Ruthie’s Twice-Baked Potatoes

If you want to cook something that says, “I love you,” Ruthie’s Twice-Baked Potatoes is it. Hollow out some baked potatoes, mash the insides with sour cream and cheese, top with butter and bake until beautiful. Potato lovers everywhere will hear the angels sing.

My mother, Ruth, was a very good cook and I have many special memories of the dishes she made for us and these potatoes were one of them. I have never seen twice-baked potatoes prepared the way she made them, which is the same way I do now.

Typically, twice-baked potatoes are made by baking the potatoes, halving them lengthwise, then topping with goodies and popping them back in the oven. Personally, I find my version to be superior … especially as a dyed-in-the-wool potato lover. Baked potato wonderfulness filled with mashed potatoes? Yes, please.

How to Make Ruthie’s Twice-Baked Potatoes

Start with large russet baking potatoes that have been scrubbed. Pierce the top with a fork (not the side, don’t want the skin to crack later) and give them a rub with some oil and season with salt and pepper. Bake until fork tender then let cool a bit until you can hold them with a pot holder or towel.

Using a paring knife, cut an oval in the top near (but not up to) the edge of the potato, removing the top skin. Hollow out with a spoon, leaving a quarter-inch thick shell. Place the potato insides in a bowl for mashing. Radja, our retired bomb dog, would be happy to inspect yours; he’s good at that kind of thing.

Mash what you’ve scooped out with whatever you like; today I’ve used sour cream and Parmesan cheese. I find a hand mixer very useful for this task. The mashed potatoes should be nice and creamy, just as you’d like to serve them as a side dish.

Stuff the potato shells with the mash and make a little barrier wall around the rim to hold in the butter. You’re basically constructing a baked potato fortress supporting a mashed potato parapet lovingly holding a little pool of butter. (And if on your plate you’ve never made a mashed potato volcano holding gravy lava, well, you just haven’t lived.)

Tuck a pat of butter vertically into the top of the potato and sprinkle with paprika and chives or whatever you like. Back in the oven until heated through, 20-30 minutes.

If you have any extra mashed potato filling, put it in a small greased oven-safe bowl and give it the same treatment with butter and sprinkled seasoning. Heat it in the oven with the potatoes. Somebody who wants a little bit of seconds will be happy to nosh on it.

What to Serve with Ruthie’s Twice-Baked Potatoes

• Roast beef, ham or chicken
• Pairs perfectly with meatloaf
• Alongside a salad for a meatless dinner
• You could even make little ones for a party!

Need Dairy-Free?

You can make these potatoes using coconut milk and garlic oil. Yummy!

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Ruthie’s Twice-Baked Potatoes

Big, hollowed out russet beauties refilled with mashed potatoes. Mmmm mmmm.

Prep Time25 mins

Cook Time1 hr 30 mins

Servings: 4 servings

Ingredients

• 4 large russet baking potatoes
• oil and salt and pepper for outside of potatoes
• ½ cup sour cream or plain yogurt
• ½ cup, approx. milk or Half & Half, as needed
• ½ cup grated Parmesan cheese
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• ¼ teaspoon black pepper
• ¼" pats of butter for top
• paprika for sprinkling
• 2 teaspoons chopped fresh chives, optional

Instructions

• Preheat oven to 375°. Scrub baking potatoes and dry them off. Rub them with a little oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Prick once or twice with a fork in the center of the top of the potatoes. You don't want to prick them elsewhere or the shell might crack later on.
• Bake potatoes on a sheet pan for approximately 45-60 minutes until fork tender. Test doneness with a fork from the top. The fork should meet little to no resistance. Remove potatoes from the oven and let sit on the pan for 10 minutes until you can handle them with a pot holder. Leave the oven on.
• Hold a potato with a pot holder or towel and using a paring knife, cut away the skin from the tops in an oval shape about ½" from the edge. Discard that bit of skin. With a spoon, hollow out the flesh of the potatoes, leaving a ¼" thick shell. Place the spooned-out potato filling in a large bowl.
• Mash the potato filling with a potato masher, ricer, or mixer. I like a mixer for this job. Blend in the sour cream, milk or half & half, Parmesan, salt and pepper. Add in chives if you like, and/or save them for garnish. Adjust your milk as needed to achieve a mashed potato with good body but is creamy – not too stiff and certainly not pourable.
• Refill the potato shells with the mashed potato mixture, mounding it up a bit around the edge of the opening like a little wall and making a depression in the center. Slip a pat of butter vertically into the depression allowing the top of the butter to peek out. The wall of mashed potatoes around the edge will hold in the butter when it melts Sprinkle with paprika and chives, if desired.
• Return potatoes to the oven for about 20-30 minutes until heated through.

Notes

If you have leftover mashed potato filling, place it in a small greased oven-proof bowl and top with butter and paprika.  Heat in the oven along with the filled potatoes.

A little throwback…

A long time ago (that seems like yesterday), a 22-year-old found herself living in another country and very lonely for her family and friends. Feeling homesick, she attempted to make the twice-baked potatoes of her childhood for her new husband, only things didn’t go so well. Months of accumulated stress plus these exploding volcanic potatoes led to a long walk alone to simmer down. However, the hubs thought this was hilarious and logged photographic proof. (He devoured the potatoes, by the way. Good man that he is.)

These photos remain on my kitchen bulletin board today as a reminder of, well, life.

Want more potatoes?

Check out my Crispy Hash Browns for more potato goodness!