made with ground beef, potatoes, and plenty of flavor—perfect for feeding a hungry crowd.
For something more versatile, Slow Cooker Ground Beef is great for prepping meals ahead, while Crockpot Salisbury Steak simmers in rich gravy with onions and mushrooms.
If you’re in the mood for cozy and satisfying, the Best Crockpot Chili is hearty and bold, and Slow Cooker Hamburger Hash is a one-pot mix of beef, potatoes, and veggies.
I’m making this tonight and I’m going to make a cheese sauce using a roux instead of just shredded cheese. It goes a lot further coating over all the food and it will make the entire meal very creamy.
sounds really good!
Has anyone tried using cream of mushroom in place of the broth? i am considering trying it
I have it going in my crockpot. A friend of mine told me about it and her family gave it rave reviews. I love the variety of meals you have listed and will be trying them very soon.
Any instant pot conversion?? I have absolutely no idea how to use this thing and thought converting my favorite recipes would be a good start, I cook dinner daily so I don’t want to have an epic fail night where no one can eat, but I got a new toy and I want to use it!!!
https://www.thecentsableshoppin.com/instant-pot-beef-and-potato-au-gratin/
I JUST FOUND THIS CONVERSION OF THIS RECIPE.
Just put this in the crock pot for this evenings supper. Sure hope it turns out good. Don’t see how it couldn’t because we love all the ingredients. Always trying different crock pot recipes because my husband sleeps days and works nights and it is great to have something in the crock pot so he has a hot meal before he goes off to work. Hopefully there will be left overs for me for a couple of days while he is gone on his run (truck driver).
I have this in the crock pot for tonight’s supper. Do you have any nutritional info, such as amount of protein per serving, calories per serving, and amount of fat. Thanks in advance.
Do you drain the hamburger?
Yes, I just added that info to the recipe. Thank you.
I’ve been searching out some fast no fuss recipes lately – my mother had a stroke a month ago and by the time I get home from going to see her my ambition level is below zero. Since I got not one but two crock pots for Christmas (one 3 qt and one 6 qt) I decided to break one in and give this a try. I did cut the recipe in half mind you, 7 cups of potatoes and I’d have been eating it for days lol. I tossed it all in my smaller crockpot, put it on low and let it do its work for 6 hours. I find that cooking on the low setting gives much better, tender results. The potatoes were perfectly cooked, the meat was tender and not dried out and the flavor was awesome. I will definitely be making this again
Make thithis yesterday and it was delicious! I made it the night before and put it in the crock pot in the morning. I put on low 8 hours. I also added a full cup of chicken broth instead of half.
So great to hear! Good to know it can be set up the night before.
Uncooked potatoes…? What if I cook then a little first? I never have a good time with potatoes and the crockpot
I’ve heard of people cooking potatoes in the microwave before adding to the crock pot. For me, if I keep the lid on the entire time, the potatoes get tender.