This Kumara & Potato Bake is a comforting side dish made with layers of tender potato and kumara baked in a creamy garlic cheese sauce. The combination of the two vegetables gives each serving a lovely mix of flavours and textures.
The sauce is made with garlic, cheese, chicken stock, milk and butter, coating the layers as they bake until tender. It’s a delicious addition to the dinner table and ideal for serving alongside your favourite main meal.
What makes this kumara and potato bake different?
This dish is a wonderful variation to my popular scalloped potatoes recipe by adding kumara or sweet potato, along with a cheesy, garlicky, creamy sauce. I hope you enjoy this easy version!
What is kumara?
For those not in New Zealand, “kumara” is also known as sweet potato. It comes in many varieties, the most common being the red version with a red skin and creamy white flesh.
The version I love using in my cooking is the orange kumara (known officially as Beauregard) with both orange skin and flesh. It is sweeter than other varieties. You can also get gold, and purple varieties too.
I have combined a lovely red potato today that is perfect for baking and roasting with orange Kumara to make this lovely Kumara & Potato Bake. It is super easy to make, along with a lovely garlic sauce that bakes with the dish.
What do you need to make this Kumara & Potato Bake?
The ingredients you will need are listed below. Please scroll down to the printable recipe card for full ingredients and method.
- Potatoes (most suited for roasting or baking)
- Kumara
- Butter
- Garlic
- Plain White Flour
- Cheese
- Chicken Stock
- Milk
- Thyme (or another dried herb)
- Salt & Pepper
How do you make the creamy garlic sauce?
To make this recipe you will first need to make the creamy garlic sauce. To do this, you follow a very similar process to making a white sauce, with a butter and garlic base. Then adding flour to make a roux, then adding chicken stock, milk and seasoning.
What is the easiest way to slice the potato and kumara?
To prepare the potato and kumara I use my food processor as I have a fitting that allows me to thinly slice vegetables, this makes this step much easier.
You can also use a mandolin or very carefully slice thinly the vegetables using a sharp knife.
How do you layer the kumara and potato bake?
Then you set about assembling the bake. In a roasting dish I layer potatoes and kumara, then sprinkle over some cheese then half the sauce, then the remainder of the potatoes and kumara, before finishing with cheese and the sauce.
You can choose how you layer this dish, creating clear layers for each vegetable or mixing it up to create a pattern. I like to lay a few layers of potatoes then kumara then repeating to finish with a potato topping, this way the final layer is potatoes which tend to hold up to baking without burning better than kumara.
How long does kumara and potato bake take to cook?
Then you bake covered for 30 minutes then uncovered for 30-60 minutes. All ovens are different and this dish in particular can take longer to cook than you think. This is due to the nature of the different potatoes available and how quickly they cook.
When is the kumara and potato bake ready to serve?
Once the dish is golden brown and the potatoes and kumara are fully cooked through then you can remove from the oven. You need the finished dish to sit for 15 minutes once baked to allow the sauce to thicken and set.
Then serve alongside a roast dinner, or your favourite meat and vegetables. This recipe also makes a wonderful dish to take to a dinner party or a potluck.
Can you make kumara and potato bake ahead of time?
It can also be made a day ahead and reheated the following day, which is handy if you are short on time or preparing it for an occasion. Simply prepare and bake the dish as usual, then allow it to cool before storing it in the fridge. Reheat it the following day until it is piping hot throughout before serving.
Some other side dishes to try
If you want more delicious side dish ideas, you could check out some of my favourites below:
- Scalloped Potatoes
- Roasted Kumara, Carrot & Orange Salad
- Easy Perfect Roast Potatoes
- Kumara & Bacon Salad
Kumara & Potato Bake recipe
Kumara & Potato Bake
Kumara & Potato Bake combines tender potato and kumara with a creamy garlic cheese sauce for an easy, comforting side dish.
Ingredients
- 42 grams Butter
- 4 teaspoons Crushed Garlic
- 1/4 Cup White Flour, 37 grams
- 1 Cup Chicken Stock, 250 mls
- 2 Cups Milk, 500 mls
- 1 teaspoon Salt
- 1/2 teaspoon Pepper
- 1 teaspoon Dried Thyme (or Rosemary, Oregano etc)
- 6 Medium Potatoes, peeled (I use those recommended for roasting/baking) 6-800 grams
- 1-2 Large Kumara, 4-600 grams, peeled
- 2-3 Cups Cheese, 200 grams (I use tasty or a strong hard cheese)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 200C Bake
- Lightly grease a roasting dish sized pan, approx 33 x 23cm and set aside
- Have all the sauce ingredients ready to go as these are quick cooking times.
- In a large sauce pan add the butter and cook on a medium heat until completely melted.
- Add the crushed garlic and simmer for 1 minute on a low heat
- Add the flour and stir well and cook gently for a further 1-2 minutes, ensure it does not burn
- Add to this the chicken stock and whisk until no lumps remain, it will look quite thick
- Finally add the milk, salt and pepper and dried herbs (thyme) and whisk until fully combined.
- Slowly heat this on a medium heat while whisking occasionally until it just begins to simmer at the edges and slightly thicken and remove from the heat, approx 2-3 minutes
- Set aside this sauce while you prepare the potatoes and kumara and cheese
- Thinly slice peeled potatoes and kumara using either a food processor fitting, by hand or a mandolin, careful of your fingers!
- Grate 2-3 cups of cheese, and set aside.
- Begin to put together your dish by adding 1 layer of potatoes then 1 layer of kumara to the roasting dish, then 1 layer of potatoes, then sprinkle over half the cheese, and pour evenly half the sauce over the dish
- Repeat with the 2 layers of kumara, and finish with a final layer of potato slices
- Then sprinkle evenly the remainder of the cheese and finally the rest of the sauce
- Cover the roasting dish with aluminium foil and bake for 30 minutes covered
- After 30 minutes remove the foil and bake for a further 30-60 minutes until the potatoes are cooked through with still a little resistance and the top is golden brown and bubbling but not yet burning.
- Remove from the oven and allow to sit for 15 minutes for the sauce to thicken before serving.
- If making ahead of time, allow to completely cool before covering and place in the refrigerator until ready to reheat to hot in the oven.
- Will keep well for up to 2 days in the refrigerator.
- Enjoy!
Nutrition Information
Yield 8 Serving Size 1Amount Per Serving Calories 236Total Fat 6gSaturated Fat 4gUnsaturated Fat 2gCholesterol 17mgSodium 397mgCarbohydrates 39gFiber 3gSugar 2gProtein 7g
JustAMumNZ.com, occasionally offers nutritional information for recipes contained on this site. This information is provided as a courtesy and is an estimate only. This information comes from online calculators. Although justamumnz.com attempts to provide accurate nutritional information, these figures are only estimates.
I really hope you love this Kumara & potato Bake as much as we do. I love adapting recipes to make them easy to recreate in your own home, and this is such a comforting and versatile side dish to have on hand. It is perfect for taking along to summer BBQs or winter shared meals, or simply serving as a regular addition to your family’s dinner table.
If you give this recipe a go, I’d love to hear how it turned out for you in the comments. You can also leave a ⭐ rating in the recipe card above, it really helps others find and enjoy this recipe too.
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Happy baking,
Anna x
JC says
So good! Simple ingredients but super tasty
Anna From Just A Mum says
Glad you liked it! Anna
Len says
Been making this for years only allways use the purple skin, white flesh, komara. It is MUCH, mutch sweeter than the gold version and cooks into a creamier consistancy. I use this sweet potato in many other dishes as well, due to its creamier allmost thickening effect.