Twice-Baked Potato Recipes That Make Any Meal Doubly Delicious (2024)

FAQs

Why are my twice-baked potatoes gummy? ›

Tip: Don't over mix the potato filling. Over-mixing causes mashed potatoes to become gluey instead of light and fluffy. To Make Ahead: Prepare potatoes completely, without baking them the second time. Place them on a large sheet pan, lightly cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate up to one day, until ready to bake.

Cook's Note. I learned the hard way not to wrap the potatoes in foil before baking. It softens the shells and they will fall apart not good!

Twice Baked Potatoes should be stored in the refrigerator in an airtight container or wrapped tightly in plastic wrap or foil. Properly stored Twice Bake Potatoes will keep in the refrigerator for about five days. If you think you aren't going to eat your potatoes by then, you can freeze them instead.

The main difference is in the preparation of the mashed potato mixture before it is returned to the skins. Twice-baked potatoes are typically mashed with butter, sour cream, cheese, and seasonings, then spooned back into the potato skins and baked again until golden brown and crispy.

The best side dishes to serve with twice-baked potatoes are Mississippi pot roast, chicken drumsticks, roasted duck, braised beef, vegetarian chili, kalua pork, lamb chops, grilled salmon, roasted vegetables, shrimp scampi, steak, chicken Caesar salad, BBQ ribs, mushroom gravy, and green beans almondine.

Potato baking temperatures range from 350˚ to 450˚F. The sweet spot seems to be at 400˚F, a temperature that cooks the potato all the way through and crisps the skin without singeing it. That said, you don't need to strictly adhere to a certain temperature every time you bake a potato.

Greek yogurt replaces the sour cream often found in twice-baked potatoes for a healthier spin on this delicious classic. Meat-eaters will be happy to have bacon added to theirs, but this recipe is plenty delicious without it.

Yogurt is your best substitute for sour cream. Whether you're baking or making a dip or sauce, yogurt is a 1:1 sub. That means if your recipe calls for 1 cup of sour cream, you can replace it with 1 cup of yogurt. Full-fat Greek or natural yogurts work best, but low-fat or even nonfat can be used, too.

You want to be able to eat your potato without worrying if you are going to get food poisoning or botulism. Here's how you can ensure that your baked potatoes are safe to eat. DON'T let your potato sit out in the open at room temperature for over four hours regardless of whether or not it is wrapped in aluminum foil.

NO! This is the wrong way to do it and is not food safe. Cooked starch foods like potatoes can grow germs if not kept either refrigerated and cold or hot over 140º F. Bake or boil the potatoes for potato salad, then cool.

Is a baked potato OK to eat if left out overnight? ›

Bacteria grow rapidly at temperatures between 40 °F and 140 °F; cooked potatoes should be discarded if left out for more than 2 hours at room temperature. So when you get up in the morning and discover a potato in the oven, the only safe thing to do is toss it.

Chefs put salt on the outside of their baked potatoes

The reason for doing this is pretty scientific. When you put salt on the outside of a potato, it helps moisture come to its surface and evaporate, which makes the inside of the potato even fluffier. It also helps to crisp up the skin, giving it extra crunch.

Reheating them in the oven at 400° will re-crisp the potato skin while keeping the filling inside nice and creamy still. The potatoes will take about 15 to 20 minutes to reheat again. If you're in a rush, microwaving them is fine too, though parts of the potato might turn a little tough due to uneven heating.

Because a microwave steams the inside of the potato rather than baking it from the outside, the resulting potato has a fluffier inner texture. The only downside of microwaving potatoes is that the skin gets soggy and doesn't have the crispy texture that you get from the oven.

The bad news with gluey mashed potatoes is that there's no real way to fix them. Once you've incorporated that excess starch into the mix, you can't take it out.

Don't overmix the potatoes! For mashed potatoes that are smooth without being gummy, a potato ricer is your best bet. It gently presses the potato into fine pieces, so all that's left to do is add your liquid and a pat or two of butter.