It’s the ultimate spud side dish! Mashed potato meets jacket potato in this easy-to-prepare recipe for Twice-Baked Potato — topped with bacon, onions, sour cream, and melted cheddar cheese.
Prep time – 15 minutes
Cooking time – 1 hour and 2 minutes
Yields – 4 servings
I love when side dishes become main courses. Such is the case with this twice-baked potato, in which we bake the spud as you’d imagine but then scoop out the fluffy stuff inside to create mashed potatoes. THEN we take that mashed potato, put it back in the potato skin, and bake once more. During the process we inject the mashed potato with as many ingredients as we can manage. Whatever we can’t put inside the potato we put atop it.
What once was a humble jacket potato — waiting patiently to join whichever meat you wanted to serve as your entrée — has become a super-powered spud. Now that it includes veggies, dairy, and meat, your twice-baked potato will be your go-to midweek lunch.
Why You Will Love This Recipe
- You can personalize twice-baked potatoes, changing the filling to whatever you like. This makes these potatoes the ideal side dish when serving those with dietary restrictions.
- The finished product looks really good, you will love serving them to your guests, whose eyes will widen when they see these fluffy mounds of mash inside a potato-skin jacket.
- Your kids will love this one, who doesn’t love potatoes, bacon, and cheese?
Ingredients
Aside from the potatoes, this list comprises toppings more than ingredients, so look it over, buy only those toppings you want, and add others you’re in the mood for.
- 4 large russet potatoes
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 4 slices bacon
- 1 tbsp butter
- ½ cup sour cream
- ¼ cup whole milk
- ½ cup cheddar cheese, grated
- salt and pepper, to taste
- 2 spring onions, finely sliced
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line a baking tray with parchment paper.
- Generously drizzle the large potatoes with olive oil until well coated. Poke holes in the potatoes with a fork. Place the prepared potatoes on the lined baking tray and bake for approximately 1 hour, or until a fork easily pierces through the potato skin.
- While the potatoes are baking, fry the bacon in a hot skillet until it gets super crispy. Once done, chop it up into small pieces.
- Carefully cut off the top third of each cooled potato lengthwise. With a spoon, gently scoop out the fluffy flesh and put it into a mixing bowl.
- Mash the potato with a masher or a fork until smooth. Add the butter, sour cream, whole milk, then season with salt and pepper to taste. Mix all the ingredients until well combined.
- Add the diced crispy bacon, finely sliced spring onions, and half of the grated cheddar cheese to the bowl of mashed potatoes.
- Generously fill each potato skin. Sprinkle the remaining cheddar cheese over each potato. Set the oven to BROIL (or you can use a grill) and heat the potatoes for 2-3 minutes, or until the cheese is melted.
Variations
Aside from the classic Bacon & Cheese that I made here, there are numerous variations. Here are some of my favorites:
Buffalo Chicken: Combine mashed potatoes, shredded cooked chicken, buffalo sauce, and cream cheese, then fill the potato skins. Top with blue cheese crumbles and bake. Garnish with green onions and drizzle with ranch dressing.
Broccoli and Cheddar: Mix mashed potatoes with steamed broccoli florets, extra-sharp cheddar cheese, and a touch of cream or milk.
Mediterranean: Incorporate crumbled feta, chopped Kalamata olives, sun-dried tomatoes, and fresh parsley into the mashed potatoes.
Taco-Stuffed: Something for Taco Tuesday. Add seasoned ground beef or turkey, black beans, corn, and a dollop of salsa to the mashed potatoes. Top with a dollop of sour cream and a sprinkle of chopped cilantro.
Serving Suggestions
While you can totally eat one of these spud-tastic servings on their own (they make a great midweek lunch), here are some dishes you may want to serve alongside them:
Fiesta Lime Chicken: This chicken dish, which only takes 20 minutes to prepare, is cooked up until it’s juicy and tender then flavored with Mexican spices. Perhaps share some of those spices with the potato?
Air Fryer Brats: Make these brats as part of succulent hot dogs then pair up the potato so that both feature the same toppings. Melted cheese and bacon on the potato? Bacon and cheese on the brat!
Cube Steak: Cube steak is the answer for those looking for a steak-style dinner without having to invest — time-wise and money-wise — in a finer cut. There to keep this steak company is the twice-baked potato, because the 2 go together like salt ‘n’ pepper and knives ‘n’ forks.
FAQs
Yes, you can. First cook them at 390°F for 35-40 minutes, then, once they are stuffed, cook at 350°F for 7-10 minutes.
If your potato skins are falling apart, you’re probably not leaving a good margin. You shouldn’t be scraping along the inner sides of the potato skin. Its walls should have some width to them so leave some flesh inside.
You sure can. Just be mindful that sweet potatoes are, well… sweet, and while most people appreciate this, they may not go with the same toppings as a regular spud would. Experiment with what you put on them. Also, sweet potatoes, have a higher sugar content and are denser than russet potatoes, so they will require a longer cooking time.
How to Store Twice-Baked Potatoes
Let the potatoes cool completely. Put them in an airtight container or wrap them individually in aluminum. You can store them in your fridge for up to 4 days. Freezing potatoes will unfortunately alter their texture so I don’t recommend doing so. When it’s time to dine once more, remove the potatoes from the fridge and let sit at room temperature for 15 minutes. You can either microwave them (be sure to remove the aluminum beforehand!) or reheat them in the oven at 350°F for 20-25 minutes.
Easy Twice-Baked Potato Recipe
Ingredients
- 4 large russet potatoes
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 4 slices bacon
- 1 tbsp butter
- ½ cup sour cream
- ¼ cup whole milk
- ½ cup cheddar cheese grated
- salt and pepper to taste
- 2 spring onions finely sliced
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line a baking tray with parchment paper.
- Generously drizzle the large potatoes with olive oil until well coated. Poke holes in the potatoes with a fork. Place the prepared potatoes on the lined baking tray and bake for approximately 1 hour, or until a fork easily pierces through the potato skin.
- While the potatoes are baking, fry the bacon in a hot skillet until it gets super crispy. Once done, chop it up into small pieces.
- Carefully cut off the top third of each cooled potato lengthwise. With a spoon, gently scoop out the fluffy flesh and put it into a mixing bowl.
- Mash the potato with a masher or a fork until smooth. Add the butter, sour cream, whole milk, then season with salt and pepper to taste. Mix all the ingredients until well combined.
- Add the diced crispy bacon, finely sliced spring onions, and half of the grated cheddar cheese to the bowl of mashed potatoes.
- Generously fill each potato skin. Sprinkle the remaining cheddar cheese over each potato. Set the oven to BROIL (or you can use a grill) and heat the potatoes for 2-3 minutes, or until the cheese is melted.
