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Twice-Baked Potatoes
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- Total Time
- 1½ hours
- Rating
- Notes
- Read community notes
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Ingredients
- 4tablespoons unsalted butter, cubed and softened
- 4large russet potatoes
- 2tablespoons canola or other neutral oil
- Kosher salt
- ½cup whole milk
- ½cup sour cream
- ½cup grated Cheddar cheese (about 2 ounces)
- Black pepper
- 2tablespoons chopped chives (optional)
Preparation
- Step 1
Position racks in the top and middle of the oven, and heat oven to 400 degrees. Take the butter out of the refrigerator to soften. Scrub the potatoes clean and pat them dry. Poke holes all over them with a fork. In a large bowl, toss them with the oil and ½ teaspoon salt. Place the potatoes directly on the top rack, and place a baking sheet or a piece of foil on the middle rack to catch drips. Bake for about 1 hour, until the skin is crisp and potatoes offer no resistance when a knife is inserted in their centers. Remove from the oven and let sit until cool enough to handle.
- Step 2
Slice the top third lengthwise off the potatoes. Use a spoon to scoop out the flesh, leaving ¼-inch border of potato on the skin, and transfer the flesh to a medium bowl. Scrape the potato tops of all flesh, and add the flesh to the bowl. Place the bottoms on a parchment-lined baking sheet. (Snack on the tops — chef's treat — or discard.)
- Step 3
Mash the potato flesh with a fork or potato masher. Add the butter, and stir until smooth (try not to overwork). Add the milk, sour cream and cheese and stir to combine. (If you want the filling softer, add more milk.) Season generously with salt and pepper. Stir in the chives, if using.
- Step 4
Mound each potato skin with a quarter of the filling. Bake the potatoes until warmed through, about 10 minutes. Serve immediately.
Private Notes
Cooking Notes
The filled potatoes freeze very well. The trick is to not defrost them before baking, otherwise they get mushy. Bake the frozen, filled potatoes at 375 for 30-40 minutes or until you get the desired browning on the tops.
I make two halves of the whole potato and do not throw out either side.
My family called these "company baked potatoes" because my mother only made them when she had a dinner party. Like another reader, she cut in half, no waste for the child of the depression era and she didn't add cheese. They were finished in the broiler. I am making these for the first time, a year and a few weeks after she died at 101. Her technique of scooping got all the way down to the skin, but that was a lifetime skill. Merry Christmas
Found a wonderful use of the top 1/3 potato skin. Had the skins this morning filled with scrambled egg, a bit of diced ham, a bit of cheddar cheese, dollop of sour cream and chives. Brushed skins with olive oil, baked at 450 for about 5 minutes, stuffed the skins with scrambled eggs, put the diced ham and cheese on top & baked for about 5 more minutes until the cheese melted. Topped with dollop of sour cream (greek yogurt would work) and chives. Oh, please....so good!
Using foil to catch the oil was the dumbest thing I could’ve done. Sheet pan makes more sense.
Oiling the potatoes while baking softens the skins and crispy skin with creamy filling is the my family's ideal. I slice the baked potatoes in half and while mashing the innards with sour cream, lots of butter and salt, I put the shells back into the oven to dry out and crisp some more. Fill the shells, top with lots of cheese and back into the oven to bake until cheese is melted - or broil a bit to brown the cheese a bit quicker. Delicious.
Have been making stuffed potatoes for years sans chives and cheese only on top. My family has made these potatoes without the cheese and sour cream since I was a child and that is more years ago then I care to count. You can freeze these before baking and thaw them before reheating. I sprinkle cheese on top and some paprika before baking and bake the stuffed potatoes until slightly puffed and brown. Sometimes I put leftover salmon in them YUM.
I‘ve been making these (or something very similar) for years and it‘s always a winner. Depending on the size of the potatoes they can be pretty filling especially if used as a side, so I usually cut them in half after baking and fill both sides. Personally I prefer crème fraîche to sour cream and never bother with oiling them first. Just prick them & bake them, there‘s plenty of flavor in the filling. Also no milk, therefore more cheese :-).
if you're kosher but are thinking soy "bacon" chips, try a few anchovies instead. or some smoked salmon.
You can always finish under the broiler to get them to brown.
Bacon Chopped Mushrooms Other kinds of cheese Thick Greek yogurt Cilantro, Basil or Parsley (after baking) Garlic Red Pepper Flakes Ranch dressing (or the mix) TBP are comfort food that can be personalised and still be scrumpcious!
Delicious and easy but destroyed a cookie sheet. Line with foil!
When I was young my parents would take me to the Spindletop Restaurant in NYC. I always ordered twice baked potatoes which were wonderful. For years I could not figure out what they put into their potatoes to make them out of this world. Years later I figured it out. It was a bit of white bottled horseradish strained. Add a very little at a time and keep tasting. I a,ways make more potatoes then I need so I can taste them. I add the horseradish last.
Make sure potato is VERY baked (1+ hour at 400). Mash potato with sour cream, butter, cheese, salt, pepper before adding steamed broccoli. Put stuffed potatoes in 400 degree oven for about 25 minutes.
Very good. Crowd pleaser. Needed more time in the oven to achieve a nice crispy crust
For shame if it has not been mentioned, but a baked potato must be greased like a fat pig in bacon drippings and rolled in a coarse salt before it sits on a rack in my house. I'm like the twitching cook in a hash house bar: if they don't like it they shoot up the bar. I find once I get finished putting all the tasty bits that will fill the potato jackets--additions of this little bit or that that I find cruising the 'fridge, will more than fill the starchy, crunchy, casings!
Don’t OVER MIX or glue
can I put these in the refrigerator for several hours before I bake them?
If you score the potatoes around the middle horizontally before baking, they will easily and neatly pop open with very light use of a knife and have nice clean edges.
Very yummy. With a few dashes of hot sauce, that's all I need for supper. Leftovers are a tasty breakfast potato-- cut across in slices and pan fry in oil or butter. Also add hot sauce.
Prepared according to directions. Came out great!
This is so simple yet so delicious. The crunchiness of the skin is what elevates this above mashed potatoes.
Add more cheese.
I make the cheddar with chunks of ham or cooked bacon and make an alternate few for myself with cambozola and either chives or chopped green onions. I love the creamy blue tangy flavor.
Wish I read this before I wrapped them each in tin foil to bake.
If you cut in half, you have twice as many items. Some like the smaller size, some eat two.
I thought it was great and will make it again. However. I used huge baker potatoes and cut them in half. They are a lot of food - half is plenty.
Add diced grilled chicken, bacon/turkey bacon bits to the filling mix for a little more protein - delicious!
I replaced the sour cream with cream cheese. Delicious, solid recipe.
Didn't use the milk. Didn't need the milk. (In the middle of a snowstorm, I realized I was out of milk and decided to use leftover chicken broth--but I didn't need it either.) The butter and sour cream was all my potato innards seemed to need to be soft and fluffy.
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