Cheater’s Twice Baked Potatoes

One of my husband’s favorite sides to have with a meal is a twice baked potato; unfortunately, while they are delicious and not overly challenging to make, twice baked potatoes take an abundance of time to make. Every time that I make twice baked potatoes, Cole comments and asks why we don’t have them more. This inspired me to create a recipe that would taste similar to a twice baked potato while being a lot quicker to make. By using similar ingredients with a slightly different cooking method, I was able to find a solution to this problem and create Cheater’s Twice Baked Potatoes. 

Ingredients

1.25lbs Potatoes peeled and cut into 1 inch pieces

2 tbsp Butter

½ cup Sour Cream

½ cup Shredded Cheddar (divided in half through the recipe)

¼ tsp Minced Garlic

½ tsp Green Onions (only the white parts, minced)

⅛ tsp Paprika

¼ tsp Salt

⅛ tsp Pepper

Green Onions to Garnish

Directions

1. Start by peeling and chopping the potatoes into one inch pieces. Make sure to stay consistent while chopping so they cook evenly.

2. Step two of the recipe is the distinguishing factor that makes this a cheating recipe. A true twice baked potato is literally baked twice. However, my cheater’s version involves boiling the potato chunks instead of baking them the first time around. Wait for the water to get to a roiling boil, then dump the potatoes into the pot. Leave them in the boiling water for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally to make sure they aren’t sticking to the bottom of the pot. 

3. Stain the potatoes and pour them into a greased 1 ½ qt baking dish.

4. Add the butter to the potatoes and mash them slightly, but leave some chunks. These potatoes are not meant to be entirely mashed if they are going to mimic the texture of a twice baked potato. When done, set the potatoes off to the side to cool slightly.

5. While the potatoes are cooling, chop up the white sections of the green onions into very small pieces. Mix the onions, sour cream, ¼ cup of the shredded cheddar, paprika, salt, and pepper in a small mixing bowl.

6. When the potatoes have cooled slightly, combine the sour cream mixture and the potatoes together.

Kitchen Tip: If the potatoes do not cool enough, all the sour cream will be absorbed directly into the potatoes instead of giving the dish a nice and creamy texture. 

7. Finally, chop up some of the green tops of the green onions. Sprinkle the remaining cheddar on top of the dish and top it all off with the green onion garnish.

8. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and bake the dish covered for 15 minutes. The cheese should be melted on top and the potatoes should be heated through when it is finished. 

When this dish is done, it tastes exactly like twice baked potatoes, but it takes less than half the time of a normal twice baked potato recipe. This is so convenient to make on a busy night when you are craving some comfort food but don’t have a lot of time to cook. I hope you enjoy this kitchen cheat!