Bacon Cheeseburger Twice Baked Potato

I'm on the cooking contest bandwagon, this time with a savory recipe. Potatoes, Taters and Spuds is hosting a Twice Baked, Twice as Smart Recipe Photo Contest. The objective is to create an original twice baked potato and upload the picture. I chose to create a bacon cheeseburger stuffed potato with bacon, of course, and ground turkey.

You start off by roasting potatoes. I washed, scrubbed, and dried 4 potatoes, placed on a bed of salt and lightly drizzled with olive oil. These baked for around an hour and a half, until easily poked with a fork.

Once the potatoes are cool enough to handle, each potato is sliced in half and scooped out.

Added to the potato pulp is sour cream, bacon pieces, cheddar cheese, dill pickle juice and onion powder. Folks, onion powder is the reason these potatoes taste exactly like a McDonald's cheeseburger. It's freaky how close the filling tastes to one, so although this version is a bit healthier thanks to the ground turkey, you really don't miss the beef. Or at least I don't think you do.

Each potato skin gets stuffed and topped with cheddar cheese, then baked for another half hour to heat thoroughly.

For the garnishes, you have finely chopped onions, dill pickles, and more bacon! Are you hungry yet?

And that's how you make a bacon cheeseburger twice baked potato, answering the question, "Do you want fries with that?"

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Bacon Cheeseburger Twice Baked Potatoes
Recipe by Christina Provo

Serve 4 as a main course

ingredients -

4 large Russet potatoes
3 tablespoons coarse salt
1 teaspoon olive oil, divided
10 strips of bacon
1/2 pound ground turkey
1 1/4 shredded cheddar cheese, divided
2/3 cup sour cream
2 teaspoons coarse salt
1 1/2 teaspoons onion powder
2 tablespoons dill pickle juice
4 dill pickles, finely chopped
1/2 medium onion, finely chopped
Mustard, for serving

directions -

1. Preheat oven to 350°. Sprinkle rimmed baking sheet with 3 tablespoons salt. Wash and scrub potatos, patting dry. Poke each potato 5 times with a fork, then place on baking sheet. Drizzle the tops of each potato with 1/4 teaspoon olive oil. Bake until tender when poked with the tines of a fork, 1 hour to 1 hour and 30 minutes. Remove sheet from oven and let cool. When cool enough to handle, slice each potato lengthwise and scoop potato flesh out into a large bowl, leaving a shell.


2. Meanwhile, in a large skillet cook bacon strips in two batches, until crispy. Transfer to paper towel-lined plate. Crumble bacon when cool. Remove all but one tablespoon bacon grease from skillet; add ground turkey and cook until no longer pink, about 5-7 minutes. Let cool.


3. Add turkey, half of the crumbled bacon, 3/4 cup cheddar cheese, sour cream, salt, onion powder, and pickle juice to potato flesh; stir to combine. Divide between skins and place back on baking sheet. Sprinkle tops with remaining 1/2 cup cheddar cheese. Bake for 30 minutes.


4. Remove from oven and serve with remaining bacon crumbles, dill pickles, onions, and mustard.

garlic fries

Garlic fries are one of the tastiest fries I've ever eaten that I've never had at a restaurant. I'm not sure where I could go around here to find some, but why bother when I can make them just as easily myself!

Most complaints with oven roasted fries is that they don't get as crispy as regular french fries. After looking around and remembering a process I tried earlier, I settled on my version that produces really crispy fries with a garlicky topping made by infusing oil with minced garlic.

This method requires that the potatoes, sliced into 1/4-inch sticks (peeling isn't necessary), are briefly boiled in water and patted dry. Boiling them sort of jump starts the cooking process so that the outsides cook along with the insides, and it seems to make them crispier, though that could just be how they are roasted.

Minimal oil is added to the potatoes, just enough to coat them lightly, but enough so that they crisp without sitting in a pool of grease. The oven temperature is quite high, and the cooking racks are placed at the highest and lowest position inside the oven. The baking sheets are rotated between the top and the bottom for 15 minutes at a time until the potatoes take on a uniformly roasted and crispy appearance.

With a little extra preparation and attention to timing, you can serve these alongside hamburgers, or just as a snack to munch on whilst movie watching.

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Print this recipe

garlic fries
Recipe by Christina Provo

ingredients ~

5 cloves minced garlic
4 tablespoons vegetable oil
6-8 large russet potatoes, sliced into 1/4 inch sticks
1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
3 tablespoons finely chopped fresh parsley

directions ~

1. Preheat oven to 475°, making sure the oven racks are at the lowest and highest position. Heat a pot of water to a boil with 1 teaspoon salt. Have ready two large baking sheet lined with paper towels.


2. In a small saucepan, heat garlic and oil together for 2 minutes. Strain the garlic from the oil and set both aside.


3. In batches, boil potato matchsticks in water for 1 minute; remove with a slotted spoon and drain on baking sheet. Repeat with remaining potatoes until all have been boiled, making sure the potatoes have been patted dry.


4. Divide potatoes among two baking sheets and toss each batch with 2 tablespoons oil, 3/4 teaspoon kosher salt, and 1/4 teaspoon black pepper.


5. Place both sheets in the oven and set the timer for 15 minutes. When the time's up, remove both sheets and carefully toss the potatoes. Switch sheets so that the sheet on top is now on the bottom and the bottom sheet is on top. Set the timer for 15 minutes. Repeat process until the potatoes look fairly uniformly roasted and crispy.


6. After removing sheets from oven, place the fries in a large bowl and toss with the parsley, reserved garlic, and more salt if required.