Twice-Baked Potatoes

Well hello, retro, rustic fare, you oh-so-familiar baked potatoes, your mealy flesh scraped out to mix with so much creaminess (butter, cottage cheese or sour cream, cream cheese, sharp cheddar) then stuffed back into your skins to bake again.
More good news? Russet potatoes are indeed traditional and make great twice-bakeds but ooo la la, Yukon gold potatoes are smaller and turn out an even creamier filling. If you've ever found a twice-baked daunting in size, try using Yukon golds. PS I can't help but call these 2X Potatoes. Does anyone else?!

Memorable Homestyle Whole Food, Simply Prepared. Little Effort, Big Reward. Beautiful Color! A Vintage, Easy Tried-and-True Recipe, Streamlined for Technique and Ingredients. Hearty & Filling. A New Addition to Pantry Meals: How to Make a Meal with What You Have, a Kitchen Parade Specialty. Easily Adapted to Your Family's Tastebuds. Budget Friendly. Great for Meal Prep. Perfect When Cooking for One or Two. How to Feed a Crowd. Potluck & Party & Kid Friendly. Vegetarian. Naturally Gluten Free. So Good!!

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Twice the Flavor.

Sometimes, I think my tastebuds are regressing to my Midwestern roots, my Canadian and Ukrainian-German-English heritage to say nothing of my Finnish experience, all places where potatoes are much beloved.

Lately I'm half-obsessed with baked potatoes, especially twice-baked potatoes.

Turns out, they're easy to make but, oops, equally easy to make too rich and too large.

Enter my concept for twice-bakeds, rich but not too rich, easily made with smaller potatoes instead of the usual and usually enormous russet baked potatoes.

Read on. Maybe your tastebuds are callling for a little retro too ...

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Recipe Overview: Twice-Baked Potatoes

• Talk about retro, baking potatoes not once but twice, first by baking whole potatoes, scooping out the insides, mixing them with butter, cream cheese, sour cream and sharp cheddar, then refilling the skins to bake again. The first time, the potatoes are baked an extra-long time, up to two hours, for what I call a Sloooow-Baked Potato which turns out extra-crispy skins and extra-nutty interiors. What's not retro? Making these ahead of time, then popping them into the oven while cooking dinner.

• When to Serve = Twice-Baked Potatoes may be retro but they are also just a little bit special, maybe because they're rare at restaurants? To my taste, they pair really well with beef, whether steaks, filets mignon and maybe even or possibly especially meatloaf. With a salad, a Twice-Baked Potato can even become the main course similar to a big ol' loaded baked potato.
• Diet Needs & Choices = As written, the potatoes are vegetarian and gluten-free. I think it would be quite simple to convert them to dairy-free with the many vegan dairy-substitute products available now.
• Distinctive Ingredients = Russet Potatoes or Yukon Gold Potatoes + Cottage Cheese or Sour Cream + Cream Cheese + Sharp Cheddar
• Short Ingredient List = all the above + butter + cream + salt
• For Garnish = a little chive, should you like just a touch of onion flavor
• Kitchen Tools = a serrated grapefruit knife or spoon (affiliate link) is a great tool (though not mandatory) for scraping the potato flesh out of the potato halves
• Hands-On Time = Allow about 20 minutes, at first just to pop the potatoes in the oven; then after to scrape out the flesh, mix it with the other ingredients, fill the potatoes and pop them back in the oven for 30-45 minutes.
• Time-to-Table = Allow about 3-1/2 hours, start to finish.
• Tasting with our Eyes = For pretty color, after baking the potatoes the second time, put them under the broiler for a few minutes. A few sprinkles of fresh herbs are always pretty!
• Texture = The skins are crispy and nicely chewy, the interiors are either soft and creamy or soft with some potato texture, your choice.
• Taste = The filling has some real tang, that's thanks to the sour cream (if that's your choice) and sharp cheddar. But it's also creamy, that's thanks to the cream cheese and butter.
• Techniques = The new-to-you technique here may well be the Sloooow-Baked Potatoes for the first bake. Three-hour potatoes are a long-time favorite at my food blog A Veggie Venture, see (Sloooow) Baked Potatoes (How Long to Bake a Baked Potato). They're a real revelation! Since Twice-Baked Potatoes go back in the oven, we'll bake them the first time for less than 3 hours, the sweet spot is 1-1/2 or 1-3/4 hours.
• Shop Your Pantry = This recipe is pantry-friendly. All the ingredients are easy and common to keep on hand. And if you don't have everything, there's no need to hunt up anything special, just hit the corner market and you'll be fine and dandy. And if there are ingredients leftover? They'll be easy to use up in other dishes too.
• Staying Cost Conscious = This recipe is budget-friendly, no special stops at specialty stores for pricey ingredients.
• Makes = As written, the recipe serves four from just two potatoes. It's easy to scale up and down, as well.
• Small Households = This recipe works especially well for those Cooking for One or Two since it's easy to scale down to two halves, should that be better for you.
• So good! I hope you love these!


• If you like Twice-Baked Potatoes, you'll love this old family recipe from my Canadian family, Potato Blintzes.
• Not quite what you're looking for? Check out my other recipes using potatoes.

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How to Make Twice-Baked Potatoes

The detailed recipe is written in traditional recipe form below but here are the highlights in three easy steps. You can definitely do this!

• SLOW-BAKE THE POTATOES Each potato serves 2, but bake an extra potato to ensure there's lots of filling. Allow time. These potatoes bake for 1-1/2 to 1-3/4 hours. Yeah, you read that right. 😍
• MAKE THE FILLING After baking, let the potatoes cool until they're easy to handle, then cut in half. Score the interior flesh with a knife (there's a photo, above, to illustrate what I mean), being careful to not cut into the crispy skins; then scrape out the flesh and mix it with a whole pile of creamy deliciousness, butter, cottage cheese or sour cream, cream cheese and sharp cheddar. Refill the potato halves, really loading up on the filling.
• BAKE AGAIN Either straight off or later, bake the potato halves for a second time until the filling becomes hot and bubbly.

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Hungry Yet?
A Retro Menu Worthy of Retro Twice-Baked Potatoes

Homemade Onion Dip
with Potato Chips

Steak & Poblanos
or
Frozen Steaks
or
Cast Iron Meatloaf

Twice-Baked Potatoes
(recipe below)

Jubilee Greens (How to Sauté Leafy Greens Like Spinach, Chard, Kale & More)

Molasses Ice Cream with
Molasses Cookies

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Why I Love This Recipe & You Might Too

• ... just a little extra effort turns an everyday meal into a feast
• ... the potatoes are hearty enough to be the main course for someone who doesn't eat meat
• ... the potatoes are very easily made a day or two ahead of time, then need under an hour in the oven

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TWICE-BAKED POTATOES

Hands-on time: 20 minutes
Time-to-table: about 3-1/2 hours
Makes 4 potato halves

Do plan ahead, the first time, the potatoes are sloooowly baked for up to two hours. It helps to let the butter and cream cheese come to room temperature while the potatoes are baking.

BAKED POTATOES
• 3 large russet potatoes, about 8-12 ounces (225g-337g) each (see ALANNA's TIPS)
~ or ~

• 3 small russet potatoes (450g), (see TIPS)
~ or ~

• 3 small-medium Yukon gold potatoes (450g), (see TIPS)
• Olive oil, vegetable oil or any everyday oil, for the skins

POTATO FILLING
(make half the Filling if baking 3 small russet potatoes or 3 small-medium Yukon gold potatoes)
• Potato Flesh from all 3 potatoes
• 2 tablespoons butter, room temperature
• 4 tablespoons (58g) cream cheese, room temperature
• 3/4 cup (170g) cottage cheese or sour cream
• 3/4 cup (71g) grated sharp cheddar or another sharp cheese
• Cream or milk, if needed for a looser consistency, a tablespoon at a time
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt (assumes Diamond Crystal, use 1/2 teaspoon Morton's Kosher Salt)
• Fresh chives, chopped, optional but pretty

TO FINISH
• 1/4 cup (24g) grated sharp cheddar or another sharp cheese

BAKE THE POTATOES FOR LONGER THAN YOU'RE PROBABLY USED TO Up to a day or two before serving, set the oven to 350F/180C. Wash and dry the potatoes well (or clean the potatoes by rubbing with a wet towel), then use your hands to rub lightly all over with oil. Place the potatoes directly on the center oven rack and bake for 1-1/2 - 2 hours (see TIPS).

If you're going to bake the Twice-Baked Potatoes straight away, leave the oven on. Otherwise, off it goes.

Let the potatoes cool for about 15 minutes or until they're cool enough to handle.

For two of the three potatoes, cut the potatoes in half length-wise. (These will become the four potato halves.) Use a paring knife or a similar sharp knife with a short blade to score each of the four halves in both directions, cutting deep into the interior flesh without piercing the skins. Once scored, use a serrated knife or spoon such as a grapefruit knife or spoon (affiliate link) to scrape out the interior flesh for the Potato Filling, carefully leaving some attached to the inner sides of the skins to become the "walls" of the Twice-Baked Potatoes.

For the third potato, repeat the process except that it's okay to scrape out all the flesh for the Filling. Wanna snack on that crispy skin? Cook's Treat!

MIX THE POTATO FILLING Think about the texture you'd like for the Filling. Smooth? Use a mixer to blend all the ingredients. Textured with obvious though small pieces of potato? (This is my favorite.) Mash the potato flesh with the back of a meat fork, then stir in the remaining ingredients. Taste the filling, adjust the seasoning; even cold, the mixture should taste good!

FILL THE POTATO SKIN HALVES With a spoon, fill the four halves; because of that fifth potato, there should be plenty to "overfill" as much as you like. (See TIPS.)

FINISH Transfer the filled halves to a baking dish, preferably one that can support the potatoes so they don't tip over. Top the potatoes with a little more grated cheese.

If baking later, refrigerate the potato halves.

BAKE Heat the oven to 350F/180C. Bake the potatoes until hot and bubbly, about 30 minutes if baked straight away, about 45 minutes if cold from the refrigerator.

OPTIONAL BROILER For a little extra color, put the potato halves under the broiler for a minute or two or five. Watch carefully, the broiler is so hot, the potatoes can move from pretty to pretty burned in a couple of minutes.

MAKE-AHEAD TIPS These are definitely make-ahead friendly potatoes, that's especially convenient for special meals that fall mid-week. In fact, it's because Twice-Baked Potatoes are so easy to make ahead of time that I decided to share the recipe on Kitchen Parade. They are a little fiddly, yes? But they make up for that with being able to make them ahead of time.

LEFTOVERS are wonderful! My husband took a couple of days to eat just a single half for breakfast, microwaving a slice at a time to serve alongside bacon and eggs.

ALANNA's TIPS "Russet potatoes" are the varieties of rough-skinned potatoes that you might call "baking potatoes" or "jacket potatoes" or "Idaho potatoes". Russets are the "standard" potatoes for baking because of their mealy interior flesh. But good news. Yukon gold potatoes work really well too! In fact, baked Yukon golds are my new favorite, thanks to their smaller size, once-baked or twice-baked. Loose russet potatoes are nearly always quite large, a good 3/4 pound and even larger. That means that even a half, once filled with that gorgeous Potato Filling, can be be too big for a realistic individual serving. That's well and good so long as you're comfortable cutting a half into pieces. I would be! But the "look" just isn't as pretty, that's for sure. But here's the good news. Check your grocery store for a bag of russet potatoes and give the potatoes a feel for size. In my experience, those bags hold potatoes much smaller, about 1/3 of a pound each, much easier to manage. But if a whole bag of russet potatoes is too much for your household? Consider Yukon gold potatoes. I'm so pleased that they work just as well as russet potatoes for Twice-Bakeds, some people will even prefer the thinner skins. (I do!) As for size, it's much easier to find smaller Yukon golds than russet potatoes, plus you can easily purchase only as many as you need. Don't baked potatoes only bake for an hour? Sure. For a boring ol' baked potato, stop at 1 hour. Or follow my lead and instead, make (Sloooow) Baked Potatoes which usually bake at 350F for up to three hours! (My personal sweet spot is 2-1/2 hours.) But for Twice-Baked Potatoes, which are going back in the oven, I have good luck with something like 1-1/2 hours to 1-3/4 hours. The crusts get crispy and crackly and the interior flesh turns to an almost nutty flavor. Bake a Sloooow Baked Potato once, you'll never go back. Not persuaded yet? Click through to my recipe at A Veggie Venture, I'll show you how to do your own side-by-side taste test! FYI I had high hopes that any leftover Potato Filling would fry up nicely as potato patties the next day; even with flour added in, that didn't work out, the Filling is just too moist and loose. It still tastes good though! But good news. Just reheat any leftover filling all on its own in a casserole dish. So good!

FOR MORE INFO If you "skipped straight to the recipe," please scroll back to the top of this page for ingredient information, ingredient substitutions, tips and more. Confused about salt, these days? No wonder, it is confusing. Check my FAQs for an explanation. If you print this recipe, you'll want to check the recipe online for even more tips and extra information about ingredient substitutions, best results and more. See https://www.kitchenparade.com/2025/03/twice-baked-potatoes.html .

RECIPE HISTORY Back in the day, I was known as the veggie evangelist at A Veggie Venture, my food blog where I published a very so-so recipe for Twice-Baked Potatoes way back in 2007. Since then, I started completely over, my goals were streamlined steps and bumped-up flavors to ensure that the potatoes are ready for prime-time here at Kitchen Parade and, very most especially, in your kitchen.

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Seasonal Eating: Early Spring in the Midwest

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Lovin' This Year-Round Vegetable

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Shop Your Pantry First

(helping home cooks save money on groceries)

~ recipes using potatoes ~
~ recipes using cream cheese ~
~ recipes using cottage cheese ~
~ recipes using cheddar cheese ~

~ All Recipes, By Ingredient ~
~ How to Save Money on Groceries ~

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Kitchen Parade is written by second-generation food columnist Alanna Kellogg and features fresh, seasonal dishes for every-day healthful eating and occasional indulgences. Quick Suppers are Kitchen Parade favorites and feature recipes easy on the budget, the clock, the waistline and the dishwasher. Do you have a favorite recipe that other Kitchen Parade readers might like? Just send me a quick e-mail, you'll find my current address in the FAQs. How to print a Kitchen Parade recipe. Never miss a recipe! If you like this recipe, sign up for a free e-mail subscription. If you like Kitchen Parade, for more scratch cooking recipes using whole, healthful ingredients, you're sure to like my food blog about vegetable recipes, too, A Veggie Venture. If you make this recipe, I'd love to know your results! Just leave a comment below.

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