Twice Baked Potatoes

By Snowy0wl

Ingredients

• 4 large russet potatoes, about a pound each
• Olive oil
• 1/2 cup sour cream
• 1/2 cup milk
• 2 Tbsp butter, softened
• 1 Tbsp cream
• 1 cup grated cheddar cheese
• 4 strips bacon
• 1/4 cup chopped green onion
• 1 cup crumbled blue cheese
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh chives
• 1/2 teaspoon salt

Details

Servings 4
Cooking time 105mins
Adapted from simplyrecipes.com

Preparation

Step 1

Bake the potatoes. Preheat the oven to 400°F. Scrub the potatoes clean under running water. Poke each potato in several places with the tines of a fork so that when the potatoes are cooking they don't explode. Rub the potatoes all over with a little olive oil. Place directly on the middle or top rack of the oven. Cook for 1 hour and 15 minutes, or until the potatoes are cooked through. They should give a little when pressed.

If short on time you can bake the potatoes in the microwave, 10 minutes on high heat for 2 potatoes, 15 minutes for 4 potatoes. The skins of microwave baked potatoes aren't nearly as crispy, so you may want to rub a little olive oil on them and finish them in a conventional oven at 400°F for 10 minutes.

If you are including bacon as one of your mix-ins, while the potatoes are cooking, cook the bacon strips in a frying pan on medium low heat for 10 to 15 minutes, or until crisp. Drain on paper towels. Let cool. Crumble.

Place the scooped out potato insides, sour cream, milk, cream, and butter into a large bowl. Mash with a potato masher. If you want a creamy texture, beat with an electric beater until desired consistency. Note, do not over-beat potatoes, they can turn glue-y.

Mix in the extras with the potatoes. Reserve some of the extras to sprinkle on the tops of the potatoes. Spoon fillings into the potato shells. Sprinkle with extra toppings.

Heat oven to 350°F. Place potatoes on a roasting pan and bake 15 to 20 minutes until heated through.

You bake the potatoes and scoop out the middle same as you, mix with milk, butter & seasoning, spoon back into the potato, make a small indentation with the back of a spoon and crack an egg into it.

A homemade sour cream and onion version, using roasted or caramelized white onion, sour cream (duh) and some dried Ranch dressing mix (I know, for shame) is pretty good too. Just use the Ranch stuff sparingly to taste (no salt necessary).

My favorite version of a twice baked potatoe mixes tiny cuts of broccoli florets and cheddar as the mix.

You can add an egg to make them truly fluffy.

I used a little ranch veggie dip when I was out of sour cream and some cream cheese and they were nice additions.

Our family favorite is the potato filling mixed with sourcream, hot and spicy salsa, and cheese, then topped with more cheese. We sometimes add chopped jalapenos if we want it hotter!! Yum.

The thing that makes mine taste really good is to put butter and chives and pressed garlic and what ever else herbs im using in a frying pan and let that simmer for a while then add it to the potatoes. Kinda brings out the best in the potatos.

Oh, Elise! I almost closed this page as soon as it opened up and I got a glimpse of that mouthwatering photo glaring at me. I'm so hungry! But of course I read the entire article. (I just love the idea of adding blue cheese.) And naturally I then moved on to the comments. You had to ask for everybodys' favorite recipes, didn't you? Now I'm REALLY hungry. And not a baking potato in sight--for miles! Don't worry, I still love you, though. Have a delicious weekend! ; )

For a more elegant variation on twice baked potatoes, cut them cross-wise rather than length-wise, cut about a 1/4 inch off the ends (to allow them to stand upright), and use a pastry bag with a wide tip to refill the shells before the second bake. To help keep the shells upright in the oven, place them in a muffin pan. Instead of cheddar or blue cheese I like to use a few tablespoons of Boursin cheese. Boursin is also a great addition to a standard mashed potato recipe.

I make a baked potato casserole. After the potatoes are baked, I pull the thin skin off (or mash it in) then mash the potato coarsely, mix in some frozen peas, a lovely sharp cheddar (or maybe pepperjack), some sour cream, bacon fried crisp and crumbled, butter and salt & pepper. Put it in a greased casserole dish, toss another handful of cheese on top and bake it til it's all hot and melty. yummmmmmm.

Pix are gorgeous! Years ago, at a pizza parlor no less, I got a baked potato instead of the rest of the gang's pepperoni pizza. They made it with mashed potato innards, along with some jarred marinated artichoke hearts (chunked up), black olives, and sliced green onions. Add as much of the marinade as needed for texture. Healthy dollop of sour cream when ready to serve. Sounds weird, but is really good...all California coastal food items.

One thing I always add when mashing potatoes is white pepper--it adds a wonderful flavor to them--try it!

asiago makes a nice substitute.

salt and pepper on the outside.My husband eats the skin,so this makes them tasty.

When making potatoes as a main dish I usually add broccoli florets.

I was out of cream or milk once when making mashed potatoes so used evaporated milk. I got raves on them. Now I use the same with stuffed potatoes. The flavor is really great. I'm glad to get all of these ideas on ingredients to add. Potatoes--hard to beat any way you cook them.

Does anyone have any suggestions on whether twice baked potatoes can be made ahead and refrigerated or frozen? I am thinking of serving them on boxing day (dec 26th) and I would like to make them ahead of time.

Potatoes cooked in a microwave are more steamed that baked. Yes you can do it if really necessary but better to bake in an oven. To speed up that process insert large stainless steel skewer through the centre of the spud longways. This will conduct heat to the centre of the spud. It will probably take less than an hour but this depends on your oven, and the size of the potato.

If you add enough extras, and whip it really hard you should not need an extra potato.

For the person wondering if you can freeze the stuffed potatoes, this reheats perfectly. I make more potatoes than we need for a dinner and freeze the rest wrapped in saran wrap and then put them all into freezer bags. Take them out a couple of hours prior to serving and reheat at 3:50 for 1 hour.

Ooooooh my goodness. I am now drooling like crazy! This will definitely be tomorrow's dinner (alas I've already had tonight's =). Thanks Elise for the recipe, and everyone else for all the variations!

I had a general idea how to make them, but I wasn't sure of the particulars like cream/milk, butter, etc. I don't think I have any sour cream that I bought this year, but cream cheese instead should work just fine from the looks of it.

First off, I couldn't decide which to make so I made both! They were terrific! I've used a lot of different recipes for twiced baked potatoes, but these were by far the best!

Just made these last night. I just scoop out the flesh plop in in my Kitchen Aid add a cube (yes a cube) of softened butter, 8oz. sour cream and tons of shredded cheddar cheese. Mix well place back in the potato skins, bake at 350 for about 30-35 minutes and devour. Not low cal or low fat but DELICIOUS!

Ever since I found this recipe this has been my go-to recipe. My husband absolutely LOVES it. I don't ever have cream in my fridge so I always leave it out but it still comes out faboluous every time. I just keep adding more milk, butter, or sour cream until it just tastes perfect. Try it, you'll love it!

Delicious! I used this recipe as a base to my own varition: substitute French onion dip for sour cream, add 2 strips of bacon (I like mine bacony and this way so I can have more in the mixture and won't have to skimp on toppings), and added 1/3 cup of spinach to the mix (gotta get my greens in somehow), some garlic and finally a heaping tablespoon of ranch to seal the deal, very good! Thank you for providing me with the basis for some excellent potatoes!

I do this all the time,but like a course not smooth mix. Try ham instead of bacon-works fine-second baking can be done next day if needed-holds well in plastic or foil--can do no wrong recipe.

I like to add grilled shrimp to mine. We call it shrimp potato boats.

These all sound so yummy. For whatever reason I have never added bacon to my baked potatoes and the idea of blue cheese sounds divine. I'm looking forward to trying these after my "turkey bacon" search. We don't usually do the 'twice baked' bit but our favorite toppings (prior to trying these!) are to cut the potato in half, add a couple dollops of sour cream or plain yogurt, a sprinkle of chopped onions and some steamed broccoli, a big spoonful (or 2!) of baked beans and then a *big* handful of sharp cheddar cheese. The baked beans idea came from my time in England and the many pub-food "jacket potatoes" I ate!

My mom used to make twice baked potatoes and she put canned tuna in the mix and served it as a main dish. I didn't care for tuna so I never thought to make them for myself. However I was curious about how other people made their versions, so I did a quick search and found some really amazing recipes :)

So I know I may be mixing genres here, but I have always found contrast of flavor and texture to be more interesting than uniformity. That is why, among my friends, the Mexican twice baked reigns supreme.

We follow the standard twice baked recipe, only we sautee green and red bell peppers with about a half a yellow onion, add poblanos (if you like) and garlic, a dash of cayenne pepper, and habenero jack cheese. I know it sounds to spicy to eat, but the creaminess of sour cream/potato moderates the heat very nicely. We have also been known to top them off with a little homemade cold guacamole. Serve as is for your vegetarian friends, or if you are me, add a generous smattering of choriso before the second bake (careful not to overdo it on the choriso, it can get a little greasy.)

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