Easy Jacket Potatoes with Filling

Jacket potatoes with a Gouda, mayonnaise and scallion filling. Plus a few more jacket potato fillings.

JACKET POTATO RECIPE

This is my daughter’s favorite jacket potato recipe, I could make them every week and she would probably not get tired of them. She loves potatoes in any form actually, but baked and with cheese are, of course, always a winning dish.

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 the potatoes 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!

My mouth is watering just thinking about it. These jacket potatoes with cheese filling would be the de luxe version of those simple baked potatoes.

WHAT ARE JACKET POTATOES?

A jacket potato is a baked potato, the way people call baked potatoes in Britain. I used to eat jacket potatoes 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.

Jacket potatoes or baked potatoes can be served as they are as a side dish for other dishes. Just imagine a good steak sprinkled with coarse salt and a steaming jacket 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 as well, or added to the hot potato just before serving.

WHAT POTATOES TO USE FOR JACKET POTATOES?

In Germany, many supermarkets sell the so-called baking potatoes, they are pretty large and rather floury. However, I prefer 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 good sorts of potatoes to choose for making jacket potatoes. BBC Good Food also recommends Vivaldi, Sante and Melody for making jacket potatoes, but I don’t know those sorts myself.

JACKET POTATO FILLINGS

Jacket potatoes are so versatile, you can fill them with pretty much anything. We have this cheese and green onion baked potatoes quite often, but why not try other versions as well?

You could use the filling from this baked sweet potatoes as well or you can get creative and find your own combinations.

Here are some of our favorite jacket potato fillings, each enough to fill about 1 larger or 2 smaller jacket potatoes.

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 any of these combinations, add the scooped out potato flesh and some fine sea salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste.

Fill the prepared jacket potatoes with any of these fillings and bake for 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.

These are just suggestions for filling your jacket potatoes, things I have tried myself over the years, but really, the sky is the limit, follow your taste and your mood.

HOW TO BAKE POTATOES?

1. Preheat the oven to 200 degrees Celsius/ 400 degrees Fahrenheit. Line a baking tray with baking paper.
2. Wash the potatoes thoroughly and allow to dry only slightly.
3. Rub them well with salt while they are still rather wet.
4. Prick them all over with a fork. This procedure will allow steam to escape during the cooking process
5. Place them on the prepared baking tray and bake for about 1 hour 15 minutes, depending on their size this might take longer. If the potatoes weigh only about 150 g/ 5.3 oz, start checking after about 50-55 minutes.
6. Check if they are done by squeezing one potato 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.
7. Remove from the oven.

HOW TO MAKE JACKET POTATOES?

1. To make the Gouda/Cheddar filling, grate the cheese.
2. Mix with the mayonnaise and most of the finely sliced scallions.
3. Cut about 1/3 of the upper part of the baked potatoes. Carefully scoop out the flesh.
4. Mash the flesh roughly with a fork and mix it with the jacket potato filling.
5. Stuff the baked potatoes with the filling.
6. Bake for another 5 to 10 minutes until the cheese is nicely melted.
7. Top each potato with a tiny amount of salted butter, sprinkle with the remaining scallions and serve immediately.

HOW TO SERVE JACKET POTATOES?

• The jacket potatoes are best served immediately. You can still reheat them though, if you have leftovers. However, I feel that they are at their best when fresh from the oven.
• Serve with green salad with yogurt dressing, white cabbage salad, red cabbage slaw, or roasted/ steamed vegetables of choice.

Easy Jacket Potatoes with Cheese Filling

Yield: 2

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cook Time: 1 hour 25 minutes

Total Time: 1 hour 35 minutes

Jacket potatoes with a Gouda, mayonnaise and scallion filling. Plus a few more jacket potato fillings.

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Ingredients

• 2 medium baking potatoes, about 200 to 250 g/ 7 to 8.8 oz each
• 75 g/ 2.6 oz/ ¾ cup Gouda or cheddar
• 2 teaspoons mayonnaise
• 2 green onions
• fine sea salt and black pepper
• very small knob of butter, optional

Instructions

Baked potatoes:

1. Preheat the oven to 200 degrees Celsius/ 400 degrees Fahrenheit. Line a baking tray with baking paper.
2. Wash and dry the potatoes thoroughly and allow to dry only slightly. Rub them well with salt while they are still rather wet.
3. Pierce with a fork all over, this will allow steam to escape during the baking process.
4. Place on a baking tray and bake until tender, about 1 hour and 15 minutes. Keep checking, it really depends on their size. If the potatoes are smaller (about 150 g/ 5.3 oz) start checking after about 50-55 minutes already.
5. Check if they are done by squeezing one potato 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.
6. Remove from the oven.

Jacket potato filling:

1. In the meantime grate the Gouda or Cheddar and mix it with the mayonnaise and ¾ of the finely chopped scallions.
2. When the potatoes are cooked through, take them out of the oven and cut about 1/3 of the upper part. Carefully scoop out the flesh.
3. Mash the flesh roughly with a fork and mix it with the cheese mixture. Stuff the potatoes with this mixture and bake for another 5 to 10 minutes until the cheese is nicely melted.
4. Top each potato with a tiny amount of salted butter, sprinkle with the remaining scallions and serve immediately as suggested above.
   
   See blog post for more jacket potato fillings ideas.

Nutrition Information:

Yield: 2 Serving Size: 1 potato
Amount Per Serving: Calories: 340Total Fat: 20gSaturated Fat: 11gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 8gCholesterol: 61mgSodium: 881mgCarbohydrates: 28gFiber: 3gSugar: 3gProtein: 13g

Nutritional information is not always accurate.

Others stuffed things you might like:

DEVILED EGGS WITH HOMEMADE LIVER PATE

VEGAN STUFFED CABBAGE ROLLS

MOZZARELLA AND GARLIC PULL-APART BREAD