Loaded Potato Skins
A simple plant-based and vegan-friendly recipe that’s exploding with flavor. This ooey, gooey, oh-so-cheesy recipe can be made free from coconut, dairy, gluten, grains, nuts, and soy, and with a few minor tweaks, it can even be whole-food plant-based. It takes about 5 minutes to prepare, 80 minutes to cook, and another 10 minutes to cool, leaving you with 3-6 servings (depending on who you ask).
Servings
Ingredients
- 6 potatoes (I prefer red potatoes)
- 2 tbsp. oil (I use cold-pressed avocado oil)
- 1/2 tsp. garlic powder
- 1/2 tsp. salt
- 1/2 tsp. black pepper
- 2 - 3 oz. of plant-based bacon (I make homemade air-fried carrot bacon)
- 2 - 4 oz. of plant-based cheese (I make homemade cashew-based smoked cheddar cheese)
- 3 tbsp. of plant-based sour cream or plain yogurt
- 5 - 6 chive stalks (optional, for garnish)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400ºF. While the oven is preheating, combine the oil, pink salt, black pepper, and garlic powder in a small bowl. Dip each potato in the mixture, coating it evenly. Save the leftover oil; it will be used later.
- Place the potatoes on a baking sheet covered with parchment paper (I use Biocean Unbleached Parchment Paper). When the oven reaches temperature, bake for one hour.
- While the potatoes are baking, cook your plant-based bacon (let it cool before crumbling) and chop the chives for garnish if you’re using them.
- After the potatoes have been baked for one hour, remove them from the oven and let them cool for ten minutes before cutting them in half and semi-hollowing out the inner part of the potatoes (the inner potato flesh can be used for mashed potatoes or to thicken soups). Don’t turn off the oven; you’ll be using it again.
- Brush the hollowed-out part of the potatoes with the leftover oil mixture before topping them with cheese and bacon crumbles. Bake again for 20 minutes or until the cheese bubbles.
- When ready to serve, top the potatoes with sour cream or plain yogurt and garnish with chopped chives.
Notes
- To make whole-food plant-based, you can make your own air-fried carrot bacon, cashew-based smoked cheddar cheese, and sour cream or yogurt.
- If you wish to omit the oil, swap the oil 1:1 with vegetable broth. (I haven’t tried this method, so if you do, let us know how it goes.)
