I make this side when we have something special to celebrate because they are so rich and so good! They do take a little time; so, it’s definitely not something you do on a weeknight (unless you prep them the night before to go into the oven.) I made these for my dad’s 75th birthday the other evening and paired it with a Ribeye and green salad. It went over well. If you want to impress your family and friends, this is the side that will do it.
What you’ll need:
Yield 8 servings
- 4 Large Russet Potatoes
- 8 strips of bacon fried and chopped
- 2 cups cheddar cheese
- 4 oz cream cheese (softened to room temp)
- 1 stick of butter, cubed. (Softened to room temp)
- 1/2 cup sour cream
- 1/4 cup chives
- Kosher salt
- Olive oil
Step by step:
Preheat oven to 400 degrees
Scrub the potatoes and poke holes in the potatoes. Coat the potatoes in olive oil and sprinkle kosher salt all over the potatoes so they have a good coating of it. (If you are a potato skin eater like me, you will love the result of this)
Bake the potatoes for 1 hr 15 minutes. They should be kinda soft to the touch when you take them out.
Let them cool long enough so that you can handle them. Cut them in half lengthwise and scoop out contents into a bowl. Leave enough in the potato skin to give it a little structure. (See pic below). Set the skins aside.
Turn your oven down to 350 degrees.
Next, add all your ingredients to the bowl and reserve enough cheddar to top the potatoes once stuffed. So, add your bacon, cheddar, cream cheese, butter, sour cream and chives to the potatoes and give it a mix. Now, give it a taste. Does it need salt? This depends on your bacon and how salty it is. If you feel like it needs some salt, add a tsp at a time, mix, then give it a taste.
Once you have the perfect amount of salt, you can stuff your potato skins. You’ll have enough volume to pile them pretty high, then top with a little extra cheddar.
At this point, you can wrap your pan with plastic wrap and refrigerate until ready to warm for dinner or go ahead and put them back in the oven.
Bake at 350 degrees for 15-20 minutes (if they came out of the refrigerator, of course, it will take about 20 minutes). Enjoy!
