Name: The Greatest Potato Skins
Prep time: 15 min
Cook time: 75 min
Total time: 90 min
Yield: 6 servings
Ingredients: 6 large russet potatoes; 3 tbsp olive oil; 1 tbsp, plus more for sprinkling kosher salt; 8 slices thick-cut bacon; 2 cups sharp cheddar cheese, shredded; 4 tbsp unsalted butter, melted; 1 tsp black pepper; 1 tsp garlic powder; 4 scallions, thinly sliced; 1 cup sour cream (for serving)

The Greatest Potato Skins

Prep

15m

Cook

75m

Total

90m

Bigly says

Let me tell you something. Potato skins. We need to talk about potato skins, because most of what's out there is a DISGRACE to the potato skin. A disgrace. A sad little flabby half-shell with a sprinkle of orange dust they're calling cheese. Embarrassing. The potato deserves better. The bar deserves better. YOU deserve better. And what I'm about to give you is the greatest potato skin ever assembled in a home kitchen — Hall-of-Fame potato skin, end of discussion — and I will defend that position against any so-called appetizer chef who wants to come at me. Bring them.

My grandmother made potato skins. She was a tough woman. She did not suffer fools and she did not suffer soft potato skins, and she taught me the one rule the food media is too lazy to print: the skin goes in the oven TWICE. Twice. Once to cook the potato, and once again — naked, brushed with fat, seasoned, attacked — to crisp the skin into something that ARGUES with your teeth on the way down. Most chefs are afraid to do this. They think it's too much oven time. Cowards. The oven is your friend. The oven WANTS you to win.

The other secret is fat. Real fat. Butter AND olive oil, brushed inside and out, getting into every wrinkle of that skin, because every wrinkle is a little crispy opportunity and we are not wasting opportunities here, not on my watch. Then sharp cheddar — shred it yourself, the bagged stuff has a fine powder that fights you every step of the way, a CONSPIRACY against cheese sauce, a crime — and thick-cut bacon, real bacon, the kind that snaps. Servers in restaurants recognize me when I walk in and they bring me potato skins. They know. They know the only person at the table who actually understands a potato skin has just sat down. And now you'll know too.

Ingredients

6large russet potatoes(russets only, no waxy potato nonsense)
3 tbspolive oil
1 tbsp, plus more for sprinklingkosher salt
8 slicesthick-cut bacon
2 cupssharp cheddar cheese, shredded(shred it yourself, the bagged stuff has anti-caking powder, a disaster)
4 tbspunsalted butter, melted
1 tspblack pepper
1 tspgarlic powder
4scallions, thinly sliced
1 cupsour cream (for serving)

Steps

1
Preheat the oven to 400°F. Scrub the potatoes well and pat dry.
2
Pierce each potato several times with a fork. Rub with 1 tablespoon of the olive oil and sprinkle generously with salt.
3
Place directly on the oven rack and bake 50-60 minutes, until tender when pierced with a knife. Remove and let cool 10 minutes until safe to handle.
4
While the potatoes cool, cook the bacon in a skillet over medium heat until crisp, about 8 minutes. Drain on paper towels and crumble.
5
Increase oven temperature to 450°F.
6
Slice each potato in half lengthwise. Scoop out the flesh with a spoon, leaving about 1/4 inch of potato attached to the skin (save the scooped potato for mashed potatoes or another use).
7
Combine the melted butter, remaining 2 tablespoons olive oil, black pepper, and garlic powder. Brush this mixture over both sides of each potato skin.
8
Place the skins skin-side-up on a baking sheet and bake 10 minutes. Flip and bake another 10 minutes, until deeply crisp.
9
Fill each skin with shredded cheddar and crumbled bacon. Return to the oven and bake 4-5 minutes more, until the cheese is fully melted and bubbling.
10
Top with sliced scallions and serve hot with sour cream on the side.

One more thing

Put a plate of these in front of anyone — anyone — and they shut up. They stop talking. The room goes quiet. That's the power of a real potato skin. Real crunch. Real cheese. Real bacon, not turkey bacon, never turkey bacon, turkey bacon is a sad imitation of the real thing. Make these once and your guests will start showing up to your house uninvited. They'll just appear. With folding chairs. It's a problem you'll learn to love. Now go eat.