Twice Baked Potatoes are jacket potatoes stuffed with a creamy, cheesy, buttery potato filling hit with salty pops of bacon. Think of it as the spud love-child of baked potatoes and mashed potato! This is pretty much every cheese lovin,’ carb monster’s dream come true.
Dainty food this ain’t – this is proper comfort food, dialled up to 11!
Twice Baked Potatoes
Twice Baked Potatoes are so named because of how they’re made. Whole potatoes are firstly baked until the flesh is soft. It’s then scooped out, leaving the potato skin shells. Meanwhile we mash the flesh with a jacket potato’s best friends – bacon, cheese, butter and cream – to create the ultimate mashed potato filling!
This is packed back into the empty skin and baked a second time until deliciously golden and bubbling. It’s a party in a potato!!!
Ingredients in Twice Baked Potatoes
All our favourite ingredients star in these jacket potatoes!! 😂
Potatoes – Use starchy or all-rounder potatoes that will bake up so they’re nice and fluffy on the inside. I use Sebago potatoes which are the dirt brushed type, the most common potatoes in Australia. For USA, Russet is ideal, and in the UK, Maris Piper or King Edwards.
Use potatoes that are around 300g (10oz) each. As they’re cut in half for this recipe, if you use potatoes that are much smaller the halves become quite tiny. One whole potato is a generous serving for a main dish, and one half is a good size as a side or starter;
Bacon – Cut into small batons and pan fried until crispy! Use streaky bacon if you can, for a better taste (because fat = flavour!);
Cheese – For stirring into the creamy mashed potato filling we stuff into the baked potato as well as topping. Almost any type of cheese that melts will work just great here – cheddar (this is what I used), tasty cheese, gruyere, Swiss, Monterey Jack, Colby. Mozzarella works fine too, though I’d add a pinch of extra salt into the filling (mozzarella is lower in salt and bland otherwise);
Cream and butter – To make the mashed potato filling dreamy and creamy!
Green onion – For stirring into the filling, to add colour and an onion-y bite; and
Chives – A classic baked potato garnish to sprinkle on before serving. Or just use more finely sliced green onion!
How to make Twice Baked Potatoes
Short of the long: Bake potatoes, scoop out flesh, mash with add-ins (bacon etc!), stuff back in, top with cheese, bake again!
Part 1: Baking potatoes
Prick, rub with oil and salt: Prick potatoes 8 times or so with a fork. Rub lightly with oil and sprinkle with salt;
Bake: Bake potatoes for 75 minutes at 220°C / 430°F (200°C fan) or until you can pierce with a knife and meet no resistance.
I bake the potatoes on a rack set over a tray, to allow the hot air to circulate under the potatoes so the skin on the underside goes a bit crispy too. It also helps to ensure the potatoes sit flat once stuffed. But the rack is not essential.
You could even put them straight on the oven racks. However you’ll still need a tray to bake them on once stuffed which is why I just start off using a tray;
Scoop out the flesh using a spoon, leaving about 0.7cm (1/3″) layer of potato attached to the skin; and
Place the potato shells back on the tray, ready to be stuffed!
Part 2: Stuffing and second bake
Now it’s time to make the creamy, buttery filling to stuff back into the potatoes for the second bake.
Mash potato: Mash the scooped out potato. It doesn’t need to be completely smooth, though nor do you want big potato chunks. Do not be tempted to use an electric beater. It will overwork the starch and make the filling gluey;
Add ins! In this version, I’m using bacon, cream, butter, green onions and cheese for my add ins. It’s a combination you just can’t go wrong with! The cream and butter makes the filling extra luscious. You could switch out the cream for sour cream if you like a touch of tang;
Mix the filling until combined;
Stuff the skins: Pile the creamy potato filling back into the potato skins. Use all of the filling so it mounds up slightly;
Top with cheese and bake: Sprinkle with cheese and bake for 20 – 25 minutes until the cheese is melted and golden;
Devour! Serve immediately, while piping hot. I like to dollop with sour cream, sprinkle on a bit of extra bacon as well as chives for colour.
When / how to serve Twice Baked Potatoes
Whether you choose to serve this as a fully loaded potato side dish, a starter, or a meal in itself, you really can’t go wrong!
If you’re opting to serve it as a meal, add a fresh vegetable side dish to round it out. Because this stuffed potato is quite rich (creamy, buttery, bacon-y!), I’d opt for something fresh like a Cucumber Salad or Tomato Salad. If these don’t do it for you, have a browse of my vegetable sides by vegetable and choose something using what you’ve got.
As a side dish, it will go with anything really. Well, as I often say, anything non-Asian. I don’t think it would work alongside a stir fry. But hey! If you wanted to, I wouldn’t judge! 😂 (Actually, I would be proud!) – Nagi x
Watch how to make it
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Twice Baked Potatoes (Stuffed Jacket Potatoes)
Ingredients
- 4 x 300g / 10oz potatoes – Sebago (Aus), Russet (US), Maris Piper / King Edwards (UK) (Note 1)
- 1 tbsp canola or vegetable oil
- 1/2 tsp salt
Creamy potato filling:
- 200g / 7oz bacon (streaky) , chopped into small batons (Note 2)
- 120g / 8 tbsp unsalted butter
- 1/3 cup cream (pure or thickened / heavy)
- 1 cup cheddar cheese , shredded (Note 3)
- 3 green onions , finely sliced
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1/4 tsp pepper
Garnish and serving (optional)
- 1 1/2 tbsp chives , finely chopped (garnish)
- Sour cream (recommended!)
Instructions
Bake potatoes:
- Preheat oven to 220°C / 430°F (200°C fan). Place a rack on a tray (recommended but not critical).
- Prick potatoes: Wash, scrub and dry potatoes well. Prick each potato 8 times with a fork.
- Oil and salt: Put potatoes in a bowl, pour over oil and rub onto potatoes. Then sprinkle over salt and use your hands to coat. (Just do this as best you can. Some will stick, much will not!)
- Bake: Place potatoes on rack and bake for 75 minutes or until you can pierce with a small knife with no resistance.
Prepare filling add-ins:
- Cook bacon: Place bacon in a cold non-stick pan over medium heat. When the fat starts to melt, turn the heat up to high and cook bacon until golden. Drain on paper towels.
- Heat butter and cream: Melt butter in a saucepan over medium heat. Then add cream and heat until hot, but don't let it boil. (You could also do this in a microwave)
Stuff potatoes:
- Lower oven: Turn oven down to 200°C / 390°F (180°C fan).
- Scoop out potato flesh: Allow potatoes to cool enough so you can handle them (or use a tea towel). Cut in half lengthwise and scoop out potato flesh, leaving 0.7cm (1/3") thick layer of potato still stuck to skin.
- Mash potato: Place potato flesh in a bowl and mash while hot until smooth.
- Add-ins: Add half the cheese (save the rest for topping), most of the bacon (save a bit for garnish), all the green onion, hot cream and butter, salt and pepper. Stir to combine.
Bake again!
- Stuff and top with cheese: Fill potato skins with the mashed potato mixture. Top with remaining cheese.
- Bake: Bake for 20 to 25 minutes until the cheese is melted, golden and bubbly.
- Serve: Serve immediately, garnish with sour cream, reserved bacon and chives.
Recipe Notes:
Nutrition Information:
More spud-tacular potato dishes
Life of Dozer
His biggest concern about moving*? The empty fridge. Where’s all the food gone??!! 😱😱😱
* Moving out temporarily during renovations! Staying at a rental nearby just during the peak of the rebuild work!
If i made these ahead and freeze, do you think I should thaw before reheating, or reheat from frozen? Have you ever tried freezing ahead of using?
Love these,so adaptable.
Loved this, I chopped mushrooms and fried with the bacon because I had them. I will definitely make them again.
Perfect!!
Love love these Nagi. My 14 year old wanted to cook tonight and is making these. Used crème fraiche instead of cream. Just perfect holiday comfort food 🥰
Please notice that in the video she doesn’t show the olive oil and the salt before putting the potatoes in the oven. Don’t be like me! I just watched the video!
Heavenly! Our whole family enjoyed this dish. Hubby and I hid the leftovers so the kids won’t find them.
That’s hilarious Jo!!! N x
These are delicious, made these for my birthday dinner and had with pulled pork and coleslaw. Added some sour cream and sweet chilli on top to serve! So good!
It does sound so good, Sarah!! N x
Nagi, you talk about the USA in some of your recipes. IS there any AU potato that even comes close to the very thick-skinned, baking potatoes in the USA? The brushed potatoe skins here are simply NOT thick like what you get in the USA. Like, Appleby’s potato skins, etc….IS there such a thing in AU? I migrated in 2007 to WA and haven’t left. No idea what might be available in the eastern states?
Hi Terry – I feel your pain! A good potato skin is the bomb!! We can get Sebagos here in Sydney although they can be hard to find. That’s the closest one. The Dutch Creme is a good all purpose potato for recipes but it doesn’t have the skin like you are describing. N x
Beautiful recipe, love this blog post, so easy to follow and lovely to look at! Made these with my boyfriend for us & his parents and they went down a treat!
Absolutely delicious! Thank you so much Nagi. I had a similar recipe that I used to make for dinner parties back in the 90’s. I just added a little Dijon mustard like I did back then. So good 😊
I made this last night for dinner because it looked delicious and I had almost all of the ingredients on-hand and they needed to be used. The only ingredient I didn’t have was cream, so I melted the butter with skim milk and about 1/4 cup of full-fat cream cheese. It worked like a charm and was so good I might just do it that way again “on purpose!” Husband said, YUM!
Thanks! N x
Yum! I make these but use sour cream rather than the cream and they turn our delicious 😌
Good idea! N x
I love your recipes, this one looks good too
Another great recipe thank you!!! Second time making these potatoes tonight. I didn’t have any bacon so to give it some extra oomph I mashed some mild blue cheese thru the potato stuffing mix. Was amazing!! Instead of cream I used sour cream which I prefer and less butter as I didn’t have very much. Thanks again!
Made it and it’s really good….will be making it again…
Dear Nagi,
Thank you for this great recipe. Rather than baking them in the oven initially I chose to microwave them for about 6 minutes. Saved time, energy & additional heating of the house during these hot summer months.
Great idea Richard, I’m so glad you enjoyed them! N x
Made these Delicious twice baked potatoes on the weekend and had so many comments on how the awesome they were. Thankyou Nagi 🙂
Thank you Nagi I made these tonight and they are very yummy will certainly make again
OK, so my (very MANLY masculine man of a) boss told me that he loves to spend a day making twice baked potatoes. He buys an industrial size sack of potatoes, bacon, onions, sour cream, etc. and spends the whole day, baking, prepping, and assembling dozens of potatoes for the future. He freezes them, so whenever his family, or hosting, or something else… his freezer is always stocked with twice baked potatoes as a side to usually a meat dish. I haven’t done this myself, but he swears by them, and that they easily hold up to freezing.