Twice Baked Potatoes – Russet potatoes are baked to soften them up and then the filling is mixed with cheese, sour cream, and bacon and stuffed back into the potato skins to make a side dish suitable for any event!
Who else is in dire need of new recipes to switch thing sup at home? *Raises hand* After weeks of making the same pork tenderloin and rice, we decided that it was time for new recipes. And now that we’re always home, we could easily make a lot of recipes that we would avoid during the week since they took a little extra time.
One of those recipes is baked potatoes. I love a great baked potato. But baking a potato takes about an hour in the oven, which is time we just didn’t have during the week. After waiting for the oven to preheat and the potatoes to bake, we’d be halfway to bedtime.
Since we’re working from home now, we can easily pop the potatoes in the oven a hour before dinner time so they’re ready for us to eat when we want them. But instead of making boring plain baked potatoes, I’ve got a creamy and flavorful way to enjoy them.
Say hello to my Twice Baked Potatoes!
What is a twice baked potato?
I first had a twice baked potato when my mother-in-law made them for us for the holidays. I asked her if she could make a potato side dish and she brought these over. They were a huge hit! So much flavor with an incredible texture, all served in an easy-to-serve potato skin.
A twice baked potato essentially combines all the flavors of a loaded baked potato with the texture of mashed potatoes. Like mashed potatoes, all the toppings are whipped together. No longer do you have to continually add toppings to your baked potato to give it some flavor – every single bite is loaded with toppings!
How are these potatoes made?
To make twice baked potatoes, there are just a few steps:
- Bake the potatoes
- Scoop out the potato filling and add to other filling ingredients
- Scoop back into potato skins
- Bake until warmed through
The process is really quite simple – it just takes some time because the potatoes take a while to bake. But after that, it’s just another 20 minutes until the potatoes are ready to go.
The filling
The filling for these potatoes has all the classic flavors of a loaded baked potato:
- Butter
- Sour Cream
- Bacon Bits
- Cheese
All of these are added to the potato filing, along with milk to make it smooth and salt and pepper to flavor it up.
Once the filling is made, the potato skins are loaded up again, topped with more cheese, and baked until nice and warm and the cheese is melted.
Tips & Tricks
- Your potatoes may take more or less than an hour to bake in the oven the first time, depending on the size of the potato. To check for doneness, poke the center of the potato with a fork. If the fork breaks the skin easily, the potato is ready.
- You want to be careful not to add too much milk or else the filling will be too runny. Therefore, I add about half of what the recipe asks for and then add more if the filling is too dry.
- Don’t worry if you rip the skins of the potato when scooping out the potato filling. Once you fill them back up with the prepared filling, you can use it as glue to keep the skin together.
- You can easily make these potatoes ahead of time. I suggest baking them and filling the skins but don’t bake again until it’s time to serve.
Twice Baked Potatoes
Ingredients
- 4 Russet potatoes
- 1 tablespoon canola oil
- 2 teaspoons salt
- ½ stick butter salted
- ½ pound bacon
- ½ cup sour cream
- ½ cup milk
- 2 green onions for garnish
- 1½ cups shredded cheddar cheese (or Monterrey jack)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Arrange potatoes on a baking sheet. Drizzle oil over all of them and coat them evenly using your hands. Sprinkle on salt to both sides of the potatoes. Place into preheated oven and baked for 1 hour to 1 hour 15 minutes, depending on the size of the potato. Larger ones will take longer to bake.
- Once cooked, remove potatoes from the oven and reduce temperature to 350 degrees. Cut each potato in half and gently split them. Using a spoon, scoop out most of the filling into a large bowl, leaving a small edge of filling to help keep the skins firm and sturdy. Add sour cream, butter (cut into pats), and bacon to the potato filling. Using a potato masher, mash the ingredients together until smooth.
- Add 1/2 cup of cheese, remaining teaspoon of salt, and about ¼ cup of milk. Stir together. Add more milk if the mixture is too thick. Scoop the filling into each potato skin until full. Top each potato with the remaining cheese. Place back into oven and bake until cheese has melted and filling is warm, about 15 to 20 minutes.
- Remove from the oven and serve immediately.
Notes
Pin for later:
More recipes you’ll love:
Potato Skin Bites
Loaded Totchos
Sage & Browned Butter Hasselback Sweet Potatoes
I have to share a little story, though – right as I was about to pop the final loaded potatoes in for their second bake, my oven totally gave up on me and wouldn’t heat. It was so frustrating because all that prep work was almost wasted! Luckily, I remembered a great oven repair in Houston company a friend had recommended, and they actually had someone come out the same day. He fixed it on the spot for a lot less than a new oven would cost, which saved our dinner and a ton of money.
You had me at potatoes. I’m a huge potato addict and this baked potato is loaded with so much goodness! Comforting food at it’s best!
Shockingly I’ve never had twice baked potatoes but these look so cheesy and delicious that now I want them!
These twice baked potatoes are great! Baked potatoes are one of my favorite leftover lunches, so I make them for dinner often.Going to make these with ribeyes and set aside a couple for later!
Yum! This looks delicious! We love loaded potatoes, and this is definitely a really good way of improving our recipe! I like the idea of mixing all the ingredients with the potato before filling them up again. We will for sure be trying this really son!
These twice baked potatoes look so cheesy, comforting, and delicious! I love any potato recipe and this one is sure to be one of my new favorites.
I adore twice baked potatoes, and these were super delish. I will keep this recipe!
These potatoes are delicious! My favorite comfort food, I love the combinations and they are so easy to make as well.
Twice baked potatoes is one of my favorite side dishes. I especially love making these with a roast chicken!
So true about looking for new recipes to spice up the weekly menu. I’ve always wondered how twice baked potatoes were made. Much simpler than I thought. Definitively going to make these. They look so delicious.
Twice baked potatoes are the best! I have a very similar recipe and that’s what I’m almost always asked to bring to family functions.
Yum! This Twice Baked Potatoes Recipe look soooo mouthwatering! I never tasted anything like this before and now is the perfect chance to make this.
Yumm these look so tasty!!! I will hvae to try making this sometime!
I love twice baked potatoes! I’ll be making these for dinner soon!
Yum! Looks so creamy and delicious, thanks for the recipe!
I’m making fish tonight and I think these would be the perfect compliment to them! I’ve been looking for a good recipe for twice baked potatoes. These will make my hubby especially happy, he was just asking for them!
I love twice baked potatoes. I haven’t made them in way too long. I’m going to fix that this week. So so good! thanks for reminding me.
Yes, this is my favorite dish to make to enjoy the weekend. Incredibly delicious, quick to make, and you can make a big batch of them. Yum!
Twice baked potatoes are among my favorite comfort food. It takes more effort compared to mashed potatoes, but they are oh so worth it. 🙂
They sound amazing! I definitely need to give it a go