These potato skins saved me from messing up this theme of USA cuisine. I originally planned on a s’mores mug cake which fell through. So I fell back on potatoes which is the ultimate saviour as also very American. The daughter loves it and that is a huge benefit. I also figured I could to sneak in veggies inside all that cheese. In her words, this is ‘almost like french fries’ which for a six year old is the highest compliment possible.
I adapted this from a recipe on Food.com which had bacon in it. Since I needed a vegetarian version I replaced the bacon with some vegetables and also some cheese with butter and landed with a super easy evening snack. This is a life saver because potatoes are a pantry staple and the filling can be improvised based on what is available on hand. Kids usually love these potato skins if you top it with some cheese and be generous with the butter. It is a perfect little indulgence for even adults because it gives you the satisfaction of fries without all the oil. I am usually not a fan of substituting ‘nutrition’ for taste all the time but this is a nice middle path to take.
Variations
The filling in the potato skins can be anything of your choice. Some examples –
- Sweet Corn
- Mushroom
- Peas
- Capsicum / Bell pepper
- Paneer
- Leftover chole, rajma, etc
- Leftover vegetables
- Carrots, beets, etc.
Vegetables like mushrooms, etc need additional time to be cooked. So they can be filled in when the potato skins are being baked and baked along with it. Add cheese only in the final 2 minutes else it can get burnt.
There are some other exciting potato recipes here like Potato Pizza, Cheesy Potato Soup and Caramelized Baby potato salad
Baked Potato Skins
Equipment
- OTG or MIcrowave Oven to bake
- Mixing bowls
Ingredients
- 4 medium/ large Potatoes
- 1 medium Onion
- 1 medium Tomato
- 1 medium Capsicum / Bell pepper
- 3 tbsp Butter (Salted or unsalted) (flavoured / non flavoured)
- 4-5 tbsp Mozarella / Cheddar cheese
- As needed Salt
- As needed Dried herbs / Seasoning of your choice
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 220C
- Wash the potatoes thoroughly
- Cut them into halves vertically and scoop out the flesh as much as possible
- Cut the onion, tomato and bell pepper finely and mix them in a bowl
- Add and mix salt and any seasoning of your choice
- Brush the potato shells with butter on both sides
- Mix some seasoning with the butter if needed eg paprika powder, cheese powder, etc
- Bake the empty potato shells, skin side up for 8 minutes
- Turn the potato shells over and bake for another 8 minutes
- Take out the potatoes and fill them up with the vegetable filling
- Sprinkle with grated cheese on top
- Bake for 2-3 minutes till the cheese has melted
- Serve warm and enjoy with some sour cream or any dip of choice
Pin it for later
I previously published this post a couple of years ago. I have updated the pictures and some text for relevance. Otherwise the recipe stays the same.
This is my post for the Blogging Marathon under the theme, Cuisine of USA.
Check out the Blogging Marathon page for the other Blogging Marathoners doing this BM
Awesome… Innovative 👌👌
Thank you so much
Very interesting one Sowmya, I always find the potatoes baked in oven are not fully baked all the time…must try this version soon..:)
Some times our experiments fail , but that’s life . Anyway Interesting to eat these potato skins , like the stuffing in it . One can use the scooped potatoes too .
I have been planning to make these for ages. Love the filling.
Very tempting. My older one wanted me to bake these for the theme but she was too late 🙂 But she is determined to bake these herself. 🙂
sinful snack and totally my kind. This is on my todo list as well. Need to get my hands on this dish. Your pictures are making me drool.
Am in love with this vegetarian version of potato skins, and thats an alluring dish for the sure.
Wow this looks so so good. Must try this soon