Awesome Cheesy Twice Baked Potato Boats are cheesy, creamy, filled with bacon or ground sausage and diced onions. And that's just the start. With the option of adding more delicious ingredients, you can create the perfect stuffed potato just for you!

We are a potato family. And we can't seem to get enough of these Awesome Cheesy Twice Baked Potato Boats. This is our original stuffed potato. Not the original recipe. My goodness, there was a time I used to boil the potatoes instead of baking them. After this recipe, boiling potatoes became a thing of the past. The cheesy, creamy potato filling with bacon or ground sausage tastes amazing. I have never encountered anyone who didn't like them. All the ingredients can be adjusted according to taste.

Use Flavored Sour Cream or Cream Cheese

Use Different Cheeses

Try Coating Outside of Potato

Use egg whites or vegetable oil to coat potato and then coat outside with sea salt, cracked pepper and some dried rosemary and/or thyme leaves.

Awesome Cheesy Twice Baked Potato Boats

Ingredients

russet potatoes
bacon or ground sausage, cooked, crumbled or 8 slices
melted butter
shredded cheddar or jack cheeses
parmesan cheese

Option 1

cream cheese or flavored cream cheese

Option 2

sour cream or flavored sour cream
milk, as needed

Options

diced onions
minced garlic
salt
pepper

Outside of Potato (Optional)

egg whites or vegetable oil
sea salt
pepper
rosemary
thyme

Instructions

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Wash potatoes and pat dry. Using a knife, carefully stab each potato 2-3 times on face up and face down.
If desired whisk an egg white until frothy or use olive oil and brush the potatoes. Then roll the potato in a combination of kosher salt, ground black pepper, rosemary and thyme. I usually sprinkle the spices on a cutting board and roll the potato around on it.
Bake potatoes on the upper middle rack for about 60 minutes, or until tender.
Remove from oven and let sit until cool enough to handle. I find an oven mitt works great to hold the potato if it is too hot to handle. After removing the potatoes from the oven the first time, you should be able to easily stab them with a fork and knife. If they are too firm, return them to the oven and bake for an additional 5-10 minutes until desired.
While potatoes cool sauté onions until translucent and make sure bacon is cooked. I love to cook the onions in a little bacon grease.
Adjust oven temperature to 350 degrees.
Using a knife, carefully slice the potatoes in half long ways, creating 8 individual boats.
Use a small spoon to scrape out the inside of each potato into a mixing bowl, leaving a thin edge for support (less than ½ inch). When scoping the potatoes out into a mixing bowl, take your time! You don’t want to be too rough and damage the potato skin boat. It will need to stay sturdy to hold a ton of yummy goodness!
Scoop out the potato from each boat into a large mixing bowl. You will have 8, hollow potato skin boats left on the baking pan.
In the large bowl, combine the bacon bits, cream cheese or sour cream and milk, butter, onions, garlic, salt, pepper, parmesan and ½ to 1 cup of shredded cheddar cheese. Use a handheld mixer if possible. Mix thoroughly until the ingredients are well combined. Add extra ingredients to taste if desired.
Arrange hollowed potatoes in a large baking dish. Carefully spoon potato mixture into potatoes or place mashed potatoes into a resealable bag and push them to the bottom. Cut one corner off and squeeze out mashed potato into the potato. Use all of the potato mixture. Press down with spoon if necessary to get potato into every corner.
Sprinkle with remaining shredded cheese. Approximately ¼ cup per potato.
Heat in oven for about 15 minutes. Then turn oven up to broil until cheese is nicely browned. About 5 minutes.
Serve immediately and enjoy every bite.

Tips

After removing the potatoes from the oven the first time, you should be able to easily stab them with a fork and knife. If they are too firm, return them to the oven and bake for an additional 5-10 minutes until desired.
When scoping the potatoes out into a mixing bowl, take your time! You don’t want to be too rough and damage the potato skin boat. It will need to stay sturdy to hold a ton of yummy goodness!
The potatoes will cool evenly if you place them on a cooling rack. It’s not necessary but very helpful!
These potatoes are cheesy!!
This dish pairs wonderfully with steak and veggies.
You can also substitute or add in a cheddar jack cheese blend!