The Superbowl is this weekend, and like I often remind people this time of year, I am not an American Football fan, so I don’t have a specific team to follow, but I do watch. And it’s always a good excuse to make party snacks. Here I made some Bacon Cheddar Potato Skins …. oh so good. When I make these, I always try to find the smallest Russet potatoes that I can — like about the size of my palm. Often they are so big that you could make a boat out of them. Definitely aim for the smallest potatoes you can find here, but don’t sub out other smaller varieties like yukon gold or red potatoes; waxy potatoes won’t work here.
These are a little time consuming (the making the baked potatoes first) but they are very much worth the effort. Yummy!
Ingredients
6 small Russet potatoes
4 tablespoons salted butter, melted
6 lardons bacon
4 tablespoons milk
salt and pepper
1 cup cheddar cheese, grated
to garnish, as you like, I used
mini cherry tomatoes
2 scallions, finely chopped
few tablespoons cilantro
you could also use
salsa
ranch dressing
ketchup
olives
black beans
chives
Directions
Preheat your oven to 450F. If you have a cooling rack that firs into a baking sheet, use that so that you get nice airflow around the potatoes. Using a fork, pierce each potato 5-6 times and place on the baking sheet.
Bake in oven for 30 minutes. Then, slather with melted butter and return to the oven for another 20-30 minutes. Keep any remaining melted butter for later. At 20 minutes, I reach into the oven with a dish cloth and squeeze the potato. If they feel soft on the inside, they are ready. Let cool for 20-30 minutes or so, until you can easily handle them.
In the meantime, render the bacon… however you like. I like to use the same baking sheet with the cooling rack and make my bacon in the oven (375F for 25-30 minutes), but if you like, you can also make it on the stovetop in a pan. Either way, when you have nice, crispy bacon, crumble it to 1/2 in pieces and set aside. Keep the oven at 375F.
Returning to the potatoes, cut each in half lengthwise. I usually take one potato and scrape out all of the fluffy interior and then half 5 potatoes that I scrape out only a bit of the interior. If you “sacrifice” one who potato, you will have extra stuffed potato skins. Mash the removed potato with a fork, with the milk and the remaining melted butter, salt and pepper. Once you have mashed potatoes, refill them into your potato skins.
Place the stuffed potato skins back on your sheet pan, generously sprinkle with grated cheddar and return to the oven for 10 minutes or so, until the cheese is melted and runny. Plate and then sprinkle with your prepared bacon and garnishes. Enjoy immediately.
