Loaded Baked Potatoes

5 from 1 vote

A Loaded Baked Potato is one of my kids favorite meals, bright colorful and customisable you can't go wrong.

Prep Time5

Cook Time20

Total Time25

Course: Family Dinner Ideas

Cuisine: New Zealand

Keyword: kumara chips, kumara fries, sweet potato fries, loaded sweet potato fries

Servings: servings

Calories: 635kcal

Author: Stacey

Heat oven to 200 degrees celsius 400 fahrenheit
Wash and dry the potatoes, Pierce their skin with the top of a sharp knife 5 to 6 times for each potato.
Place the potatoes on a baking tray, or straight onto the racks in your preheated oven. Bake for 1 hour, or until the potato skin is papery and the potato flesh is tender.
While the potatoes are baking combine the topping ingredients in a bowl.
After the baked potaoes have been baking for 1 hour, remove them from the oven.
Take a sharp knife and split the potatoes lengthwise and cross wise, then transfer them to a baking paper or parchment paper lined tray. I like to open the potatoes up so they are sitting quite flat.
Sprinkle the toppings over the baked potatoes and return to the oven for 5-7 minutes until the cheese is melted and the bacon is cooked.
Optional: Serve with sour cream and finely sliced chives or spring onions

My best tip for turning this into a quick mid-week dinner is to try cooking your baked potatoes in the slow cooker, pop them in on low in the morning, all you need to do is add the toppings to these loaded baked potatoes when you get home from work, or sport or after school activities.
Get inventive with your toppings. Chopped leftover veggies from previous dinners such as broccoli florets, roasted cauliflower or garlic green beans work well.
If you have family members with different taste preferences, you can always put different topping combinations on each baked potato before topping with cheese and baking. A baked potato bar can be a fun interactive dinner.
Stretch leftovers from other meals by serving them as loaded baked potato toppings: Bolognese sauce or vegetarian nachos with grated cheese, Christmas ham, meatballs, or rissoles.
Potatoes: To make good baked potatoes you need a 'floury' or 'starchy' variety of potatoes. In New Zealand I typically choose an Agria potato. Other starchy varieties include: Desiree, Ilam Hardy, King Edward, Maris Piper, Yukon Gold and Russet potatoes.
Toppings: I used spinach, corn, tomato, onion chives and grated cheddar cheese but you can substitute these with your favourite baked potato or pizza toppings. Baked Beans, Black Beans, Butter, Cheese Sauce, Chilli, Green Onions, Ham, Jalapeños, Mozzarella, Mushrooms, Parmesan, Pepperoni, Salami, Salmon, Tuna.