Oh, do I love a good cheeseburger! The Southern husband and I are always, always, always on the hunt for the Next Great Burger Joint, and have energetic debates about the pros and cons of whatever burger we have last experienced. And in the meantime, I spend a fair amount of time figuring out how I can cheeseburgerize items that usually don’t involve ground beef and cheese. I’m not sure what took me so long to work my way to baked potatoes, because once the idea finally dawned on me, it seemed pretty much like it was meant to be.
Cheeseburger meets baked potato in this easy stuffed potato recipe!Click To TweetThose of you who have been following this blog for a while might remember that last summer I made stuffed taco potatoes, and that’s when the idea of the cheeseburger potato started percolating in my head. Now, we’ve all had baked potatoes that are topped with all kinds of good stuff, but a cheeseburger topping just wasn’t going to do it for me. Because let’s face it, you would (if you were me) gobble down all that cheeseburger topping goodness and then be faced with a naked, toppingless baked potato. I’m sure there are other ways to make it work, but I don’t have that kind of self-control. The cheeseburger had to be worked into the potato in order for it to reach the kinds of heights I knew it could.So really, there was only one thing to do. I baked the potato, and then scooped out the insides and mashed them with some butter and a little cream (and if you want to be more angelic than I, half and half would work just fine.) Once I had the potato insides at mashed potato consistency, I mixed in some cooked ground beef and some shredded cheddar.
Then I smushed the mashed potato mixture back into the potato skins. Now at this point, you can go one of two ways with the cheese. If you like it all nice and melty, you can sprinkle the tops of the potatoes with cheese, run them through the microwave for a minute or so until it melts, and then add the rest of the toppings. If you don’t feel strongly about melted cheese, proceed directly to the toppings, which I did like so:
- Tucked a few pieces of lettuce into the mashed potato part
- Spooned on a generous amount of ground beef
- Scattered on some chopped cherry tomatoes
- Sprinkled with shredded cheddar cheese
- Added a few pieces of sliced shallots
- Topped the whole thing off with a spoonful of dill pickle relish
And voila! Cheeseburger Baked Potato! Now, I know cheeseburger toppings are a very personal thing, so feel free to mix things up topping wise…just don’t skip the mashed potato part, whatever you do. Aside from that essential step, improvise away!
And now that I have made taco and cheeseburger potatoes, my head is absolutely spinning with future possibilities, so stay tuned to this channel…
Cheeseburger Baked Potatoes
Yield: 4 servings
Print Recipe
Pin RecipeIngredients
- 4 baking potatoes (Idaho or russet)
- 1/2 pound ground beef
- 4 tablespoons butter
- 1/2 cup cream or half and half
- 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
- Salt and pepper
- 1 cup chopped cherry tomatoes
- 2-3 leaves of lettuce, torn into pieces
- 1 shallot, peeled and cut into thin slices
- Dill pickled relish
Instructions
- Scrub potatoes and pierce several times with a fork. Microwave until tender, about 10 minutes. Cool slightly.
- While potatoes are baking, brown ground beef in a skillet until cooked through. Drain and set aside.
- When potatoes are cool enough to handle but still warm, cut an oval in the top of each one and scoop out the insides, leaving the skins intact. Mash the potato with butter, and then stir in cream. Mix in half the ground beef and half the cheese. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
- Stuff the mashed potato mixture back into the potato skins. If you want the remaining cheese melted, sprinkle it over the top of the potatoes and microwave for about a minute…otherwise proceed to the next step!
- Garnish the potatoes tucking lettuce pieces into each one, then topping with remaining ground beef and cheese, tomatoes, shallot and relish…or anything else you like on your potatoes! Serve at once.
Very creative and sounds yummy! always searching
here for a great burger too!!
It’s the search that never ends and is so much fun! 🙂
Genius idea!! The.Boy. has developed a strong liking of soy crumbles (that mimic ground beef) so I am so going to try a veg version on for size for him!
He is a lucky Boy! 🙂
Oh my word! Can”t wait to try this. My hubby and I sound like you guys squirreling out good burger joints and then discussing them spiritedly! Superbowl Sunday I have to make a particular burger for hubby (chilidog cheddar burgers with bacon that I learned from Rachel Ray….note, he gets this on Superbowl Sunday and maybe one other day during the year as ….well…you can guess…so fattening, but so good…) Can’t wait to try your potatoes!
Those Super Bowl Burgers sound scrumptious!! 🙂
We just had this for dinner, and it was very easy and delicious. My boyfriend gave it a 10/10.
Hurray! Love getting that perfect score. 🙂
…but…but…where’s the BACON?!?! I guess you implied it when you said, “Now, I know cheeseburger toppings are a very personal thing, so feel free to mix things up topping wise…just don’t skip the mashed potato part, whatever you do. Aside from that essential step, improvise away!” Seriously though…this is genius!
I know, wasn’t that very restrained of me not to add bacon? But of course, you COULD… 🙂