Fully Loaded Potato Skins with Chipotle Southwest Guacamole.

Enjoy this delicious brunch and lunch specialty — My twist on Fully Loaded Potato Skins with Chipotle Southwest Guacamole. Which really just means cheesy potatoes….with fried eggs and bacon. AKA the best way to start a game day weekend day this fall!

Ingredients

• Medium size russet potatoes 
• Butter 
• Salt and pepper 
• Sharp cheddar cheese 
• Thick cut bacon 
• Green onions
• Sour cream and greek yogurt 
• Buffalo sauce 
• Large eggs 
• Avocados 
• Fresh cilantro 
• jalapeño 
• Lime 
• Chipotle pepper adobo 
• Cumin 
• Corn 
• Black beans 
• Catija cheese 

Kitchen Supplies

• skillet or griddle
• paper towels
• medium size bowl
• roasting pan, baking sheet or baking dish

YUMMERS. Below are my steps to easy potato skins!

Step One

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. It takes a lot of heat and a bit of time to soften washed potatoes. Make sure you prick the potatoes all over with a fork. Then Bake for about an hour until they are cooked through and soften a bit when pressed.

Step Two

While the potatoes cook, fry the bacon in a skillet or griddle until crisp. Drain on paper towels, allow to cool and then crumble the crispy bacon.

Step Three

To make the guacamole, mash the avocados in a medium size bowl. Add cilantro, jalapeño, lime juice, chipotle Chile in adobo + adobo sauce, cumin, salt and pepper. Stir to combine and fold in the roasted corn, black beans, and cotija cheese. 

Step Four

Remove the potatoes from the oven and increase the heat of the oven to 450 degrees F. Allow the potatoes to cool to handle and then cut in half horizontally. Use a spoon to carefully scoop out the insides, reserving the scooped potatoes for another use and leaving about 1/4 of an inch of potato on the skin. 

Step Five! Last step!
Brush or rub the inside and outside of the skins with melted butter. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Place in a roasting pan, bake for about 10-15 minutes or until crisp. Remove from oven and divide the cheddar cheese among the shells. Sprinkle with bacon. Place back in the oven and broil for 1-2 minutes or until cheese is melted and bubbly. Remove and sprinkle with green onions and any remaining bacon. Serve warm with guacamole, yogurt and fried eggs. 

Back to my story of how I thought through this recipe…

So I know that potatoes skins are nothing new and that probably just about everyone knows how to make them, BUT, I feel like the week before the Super Bowl is the perfect time to remind you all that you really need to make some potato skins!!

Preferably these fully loaded potato skins with chipotle southwest guacamole. You all know that “loaded” to me obviously means triple the cheese. Plus spicy, smoky guacamole and a fried egg.

What, eggs? Yep, especially these crispy, olive oil fried eggs, which honestly make everything that much better.

And if you think about it, these skins are kind of like your own personal giant nacho. Only instead of chips we have crisped up potato skins, which dare I say are a million times better than any old nacho chip.

But then again, I kind of love cheesy potato skins.

Growing up my dad would make them all the time, but instead of eating them as a side or appetizer like normal people (we are far from normal…thinking you already know this by now though), we ate them as a meal. Back then, I never thought this was at all weird, it was just one of dad’s dishes. Of course I’ve since come to realize that potatoes skins are more of an app or side. Thing is though, we still eat potato skins for dinner all the time. No need for anything else in my book.

When we were kids, we totally just had the skins straight up. Meaning cheese and potatoes…with loads of bacon bits for the boys. I never ate the bacon bits because they totally freaked me out.

The boys still love them, I am still totally freaked out. I mean maybe the real bits (which we now make) but back then they used to eat those fake Bac’n Pieces with ingredients I can’t even pronounce, and Red die #40 – so gross!

Today though, I loaded these skins like I would nachos. Full of cheese, topped with REAL bacon, chipotle southwest guacamole, some fried eggs and even a little buffalo sauce if you are into it.

They definitely have a little spicy Mexican flare to them. Yeah!

Oh, and my secret to a freaking awesome potato skin?

Butter…a little more butter… salt and cheese – lots of cheese!

The three ingredients that can almost never fail you.

Also, if you wanted to make these a little early, say tonight or tomorrow? I think that’d be a pretty good idea.

I mean, you gotta do a pre game-day trial run. Practice makes perfect!