The real Swiss raclette is beautifully simple: melted, scraped raclette cheese, potatoes boiled in their skins, gherkins and small pickled white onions. That’s it! The dish comes from the Valais, where shepherds melted half a wheel of cheese by the fire and scraped it straight onto their potatoes.
I tasted this traditional version in July 2025 at Lake Gérardmer, at the Chalet L’Aigle des Neiges, and it reminded me how good cheese needs nothing else.
And then there is the big winter debate: some people respect the Swiss tradition, and others put the whole fridge in the little pan. I’m not judging anyone, but here I give you the authentic recipe, so you can rediscover the real taste of the cheese. Which team are you on?
The story of that day: 🇫🇷 Lake Gérardmer
The recipe
Classic recipeThe traditional recipe for the dish, not the one from the restaurant where I tasted it.
Ingredients
- 1 kg raclette cheese (ideally Raclette du Valais AOP), about 250 g per person
- 1.2 kg small waxy potatoes (such as Charlotte or Amandine)
- 1 tbsp coarse salt
- 200 g gherkins (cornichons)
- 200 g pickled pearl onions
- Freshly ground black pepper
- Sweet paprika
Method
- Wash the potatoes well without peeling them. Put them in a large pot of cold water with the coarse salt, bring to a boil and cook for 20 to 25 minutes, until a knife goes through easily.
- Drain them and keep them warm in a basket covered with a clean tea towel, or in a closed casserole next to the raclette machine.
- Take the cheese out of the fridge 30 minutes beforehand. Remove the rind if it is very thick, then cut it into slices 3 to 4 mm thick.
- Put the gherkins and pickled onions in small bowls, with the pepper and paprika, in the middle of the table.
- Preheat the raclette machine for 10 minutes. Place a slice of cheese in each little pan and let it melt for 3 to 4 minutes, until it bubbles and starts to turn golden.
- Split a potato in half on your plate, scrape the melted cheese over it with the spatula, then add a grind of pepper and a pinch of paprika. Enjoy with the gherkins and onions, and start again.
- If you have a half-wheel raclette machine, melt the surface of the cheese under the heating element and scrape it directly onto the potato, just like in the Valais.
Tips and variations
- Allow 200 to 250 g of cheese and 300 g of potatoes per person.
- In Switzerland, raclette is traditionally served with a white wine from the Valais (Fendant) or a hot black tea.
- Leftover cheese keeps for a week in the fridge, well wrapped, and makes delicious toasted sandwiches.
- For the whole-fridge team: cured meats, mushrooms or tomatoes can go in the pan too, but then it is no longer Swiss raclette.
Recipe shared for guidance only, adapt it to your equipment: times and temperatures may vary. Check for allergens (gluten, milk, eggs, fish, shellfish, nuts, sesame…) and make sure ingredients are fresh. Raw or undercooked fish, meat and eggs are not recommended for pregnant women, young children, elderly or vulnerable people. Take care with hot oil, flambéing and alcohol. I am not a health or nutrition professional.