Cheesy Baked Jacket Potatoes

Cheesy Baked Jacket Potatoes

Potatoes are so impressionable, pure and plain in character that I become a little picky and particular about the way they are cooked. These tubers are so mouldable that they can be easily led to take on the disposition that you want, based on the manner you treat them. And that is the reason the spices used and the manner of cooking them gets deeply embedded into their personality!

 

Take these jacket potatoes with cheese for instance. They are cooked in a very simple manner with very few ingredients yet they look and taste exquisite! These baked potatoes are crispy outside and soft and tender inside. Stuffed with natural cheese and grilled to finish them make them particularly irresistible!

Potatoes are particularly irresistible when baked. All their goodness is retained within their skin and this particular attribute gives them an extra dimension of taste as opposed to steaming, sauteing or boiling them where there is a certain loss of character through evaporation or leaching of their inner qualities.

I love eating tucking into these potatoes with their skin intact and the gooey melted cheese in every morsel! The entire combination of the potato skin, potato meal and natural cheese is utter comfort to me. I usually serve these potatoes with hot soup, grilled vegetables or salad on Ekadashi, when we fast from grains and beans. Add a grain dish made with quinoa, couscous or savoury semolina and you have a great menu.

 

I hope I have succeeded in convincing you about the merits of these supremely delicious potatoes which also happen to be a breeze to make. Now wash some potatoes, dry them and dress them with some good quality olive oil and salt, shove them into the oven for an hour and forget about them. Go for a walk, read a book, groove to some great music or finish your other preparations in the kitchen when they are being cooked. Take them out, allow to cool, slit and stuff with cheese and herbs and grill them again and you are done! Now go ahead and make them!

 

Cheesy Baked Jacket Potatoes Recipe

Choose nice potatoes which are not relatively new for this dish. You could use a variety of cheese like mozzarella, cheddar, gouda or monterey jack or stick to good old cheddar. You could also use a mix of different herbs here.

Ingredients:

12 medium or large potatoes
olive oil
sea salt or regular salt
100 gm vegetarian cheddar cheese, grated
100 gm vegetarian gouda cheese, grated
dried herbs like oregano and parsley

fleur de sel or regular salt

paprika flakes (optional)

Method:

Scrub and clean the potatoes well (placing them in a hot tub of water helps to get rid of the dirt and grime easily).

Brush the potatoes generously with olive oil and salt. Donรขโ‚ฌโ„ขt skimp on the oil if you want a crispy skin and dont skimp with the salt either, if you want tasty potatoes. ๐Ÿ™‚

Bake in a hot oven at 200C/400F for about 45 minutes, until done. * Allow to cool.

In a bowl, mix the cheese, herbs and a little salt if required.

With the help of a knife, slit open the potatoes in the centre, keeping the base of the potatoes intact and stuff them with the prepared cheese mixture.

Grill the potatoes in a hot oven at 200C/400F until the cheese melts and is a little browned.

Serve hot with soup, salad and bread.

Serves 6

* Every oven is different. Depending on your oven and the size of your potatoes, the cooking time can vary between 45 minutes to an hour.

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42 thoughts on “Cheesy Baked Jacket Potatoes

  1. Simplicity can be stunning. This recipe of jacket potatoes proves that point. Cheesy goodness.

    Siri

  2. Anushruti, all my life I have been trying to get baked potatoes right as I love them. And just when I am out of country with no access to an oven, you post these :(:(. Can't wait to get home and bake these, they look so delicious.

    By the way, pardon me for being silly but there is a * in the recipe and I can't find the footnote to go with it.

    Poornima

  3. I also love my potatoes baked. These looks awesome. Life in the kitchen is unthinkable without potatoes. Whether in a planed meal, or a last minute addition potatoes ALWAYS deliver:). Got to try your style am sure my man will love this.

  4. Such a simple yet GR8 dish,wonderful write up as usual:)refreshing 1,

    Do u know that we follow your website not merely for recipes but also for those refreshing writeups with beautiful pics,your website is my greatest stressbuster,its indeed in the real sense food for mind body and soul.
    Thanks for all the wonderful feelings that your blog creates.

    Ekadashi can be followed by such superb dishes?!!!:)) very happy to know that now onwards ekadashis r gonna be interesting.

    One more request can you start uploading some fast breakfast recipes? am sick and tired of preparing upmas and pohas….

    Shruti Rajesh Manurkar

  5. I LOVE baked potatoes!!! I always use cheddar, gouda seems like an interesting option. The only other addition on top of potatoes would be a healthy spoon full of sour cream and a sprinkle of chives or spring onions!! Beautiful pics Anu!

  6. Thank you everybody!

    @Chinmayie: This is a sure hit with the kids!

    @Siri: Totally agree…simplicity can be stunning!

    Vinitha: Hope you like it! Do let me know when you try them.

    Poornima: I hope you try this and love it like all of us do at home. It's really simple actually! Thanks for pointing out the omission. It's rectified! Let me know when you happen to try it.

    Pan Cuisine: My man loves these potatoes. Hope yours does too. ๐Ÿ™‚

    Shruti: Thanks so much for your wonderful words and appreciation. They are truly inspiring! Yes…you can cook this and so much more on Ekadashi! Will definitely try and post more breakfast dishes.

  7. Ambika: Yes..baked potatoes with sour cream is so so good…one of my favourties. But I'm not sure I would use the sour cream over the cheese. It's either the cheese or the sour cream for me. And I don't use onions or any members of the allium family in my cooking so its always herbs for me. ๐Ÿ™‚

  8. These is an astonishingly stunning set of pictures. The yumminess of it seems to incessantly woo the potato-weary me ๐Ÿ™‚

  9. Hi! Lovely pics and blog!

    I noticed that you had mention quinoa as an addition to make this meal. Please tell me where can I buy it in India- Mumbai or Pune? Thanks!

  10. Hi Anushruti,

    You've mentioned Quinoa in this post…Do you get it in India? I would love to find a source in Pune specailly.

    Thanks,

    Sreeja.

  11. Hi Anushruti,

    Just chanced upon your blog & this post. I run Gourmet Company, an online gourmet ingredients store. Thought I'd mention that Quinoa is available through us across India ๐Ÿ™‚

    Warm Regards,
    Neerja

  12. Please let me know if you're looking for a writer for your weblog. You have some really great articles and I believe I would be a good asset. If you ever want to take some of the load off, I'd love to write some articles
    for your blog in exchange for a link back to mine. Please blast me an e-mail if interested.
    Thank you!

  13. It's gonna be our post swim snack…or actually part of dinner. Divine taste is always inspiring. Was suffering a brain freeze thinking of what to make…so opened up divine taste

  14. I just tried a similar recipe on the Iskcon Boys summer trip for Ekadashi. we wrapped the potatoes in foil so they wouldn't scorch, and tossed them into a campfire for a while. we then took the foil out, cut in half, and added salt, black pepper, butter, sour cream, and some shredded cheese. Best ekadashis ever…

  15. Hi Anushruti,

    How to grill with the cheese stuffing? should we cover with foil? Please tell me how did you grill here? i never tried grilling.

    thanks,
    Priya

  16. Priya: You need to place it in the grill section of your oven, which is usually the top rack.There is no need to cover with foil. Good luck!

  17. haribol Anushruti, i have tried many jacket potatoes on ekadashi and your recipe is by far the nicest tasting potatoes, just finished them off with some date payasam.

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