In my opinion, twice-baked potatoes are pretty hard to mess up. Even more important, they taste delicious every single time! Twice-baked potatoes have this perception of being a lot of work and a side you only have at a steakhouse. With a little time, you can make your own at home and impress everyone that eats them!
My kids are not big on mashed potatoes so we don’t eat them very often. But dress is up with a little bacon, cheese and sour cream and throw it back in the potato and suddenly everyone is asking for seconds.
If I’m short on time, baking the potato in the microwave is a quick alternative to baking it in the oven. I prefer to cut the potato in half, as opposed to making a slit in the top and scooping it out. I do this for two reasons – it makes scooping the potato out easier, and second (and quite possibly more important!) there is a larger surface area to put more cheddar, bacon and onions on top.
You can freeze the twice-baked potato for a later use. Just leave the green onion off as they don’t freeze well.
Cheddar, Bacon and Ranch Twice-Baked Potatoes
Ingredients
- 2 large Russet potatoes
- ½ cup sour cream
- 2 Tbs dry Ranch dressing mix
- ¼ cup melted butter
- ¼ cup milk
- 4 slices bacon cooked and crumbled
- ½ cup shredded sharp cheddar cheese
- 1 green onion chopped
Instructions
- Wash Russet potatoes well, scrubbing off all dirt. Using a fork, poke holes all around each potato. Bake the potato using one of the following methods:
- Quick bake: place each potato on a microwave safe plate and microwave on high for 5 minutes. Rotate the potatoes and microwave another 5 minutes. Insert fork into potato, and if it slides in and out easily remove potatoes from microwave and allow to cool slightly for handling.
- Oven bake: Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Wrap potatoes in foil and place directly in oven. Bake for 45 minutes to 1 hour, checking for doneness by inserting fork. If the fork goes in a out fairly easily its done. Remove from oven and allow to cool slightly for handling.
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F, if not already on.
- Cut each potato in half. Scoop out the cooked potato, leaving ¼ inch thick wall of potato shell. Place the scooped potato into a medium bowl. Mash the potatoes, removing all major clumps.
- Alternatively, you can use a potato ricer for a very smooth mash. Add sour cream, ranch dressing mix, melted butter and milk to the mashed potato. Combine until mixed.
- Place the potato shells in an oven-proof dish, lightly coated with cooking spray.
- Place ¼ of potato mixture back into each potato shell, gently pressing down to get the mixture into the potato shell, but allowing the mixture to slightly mound up in the middle. Place 2 Tbs of shredded cheddar cheese on top of each potato. Bake for 10-15 minutes, or until cheese is melted.
- Remove from oven and sprinkle bacon and green onions on top. Serve warm.
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