These twice baked potatoes make for an awesome side dish. Jam packed with sour cream, cheese, bacon and chives you can never go wrong. This is the perfect crowd pleaser. Watch these disappear right before your eyes.
I have found that you cannot go wrong with a potato stuffed full of cheese and sour cream. These are some of my favorite ways to bake a potato. One of the biggest reasons is because I end up putting all of the ingredients onto a baked potato, so why not just include everything from the beginning. If you slice them in halves or into fourths and you have a great game day appetizer that is perfect for any crowd.
In this recipe
There isn’t a lot in the recipe, however it is all of the things you might normally put on top of a baked potato.
Potatoes: make sure you get a good starchy potato such as a russet for this recipe.
Bacon: pretty much makes anything better, kidding aside will add a nice smokey flavor and texture to the potatoes.
Cheese: this recipe uses cheddar, however, feel free to use any of your favorite cheeses for this recipe.
Getting that crispy skin
One of the first things that you want to have is a twice baked potato with a nice crispy skin. This can be accomplished by placing the potatoes directly on the center rack in the of the oven. This is my favorite way to normally bake potatoes as well. This is great for almost every type of potato however I would place a lined pan on the rack below to catch any liquid that might come from a potato like sweet potato that has a higher hydration percentage.
Shred your cheese
While shredded cheese is really convenient, I have found that it doesn’t melt as well as when you shred a block of cheese. This is mainly due to the addition of cellulose to the cheese to keep it from clumping and caking. I will use my food processor to shred the cheese, so it is pretty easy going that route. However, if that isn’t an option you can shred the cheese with a box grater or use the pre-shredded version.
Making twice baked potatoes
You will still want to work with warm potatoes to scoop out the inside of the potato, this will make the filling easier to work with. When you are making the filling, it is important to not overmix it. This can cause it to become gummy. A potato ricer makes this step much easier, however a potato masher is just as great. Once you fold in all of the other ingredients then you will want to either spoon or pipe the filling back into the well of the potato.
Looking for other potato recipes?
Loaded Twice Baked Potatoes
Equipment
- Mixing Bowl
- Piping bag with tip optional
- Spoon
- Skillet
- Food processor optional
- Potato ricer or potato masher
- Lined sheet pan
Ingredients
- 4 potatoes Russet or other starchy potato
- ¼ pound bacon small diced
- ½ cup sour cream
- 4 ounces cheddar cheese shredded
- ¼ cup butter melted
- 2 tablespoons chives fresh, chopped
- ½ tablespoon salt
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400°F, 200°C or gas mark 6.
- Place the potatoes directly on the center rack in the oven and cook until a fork passes easily through the center, about 45-60 minutes depending on the size.
- While the potatoes are cooking in a skillet over medium high heat cook the bacon until nice and crispy. Remove from the drippings and set aside. Retain some of the drippings for the potatoes later if desired.
- Once the potatoes are done remove from the oven but keep it on. Allow the potatoes to cool for about 10 minutes before slicing in half.
- Scoop out the inside of the potato leaving about â…› of an inch left around the outside to refill.
- Using a masher or potato ricer mash the potato and then add the butter, sour cream, chives, cheese and bacon. Add some of the bacon drippings at this point if desired. Fold to mix everything evenly.
- Spoon or pipe back into the carved-out potatoes. Place on the lined sheet pan and bake for another 15 minutes.
Nutrition
