Cheese Jacket Potatoes

Cheese jacket potatoes with a Gouda, mayonnaise and scallion filling. Plus many more jacket potato filling ideas.

Jacket Potatoes with Cheese

These cheese jacket potatoes are my daughter's favorite baked potatoes, I could make them every week and she would probably not get tired of them. She loves potatoes in any form, but baked and with cheese on top are, of course, better than all the others.

Baked potatoes was one of my favorite foods as a kid as well, the Romanian style made by my grandmother, even simpler than this version but utterly delicious as well. Actually, the only thing my grandma would do was to bake them until soft on the inside and crispy on the outside, remove the skin and mix the hot insides with butter and salt. Heaven for us kids!

What are jacket potatoes?

A baked potato, the way people call baked potatoes in Britain. I used to eat them quite often while living in London, they were a quick, cheap and delicious thing to eat during the lunch break or on a lazy Sunday when I did not feel much like cooking.

They can be served as they are or as a side dish for other dishes. Just imagine a good beef tagliata sprinkled with coarse salt and a steaming potato topped with a small knob of melting herb butter on the side...

They can be served with only some butter and salt (as mentioned above) or they can be filled with various fillings, which can be either shortly baked in the oven, or added just before serving.

Best potatoes for baking

• In Germany, many supermarkets sell the so-called baking potatoes, they are pretty large floury. However, I often use the smaller potatoes, they are faster to cook, so I prefer to eat 2 smaller potatoes than a large one.
• Russet in the US and King Edward potatoes in the UK are very suitable.
• BBC Good Food also recommends Vivaldi, Sante, and Melody, but I don't know those sorts myself.

Jacket potato filling ideas

They are so versatile, you can fill them with pretty much anything. We have these cheesy ones quite often, but why not try other versions as well? You could use the filling from these baked sweet potatoes or you can get creative and find your own combinations.

Here are some of our favorite jacket potato toppings, each enough to fill about 1 larger or 2 smaller tubers. They can be made using not only crème fraiche or sour cream, but also cream cheese or mascarpone. The Parmesan cheese can be replaced with other finely grated cheese sorts like Gouda, Cheddar, Havarti, or whatever you like.

Mix together the chosen ingredients, add the scooped out potato flesh, some fine sea salt, and freshly ground black pepper to taste. Fill with any of these fillings and bake for a further 5 to 10 minutes until the jacket potato filling is hot.

• 1 tablespoon crème fraiche/sour cream + 2 tablespoons Parmesan + about 1 teaspoon mustard, to taste.
• 1 tablespoon crème fraiche/sour cream + 2 tablespoons Parmesan + green or red pesto to taste.
• 1 tablespoon crème fraiche/sour cream + 2 tablespoons Parmesan + 10 pitted and chopped black olives.
• 1 tablespoon crème fraiche/sour cream + 2 tablespoons Parmesan + a small bunch of fresh herbs, chopped.
• 1 tablespoon crème fraiche/sour cream + 2 tablespoons Parmesan + some finely chopped cooked chicken breast + finely chopped chives.
• 1 tablespoon cream cheese + a little crumbled blue cheese + finely sliced green onions.
• 1 tablespoon cream cheese + some crumbled feta cheese + finely chopped green onions or black olives.
• 1 tablespoon cream cheese + some camembert, very finely chopped + finely chopped green onions + sweet paprika powder, to taste
• 2 tablespoons cream cheese + 2 crushed anchovies filets + 1 tablespoon grated Gouda + 1 tablespoon finely chopped parsley
• 3-4 tablespoons baked beans and some gratings of Cheddar cheese.

How to bake potatoes?

• Preheat the oven to 200 degrees Celsius/ 400 degrees Fahrenheit. Line a baking tray with baking paper.
• Wash the tubers thoroughly and allow them to dry only slightly.
• Rub them well with salt while they are still rather wet.
• Prick them all over with a fork. This procedure will allow steam to escape during the cooking process
• Place them on the prepared baking tray and bake for about 1 hour 15 minutes, depending on their size this might take longer. If they weigh only about 150 g/ 5.3 oz, start checking after about 50-55 minutes.
• Check if they are done by squeezing one lightly, it should just give and the skin should be crispy. If they are not done, prolong the cooking time and check again after 5 to 10 minutes.
• Remove from the oven.

How to make jacket potatoes?

• To make the Gouda/Cheddar filling, grate the cheese.
• Mix with mayonnaise and most of the finely sliced scallions.
• Cut about ⅓ of the upper part of the baked potatoes. Carefully scoop out the flesh.
• Mash the flesh roughly with a fork and mix it with the jacket potato filling.
• Stuff with the filling.
• Bake for another 5 to 10 minutes until the cheese is nicely melted.
• Top each potato with a tiny amount of salted butter, sprinkle with the remaining scallions and serve immediately.

How to serve the cheesy potatoes?

• The cheese jacket potatoes are best served immediately. You can still reheat them though if you have leftovers.
• Serve with a green salad with yogurt dressing, white cabbage salad, red cabbage slaw, or roasted/ steamed vegetables of choice.

More cheesy dishes with potatoes:

• Baked Cauliflower Potato Patties
• Meatball Potato Casserole
• Baked Cabbage and Potatoes
• Healthier Broccoli Potato Casserole
• Roasted Garlic Parmesan Mashed Potatoes