Description
Twice Baked Potatoes are a comforting and savory side dish featuring baked potato halves filled with a creamy mixture of mashed potato, butter, crispy bacon, Parmesan, and cheddar cheese, then baked again until golden and melty. Perfect as a make-ahead or holiday side.
Ingredients
Scale
Potatoes
- 6 baking potatoes roughly the same size
Filling
- 6 slices bacon
- 6 tablespoons butter softened
- 6 tablespoons freshly shredded Parmesan cheese
- 1 cup freshly shredded sharp cheddar cheese
- Salt and pepper Optional, and to taste
Instructions
- Bake Potatoes: Preheat the oven to 350˚F. Bake the potatoes directly on the oven rack for 60 minutes until tender when pierced with a fork.
- Cook Bacon: While potatoes bake, cook bacon in a skillet over medium heat until crisp. Drain on paper towels and crumble when cool.
- Prepare Potato Filling: Let the baked potatoes cool for about 10 minutes so you can handle them. Slice each potato in half lengthwise and carefully scoop out the inside flesh into a mixing bowl, leaving a small amount of potato on each skin to maintain structure.
- Mash and Mix Filling: Add softened butter to the potato flesh and lightly mash. Add crumbled bacon, Parmesan cheese, and half of the sharp cheddar cheese (½ cup). Gently mix ingredients together until combined. Taste the mixture and add salt and pepper if desired.
- Stuff Potato Skins: Spoon the potato mixture evenly back into the potato skins. You may have some skins left over if potatoes were uneven. Top each stuffed potato with the remaining sharp cheddar cheese (½ cup).
- Optional Refrigeration: If not baking immediately, cover the stuffed potatoes and refrigerate overnight to prepare ahead of time.
- Final Bake: Bake the stuffed potatoes again in a preheated 350˚F oven until the cheese on top melts and turns bubbly, about 20 minutes.
- Serve: Garnish the twice baked potatoes with sliced green onions if desired and serve immediately while hot.
Notes
- Choose potatoes of similar size and shape for even baking and consistent results.
- Refrigerating the stuffed potatoes up to one day before baking makes this dish ideal for make-ahead occasions like Thanksgiving.
- You can substitute bacon with turkey bacon or omit it for a vegetarian variation.
- Leftover twice baked potatoes can be refrigerated and gently reheated in the oven.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 potato half
- Calories: 250 kcal
- Sugar: 1 g
- Sodium: 300 mg
- Fat: 15 g
- Saturated Fat: 7 g
- Unsaturated Fat: 6 g
- Trans Fat: 0 g
- Carbohydrates: 20 g
- Fiber: 2 g
- Protein: 7 g
- Cholesterol: 40 mg
