Dinner
Loaded Baked Potato Bar
A five pound bag of russets costs about five dollars and feeds you for a week. This is less a recipe than a system: bake a bunch of potatoes at once, keep them in the fridge, and load them differently every night. It is also the easiest thing to make when roommates all want different food.
Cost a serving$1.20
Time60 minutes, mostly unattended
Serves4
Protein22g
Fast casual bowl costs about $11.50. This costs $1.20 a serving.
You save about $10.30 every time you make it instead.
What you need
Oven, Fork, Sheet pan or foil
No special tools
No Oven, when you are in a hurry?Microwave the potato 5 minutes, flip, microwave 3 to 4 more. Then finish it in a 425 degree oven or toaster oven for 10 minutes if you want crisp skin. Microwave alone gives you a soft, steamy skin, which is fine but not great.
Ingredients
Potatoes
- 4 large russet potatoes, scrubbed
- 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
- 1 teaspoon coarse salt
Toppings, pick two or three
- 1 can (15 oz) vegetarian chili, heated
- 1 1/2 cups shredded cheddar
- 2 cups frozen broccoli, steamed in the microwave
- 1/2 cup sour cream or plain Greek yogurt
- 1 cup jarred salsa
- 1 can black beans, drained and warmed with cumin
- 4 green onions, sliced
- Butter, salt, and a lot of black pepper
How to make it
- Heat the oven to 425 degrees. Scrub the potatoes and dry them completely. Wet skin will not crisp.
- Poke each potato 6 to 8 times with a fork. Skipping this is how you get a potato that explodes in your oven. It really happens.
- Rub each potato with oil and roll it in the coarse salt. Put them directly on the oven rack with a sheet pan on the shelf below to catch drips. Direct on the rack gives you the crispest skin.
- Bake 50 to 60 minutes. They are done when a fork slides into the center with no resistance, not when the timer goes off. A big potato can take 70 minutes.
- Cut a slit down the middle, then squeeze the ends toward each other to open it up and fluff the inside with a fork.
- Butter, salt, and pepper go in first, before anything else. Season the potato itself or the toppings are doing all the work.
- Load it up.
Protein
A plain potato has about 4 grams of protein. What you put on it does the work. Chili and cheese together get you to 22 grams. Greek yogurt instead of sour cream adds 6 grams for the same price.
Ways to add more
- Canned vegetarian chili, 12 grams per cup
- Black beans warmed with cumin and lime
- Cottage cheese with black pepper and chives, which sounds odd and is excellent
Keeping it
Baked potatoes keep 5 days in the fridge. Reheat in a 400 degree oven for 15 minutes and the skin re-crisps. Bake six on Sunday and you have four dinners waiting.
Change it up
- Sweet potatoes: same method, 45 minutes, topped with black beans, salsa, and lime
- Smash them: bake, flatten with the bottom of a mug, oil, and roast 15 more minutes for crispy edges
- Cut them into wedges before baking for a 30 minute version