Loaded Baked Potatoes

About this Recipe

This loaded baked potato recipe certainly looks very tasty. Potato halves, scooped out, mashed up with butter and milk, put back into the potato, baked again. All sounds pretty delicious! Then you top it with some grated cheese, bacon bits and sour cream. Sounds like a potato dish that would be found in a steak house dosen't it. We would call this type of potato dish a real treat and it would certainly qualify as a full meal, minus the bacon when served just with a salad for the non-meat eaters. Russet potatoes are a good choice for this because the potato is nice and soft when baked.

Grandmother's Tips for Loaded Baked Potatoes Recipe:

We just love potatoes recipes. The types of potato dishes you can create are endless. We once saw a recipe book in an old used book store that had over 100 potatoes recipes! Its exciting to have access to an inexpensive food that you can do so many things with. Okay so this potato recipe leans heavily on the indulgent side with all the additional ingredients, but it tastes mighty good once in awhile!

1. Russet potatoes work the best for this recipe. Be sure to select nice medium to large ones of uniform size that will bake at the same time.

2. Choose potatoes that do not have black spots and too many blemishes. Wash the potatoes really well with a little scrubber. A great deal of potato nutrients lie in the skin, so cook with the skins on and encourage everyone to eat the skins. With small children, that just means cutting it up into small bite pieces that they can easily manage.

3. If you are using bacon, drain off as much of the fat as you can on a paper towel.

4. You can substitute vegan cheese for dairy cheese.


Ingredients

(Print)

Makes 8 potato halves, 4 servings

4 medium to large sized russet potatoes

1/2 almond milk or you can use a dairy milk

1 Tablespoon butter

1/2 cup grated cheese

OPTIONAL: 4 slices bacon, cooked,drained well on paper towel and crumbled

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

2. Scrub the potatoes with a vegetable brush, cut the tips of the ends and any blemishes you wish to remove.

3. Spear the potatoes with a knife right through in at least 2 spots. Place potatoes on a lower rack in the oven and bake for 45 minutes or until done. Poke a small sharp knife into the potato to test. If it goes in easy and the potato is soft it is done.

4. Remove the potatoes from the oven and let them cool for 5 to 10 minutes.

5. Cut the potatoes in half lengthwise.

6. Spoon out the cooked potatoes leaving 1/4 inch of potato still in the skin.

7. Mash the removed potato with the butter and milk.

8. Spoon the mashed potato back into the potato skins.

9. Season each piece with a little salt and pepper.

10. Put onto a baking dish and place into the oven for 10 minutes to reheat the potato.

11. Remove from the oven and sprinkle on the grated cheddar cheese. Place back into the oven for 5 minutes or until the cheese is melted.

Delicious served with sour cream, bacon bits and hot sauce.

Enjoy!

Return to this Loaded Baked Potatoes recipe or check out more recipes at Grandmother's Kitchen

Russet potatoes work best for this loaded baked potatoes recipe because of their starchy, creamy-when-baked quality. Using a good sized potato means there is plenty of room in the potato half to hold the baked potato toppings.

When it comes to baked potatoes recipes, our preference is not using a microwave oven. Yes, using a microwave to help par-bake the potato is always an easy and fast idea and it becomes part of the cooking time, but when you think of the texture and flavor of the classic baked potato, a microwave does not compare.

Taking the time to properly bake the potato in the oven ensures that the texture of a potato recipe is much more superior and creamier when compared to a microwaved potato. Plus, one of the best parts about baked potatoes recipes in the oven is that they get a nice burnished, golden crispy skin and the aroma when they are baking.

Why do you see different recipes saying different baking temperatures when baking a potato? Truthfully, different ovens cook differently. Some run really hot and some not so much. There are regular ovens and convection ovens. Convection ovens tend to cook about 30 percent faster than a regular oven. We did a little research and found out that different ovens can vary as much as 90 degrees according to an investigation done by Cook's illustrated magazine. We have selected a temperature of 400 degrees with a time of 45 minutes or until done. Often you will see recipes saying to do the baking at 425 degrees for 45 to 60 minutes. What it is going to boil down to, is getting accustomed to your own oven and a little experimenting and testing the potato at the 40 minute mark by sticking a fork into it. If the fork goes in easily, the potato is done.

So, don't get too hung up on the temperature. The most important thing with a baked potato is to stab a knife into them before you put them to bake so they don't explode. If you do not pierce the potato there is no place for the steam to escape. An exploded potato makes a horrible mess in the oven to clean up.



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