Swiss chard gratin, with creamy greens and a crispy panko topping, is ready in about 45 minutes.
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Update 2026-08-26: I picked up a CSA box for my brother when he was out of town, with a bunch of Swiss chard in it. When he asked what I did with it, I looked up this recipe to share with him - and realized how out of date it was. Here is the cleaned up version.
The recipe is inspired by the chard gratin from Alice Water's The Art of Simple Food
, streamlined into a two-pan technique - a sauté and a baking dish to brown. Alice's original version is fantastic, but I don't have the patience to boil, sauté, toast, then bake - so I'm combining a bunch of those steps.
My simplified version came out great. The recipe has a range of tastes - the bitter green chard, sweet sautéed onion, creamy milk and flour sauce, and crunchy, toasted panko bread crumb crust.
This recipe is a lot lighter than I thought it would be; when I hear gratin, I think of potatoes covered in cheese and cream. This isn't a diet recipe per se - butter, milk, flour and bread crumbs are involved, after all. But the recipe uses just a little of those ingredients for flavor, with the chard being the star of the show. If you want to serve chard to someone who thinks they won't like it, this recipe is a great place to start.
Inspired By: Alice Waters, The Art of Simple Food
Equipment
- Large Sauté pan or dutch oven with a lid (I used an 8 quart All-Clad Stockpot
) - Medium baking dish (I used a 9 inch square Le Creuset baking dish)
How to make Swiss Chard Gratin in pictures
Toast the bread crumbs
Toast the bread crumbs in butter, then set aside
Sauté an onion and swiss chard stems
Sauté the onion and swiss chard stems until softened
Steam the chard leaves
Make the milk sauce
Mix in the flour and milk and simmer to thicken
Assemble and bake the gratin
Pour the pot of chard into a baking dish and top with the toasted bread crumbs. Put in a 400°F oven for 20 minutes, or until browned and bubbling.
Variations and ingredients notes
- Chard: Use regular chard instead of Swiss chard. It tastes the same, but it isn't as colorful.
- Other greens: Spinach (especially baby spinach) is an exact substitute for the Swiss chard leaves; everything else stays the same in the recipe. Kale and collard greeens can also be substituted, but they will need more time in the "steam the leaves" step to get tender - 10 to 15 minutes.
- Sweet raisins: To add some extra sweet flavor mixed in, add ¼ cup of raisins with the swiss chard leaves in the "steam the leaves" step.
- Extra rich gratin: Substitute cream (or half and half) for the milk
📖 Recipe Card
Swiss Chard Gratin Recipe
- Total Time: 45 minutes
- Yield: 9 servings 1x
Ingredients
Toasted bread crumbs
- 1 tbsp butter
- ½ cup Panko bread crumbs
Chard Sauté
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 tablespoon butter
- 2 pounds Swiss chard (large bunches), leaves separated from stems, leaves cut into 1-inch strips, stems cut into ½-inch strips
- 1 medium onion, diced
- ½ teaspoon + ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 tablespoon flour
- ¾ cup milk
- ½ teaspoon fresh ground black pepper
- A few grates of fresh nutmeg
Instructions
- Toast the bread crumbs: Melt 1 tablespoon of butter in a sauté pan or dutch oven over medium heat, then add the bread crumbs and toss to coat. Cook, stirring often, until golden brown, about 3 minutes. Remove the toasted crumbs to a plate.
(Pay attention and keep tossing in this step; bread crumbs go from browned to burnt in an instant.) - Prep the chard and onion: Separate the leaves of the Swiss chard from the stems. (I fold the leaves over and run my knife down the edge of the stem to separate them.) Slice the stems into ¼-inch slices, and the leaves into 1-inch slices. Trim, peel, and dice the onion.
(If the chard has dirt on it, I use a salad spinner to clean it. I separate the stems from the leaves first, then I swish the stems in the water in the spinner to clean them. I slice the leaves, and put them into the water in the spinner. Then I use the spinner to rinse and dry the leaves.) - Sauté the onions and the chard stems: Wipe out the saute pan and put it back over medium heat. Add 1 tablespoon of olive oil and 1 tablespoon of butter and heat until the butter stops foaming. Add the sliced chard stems and the onions, and sprinkle with ½ teaspoon of kosher salt. Sauté until the onions and stems soften, about 5 minutes.
- Steam the chard leaves: Add the chard leaves to the pot and sprinkle with 1 teaspoon of kosher salt. Cover the pot and cook until the leaves are wilted and tender, about 5 more minutes.
- Make the milk sauce: Sprinkle the flour over the wilted chard and stir until evenly coated. Add the milk, black pepper, and nutmeg, and cook, stirring occasionally, until the milk is bubbling and has thickened up a little, about 3 minutes.
- Assemble and bake the gratin: Heat an oven to 400°F. Pour the chard into the baking dish, top with the bread crumbs in an even layer, and put the baking dish in the oven. Bake for 15 minutes, or until the crust is well browned and the chard is bubbling. Remove the baking dish from the oven, let it rest for 10 minutes to cool down, then serve. Enjoy!
to clean it. I separate the stems from the leaves first, then I swish the stems in the water in the spinner to clean them. I slice the leaves, and put them into the water in the spinner. Then I use the spinner to rinse and dry the leaves.)
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 30 minutes
Nutrition
- Serving Size: ½ cup of gratin
- Calories: 239
- Sugar: 2.3 g
- Sodium: 921.4 mg
- Fat: 14.1 g
- Carbohydrates: 16.3 g
- Fiber: 0.9 g
- Protein: 12.1 g
- Cholesterol: 35.8 mg
What to serve with Swiss Chard Gratin
This is a hearty vegetable/starch side dish; I like to serve it with roasts, especially my Roast Butterflied Chicken and Slow-Roasted Pork Shoulder, where I already have the oven heated up and can just add the baking dish to finish.
Can I Make Swiss Chard Gratin in Advance?
I will make this recipe ahead by finishing everything before the "Assemble and bake" step. I save the toasted bread crumbs in one sealed container, and sautéed and milk sauced swiss chard in another. They will both last for a few days in the refrigerator. When it's time to cook, I assemble the baking dish and bake for 25 minutes (adding a few extra minutes to reheat the ingredients.)
Storage and reheating
Leftover gratin will have a soggy crust, but still taste good. I store leftovers in 2-cup storage containers, where they're good for up to 3 days in the refrigerator. (Gratin leftovers don't freeze well.) I reheat the leftovers in the microwave.
Frequently Asked Questions
The chard leaves take up a lot of space before they wilt, so I need a big pot with a lid to fit them for the steaming step.
I'm not a fan of frozen swiss chard, but if it's all you have, here's how to use it. Don't worry about separating the stems and the leaves; Do the sauté the onion step, then add the frozen chard to the pot in the steaming step. The steaming step will only take a minute or two - you just need to reheat the (already wilted) chard. Then, continue with the "make the milk sauce" step.
What Do You Think?
Questions? Other ideas? Leave them in the comments section below.
Related Posts
Looking for other ways to use Swiss chard? Try my Sautéed Swiss Chard with Pine Nuts and Raisins, Basic Sautéed Swiss Chard, or Stir-fried Swiss chard.
If you want some other gratin ideas, try my Instant Pot Cannellini Beans and Greens, Brussels Sprouts Gratin, or Instant Pot Cranberry Bean Gratin.
For many other recipes, check out my All Recipes Index.
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Christine H says
I'd bet some small white beans from RG would go well in this dish!
Mike V @ DadCooksDinnerDinner says
Try it, it’s great!
sheila @ Elements says
Sounds really good! Looks quite tasty too! 🙂