My Go-to Weeknight Meal Takes 10 Minutes to Prep and Requires Barely Any Cooking

My go-to weeknight meal after I don’t really feel like cooking is one which includes barely any dishes and requires simply 10 minutes of energetic prep time: baked candy potatoes. Loaded up with melted cheddar, crispy bacon, minced chives, and bitter cream, baked potatoes—whether or not you select to make use of starchy russets or candy garnets—are a easy and filling dinner. Past its ease, the great thing about the baked potato is that you would be able to fill and prime it nonetheless you’d like, and so they’re an amazing vessel for utilizing up leftovers like chili, shepherd’s pie filling, or Bolognese. 

Although baking candy potatoes isn’t tough, it’s nonetheless price taking the time to go the additional mile to ensure every spud is really scrumptious and doesn’t style like an afterthought. (They could be virtually easy, however they don’t need to style easy!) Beneath, you’ll discover a number of key methods—a few of which Critical Eats editorial director Daniel has already touched on in his final baked potato recipe—that can assist you to make the easiest loaded candy potatoes.

How one can Make Outrageously Scrumptious Loaded Baked Candy Potatoes

Select the correct dimension candy potato. Candy potatoes can considerably differ in dimension, with some as small as a finger and others weighing greater than a pound. Although you’re greater than welcome to make use of no matter dimension of candy potato you’ve got, take into account that the baking time will fluctuate relying on how giant or small your candy potatoes are. In my recipe under, I like to recommend utilizing medium candy potatoes, which take about an hour and fifteen minutes to bake. Medium or giant candy potatoes are additionally simpler to load the toppings onto than small ones. 

Puncture your candy potatoes. Each Daniel and former Critical Eats editor Kenji suggest puncturing potatoes with a paring knife to stop steam from increase and inflicting the spud to blow up, which may trigger an incredible mess in your oven and, extra importantly, could cause burns if a potato explodes if you end up checking it within the oven or dealing with it. So: Puncture these taters and deal with them with care.

Oil the candy potatoes, then depart them unwrapped. For candy potato skins that bake up barely crisp, give them a lightweight coating of oil and skip wrapping them in foil. Whereas many baked potato recipes name for wrapping the spuds in foil, this  doesn’t exponentially pace up their cooking, nor does it produce a extra scrumptious potato. As Daniel present in his testing, wrapping potatoes in foil solely achieves one factor: soggy skins. By leaving the candy potatoes unwrapped and rubbing them in oil, we get crispy but tender potato skins that you just really wish to eat.

Bake them on a wire rack. As tempting as it could be to only chuck the candy potatoes on a sheet pan, inserting the spuds straight onto the baking sheet may end up in burned bottoms. I like to recommend baking the candy potatoes on a wire rack set right into a rimmed baking sheet—this permits scorching air to flow into round every potato so that they cook dinner extra evenly. No wire rack? Bake the candy potatoes straight in your oven rack—simply you should definitely maintain a sheet pan or sheet of foil on the rack under to catch any drips.

Mash the candy potatoes with butter, then use the combination to stuff the skins. Go the additional mile by scooping out the cooked candy potato flesh, mashing it with butter, then utilizing that combination to fill the skins. If you happen to’re baking 4 potatoes, you may refill every pores and skin to make 4 reasonably stuffed candy potatoes, or fill half of the skins for 2 large, overstuffed candy potatoes. 

Get artistic with the toppings. You may’t go fallacious with basic loaded baked potato toppings, however there are many different enjoyable garnishes to think about. I like to prime my candy potatoes with a big swoop of labne and tahini, a hearty bean chili, or corn salad. Comply with your coronary heart—or your abdomen. It gained’t lead you astray.

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