Baked Potato with Cheese and Bacon For One
An easy entree for one that can be customized based on your diet or topping preferences
Servings: 1
Ingredients
- 1 large potato russets work best
- extra virgin olive oil
- 1/4 cup grated sharp cheddar cheese
- 2 slices bacon
- 1 green onion or a few chive stalks
- sour cream (optional)
Instructions
- preheat the oven to 425F
- clean your potato but don't peel it. You just want to scrub off any dirt, trim any eyes or cut out any significant blemishes. Thaen rub a little olive oil over the whole potato. I just use my hands for this but if you don't want oily hands just use a brush like you would if you were brushing BBQ sauce onto something.
- pierce the potato with a fork in a couple of spots so steam can escape. You can also season it with little salt and pepper if you like but I don't usually bother. Place the potato directly onto the middle rack of the oven (or place it on a baking tray if you like - but that makes for an extra dish to clean up) and let it bake for 50-60 minutes or until it's soft when you pierce it with a fork and the skin is feeling a little crispy
- while the potato is baking grate up your cheddar, chop your green onion or chive stems. Fix yourself a drink, turn on some music and dance around the kitchen for a while, read a book or play a video game.
- When the potatoes have about 10 minutes left to go, cook up your two slices of bacon to your desired level of crispiness - either in a frying pan or with 2-3 minutes in the microwave. When they're done give them a few minutes to cool and then roughly chop them up into small bits.
- When your potato is done, remove it from the oven and let it sit for a minute to give the steam a chance to escape. You don't want to burn yourself when you slice it open!
- Slice open the top of the potato and push the sides in so that the potato insides fluff up and push out. Immediately put your grated cheese in so that the heat from the potato makes it melt. Sprinkle on half of the bacon and then spoon on a tablespoon of sour cream if you wish (I always do!) and then sprinkle with the remaining bacon, chives or green onion and a bit more grated cheese if you like! There you go - dig in!
Notes
Toss a couple of extra potatoes into the oven to cook. You can use these later for breakfast hash browns or home fries or you can make a quick and easy potato salad for one. You can also reheat already baked potatoes by putting them in the oven at 350F for 20 minutes until they've warmed through.