Whole30 Twice Baked Taco Potatoes

This month during my September Whole30 I have been trying to create some more football tailgate party themed foods. You know, the standard fare... wings, nachos, potato skins, dips, chips, stuff like that. My intention for this particular recipe was to create a taco potato skin but it actually morphed a bit into a twice baked potato which is not surprising at all considering I generally just make shit up as I go along and it usually turns out better than I had planned.

Before I get to it let's talk about what makes a really good twice baked potato, because the method definitely matters. Once you get that down get creative with your fillings, anything goes.  Make sure you buy potatoes that are for baking. Yes, it matters! I like Russets. If you choose the wrong potato you could end up with super thin skins or really starchy insides that get like paste when you start adding other things in. We all love a good twice baked at a steakhouse or even better, homemade. First things first, the skin has to be crispy and really flavorful because I don't know about you but I want to be able to eat it, I love the actual skin! Secondly you have to leave some of the potato in the skin when you are scooping it out, the skin needs to be lined with potato or it completely falls apart and that is not good. So take your time and don't get all over excited, be gentle with your little taters. Thirdly, whatever you fill it with HAS to be rich, creamy, buttery and preferably light and fluffy... otherwise what is your point? The worst thing you can get is a gummy (you over mixed it or you bought non-baking potatoes) or a dry/crumbly (you failed at adding enough fat) filling in your twice baked potato. Yuck. Lucky for you I have been making them for years and thanks to my Grandmother, may she rest in peace, I am an expert twice baker.

Since I whipped this one up on the fly last week and it was more or less a test, I only made one. The down side to twice baked potatoes is that they are a little labor intensive so I went small to see how this would turn out... spoiler alert... they turned out amazing and a ton of you asked for the recipe via Instagram.

So here you go....

Yield: 2Author: Amy @ The Crazy Wise Woman

Whole30 Twice Baked Taco Potatoes

prep time: 40 minscook time: 1 hour and 30 minstotal time: 1 hours and 70 mins

ingredients:

• 1 Large Russet Potato
• 3 T. Ghee
• Pink Himalayan Salt Coarse Ground
• 1 egg beaten well, until frothy
• 3/4 cup taco meat prepared with Primal Palate taco seasoning or home made Whole30 compliant version (I made a 1 lb. batch of ground beef and will use leftovers for other meals)
• Trader Joe's Chile Lime Seasoning Blend
• Handful of Scallions Sliced
• Salsa, Guac, Green Onions for garnish and topping

instructions:

Preheat oven to 450 degrees.

1. Pierce potato, brush the outside with ghee and sprinkle with salt. Bake for 45 min. or until outside is crisp and knife goes through easily. Slice potato open and let cool until you are able to handle it. 
2. When potato is cool carefully scoop out the inside with a spoon into a separate bowl, careful not to break the skin and leaving a little of the potato in the shell  so that it not too flimsy and holds its shape.
3. Place skins back onto a baking sheet and brush insides with more ghee, sprinkle with salt and chile lime seasoning. Return to the oven for about 10 minutes at 450 until they start to get golden brown then take them out. Reduce oven to 400 degrees.
4. Mash the potato that you have scooped  into the bowl with a fork, breaking up any large pieces. Add in about 1 Tbsp. of ghee (or more if you like), salt and pepper and mash until well combined. 
5. Add in the prepared taco meat and scallions and combine.
6. Next, add the well beaten egg to the potato/taco meat mixture and combine gently. Do not over mix this, you don't want to break up all of the air that you beat into the egg. This is what will make your potato fluff up and get that wonderful puffy crispy outside and be light and airy on the inside.
7. Add the potato mixture back into the skins. You will always end up with a lot more than you started with so if you have extra just pop it into a ramekin and bake it! I like to really heap up the skins though.
8. Sprinkle with more chile lime seasoning and bake at 400 for about 20 minutes or until the outside is lightly browned. 
9. Top with salsa,  guacamole and more green onions. Enjoy!

NOTES:

I don't typically write anything down when I am cooking so this is all based on my best guesses. This recipe would be easily adapted to large batch cooking as there is really no wrong way to stuff a potato. If you are not on Whole30 feel free to add cheddar or cream cheese to your potato stuffing mixture to make it next level!

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