Twice-Baked Potato Casserole

I was thumbing through Ree Drummond's The Pioneer Woman Cooks, looking for something to serve my cowboys, along with our version of Number One's Favorite Sandwich. I'd been craving some sort of stuffed baked potato, so her Twice-Baked Potatoes quickly caught my eye. I mentioned this on facebook, and my friend Jenny told me that when she makes twice-baked potatoes, she just puts them in a casserole dish instead of baking them individually. That sounded perfect for this crowd, especially since I'm serving at least 11 people tonight.

So these potatoes are loosely based on Ree's, technique influenced by Jenny, and the final product by me. I changed the quantities on some of the ingredients (mainly because I simply couldn't bring myself to add a whole pound of butter...) Feel free to reduce the quantities to serve your own crowd.

I like to dice my bacon before frying it (it's just easier to cook for me), and then for this recipe I diced it a bit smaller after it was cooked. I also did NOT peel the potatoes at all, ever. You need the peels to get the "baked potato" flavor. And the recipe is really so easy!


OMG. This casserole was soooooo good! It totally hit the spot and satisfied my baked potato cravings. Everyone loved it!!


Twice-Baked Potato Casserole
adapted from The Pioneer Woman Cooks' Twice-Baked Potatoes

13 baking potatoes, scrubbed clean
olive oil
kosher salt
1 pound thick-cut bacon, diced and fried and diced smaller
2 sticks butter, cut into slices
2 cups sour cream
1 cup milk
3/4 teaspoon Lawry's seasoned salt
black pepper to taste
3 to 4 cups grated cheddar cheese, divided
4 green onions, whites and greens sliced

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Rub potatoes with olive oil to coat; place on baking sheet. Sprinkle with kosher salt. Bake for 45 minutes, or until baked through. (easily poked with a fork) Chop roughly. (do not peel)

Put butter, sour cream, milk, seasoned salt and pepper in a LARGE bowl. Add chopped potatoes, and mash together to mix. Add bacon, 2 cups cheese, and green onions, mix well with wooden spoon.

Dump entire mixture into a 9x13" pan, smoothing top. Top with about 2 cups cheese.

At this point, you can freeze or refrigerate, or bake.

Bake potatoes in a preheated 300 degree F oven until heated through and cheese is melted, 10 to 15 minutes if baked right away; around 20 minutes if refrigerated. (I don't know about the baking-after-freezing, if you try it let me know, or I'll report back next time)