Perhaps this is my Irish heritage talking, but no holiday menu seems complete with spuds of some kind. Options abound for how to serve potatoes and make the beloved root vegetable feel worthy of a holiday table. Shred and fry them into latkes, layer them into a casserole for au gratin, whip and pipe them for showy duchess-style, or simply cube and roast those roots.
Each and every one of these holiday potato recipes get two hearty thumbs up from me. But if I was forced to choose only one type to take with me to every celebration moving forward, it would be my Mom’s twice-baked potatoes. Offering the best of baked and mashed in one single-serving package, twice-baked potatoes are such a satisfying and crowd-pleasing option. No wonder our Ultimate Twice-Baked Potatoes has more than 2,900 five-star ratings!
My Mom’s rendition is a classic. Simply bake the potatoes, then slice them in half, scoop out most of the flesh, and mix it with sour cream. Spoon that creamy blend back into the potato skins, top with shredded cheddar, and bake once more until golden brown and bubbly.
That’s the tried-and-true Walsh way. However, this is far from the only strategy to spiff-up your twice-baked spuds. While scrolling through Instagram recently, in fact, I discovered a fresh new secret ingredient that might just make this year’s twice-baked potatoes the very best.
The 1 Ingredient You Need for the Best Twice-Baked Potatoes
Creative Allrecipes home cooks have doctored up this timeless side dish with everything from bacon and Boursin to ricotta and cream cheese. Others have even transformed twice-baked potatoes into a meal by stuffing potato skins with Buffalo chicken and chicken pot pie filling.
All of those variations sound tempting, but for “next-level fluffiness,” Pittsburgh-based recipe developer Grace Elkus confirms that the key is cottage cheese.
To follow the lead of her recipe that’s raked in nearly 27,000 likes and comments like “so smart,”
“I neeeeeeed this though,” and “this might finally convince me to like cottage cheese,” start by baking Yukon Gold potatoes at 325 degrees F (165 degrees C). No need to bust out a sheet pan quite yet; Elkus suggests doing so directly on an oven rack for 90 minutes to allow every inch of the potato skin to be exposed to an even amount of heat.
After an hour and a half, you’ll have a batch of potatoes with “really crackly skin and super fluffy centers,” Elkus explains. This is all made possible by following Martha Stewart’s lead and roasting naturally-fluffy Yukon Gold potatoes low and slow, instead of sticking with Russets, which are the typical twice-baked variety.
Once the Yukon Golds are cooked and cool enough to handle, transfer the potatoes to a sheet pan and slice each one in half, leaving a portion of the skin intact so you can open each spud like a book.
Now instead of scooping out the flesh, transferring it to a bowl, then combining it with the mix-ins, simply add the bonus ingredients directly on top of each split spud. Elkus recommends seasoning with salt and black pepper, as well as the three other core cast members: a spoonful of cottage cheese, a sprinkle of shredded cheddar, a pinch of chopped chives. Stir together the filling right in the skins, then send the spuds back to the oven set to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C) this time, Elkus advises, and about 20 minutes later, the result is “just a brilliant twice-baked potato.”
Allrecipes / Qi Ai
There are three qualities that have me sold on this recipe refresh already:
- The protein boost. The ¼-cup portion I plan to mix into each potato skin adds about 6 grams of protein to each potato. That’s as much hunger-taming protein as a large egg.
- The fact that we can skip scooping. The only step I used to dread during potato prep: hassling with scooping out the just-right amount of flesh to allow the skins to stay sturdy and intact, while removing enough filling to spruce up with the mix-ins. Elkus’ savvy method allows us to steer clear of that step entirely, since the toppings are added and mixed right in the skins. This saves precious time and means that we don’t dirty another piece of equipment along the way.
- The portion size. Even once a Russet is halved, you need to commit when you add one or two to your plate when they’re supplemented with the extra cheese, sour cream, bacon, etc. With Yukon Golds, it’s much easier to adjust according to your appetite (go back for seconds or fourths—this is your party!) without wasting food.
Elkus’ good-as-gold twice-baked potato recipe has been a hit since she first posted about it in September. And as of December, I have another reason to rave about and recreate this recipe. With the holidays on the horizon, Elkus tested and perfected these Mini Cheddar and Chive Twice-Baked Potatoes—proof that the cottage cheese-infused idea works just as well with new potatoes. Now, in addition to introducing my family to the fluffy original version at Christmas this year, I’m looking forward to whipping up the bite-sized version for future game day gatherings and cocktail parties.
