Chorizo Stuffed Twice Baked Potatoes

In my opinion, there aren't too many things better than a twice baked potato.  They are cheesy, salty, and if cooked just right, the potato skins get crispy.  I don't think they should always be relegated to a side dish, especially when you can just stuff your entire meal in one.

The key to making twice baked potatoes is to bake your potatoes ahead of time and let them cool before trying to scoop them out.  Not only do you risk burning yourself with scorching hot potato flesh (trust me, I've done this), but the potatoes will also break apart easily leaving you without the shell you need if you don't let them cool properly.  If you're using the oven anyway, go ahead and put a few potatoes in, and then you can have twice baked potatoes the next night for supper.  You can also bake potatoes in a crock-pot.  Just put them in the crock pot at night, and when you get up in the morning, you can put them in the refrigerator, so they will be cool and ready to scoop out for supper.

The other trick I've learned to making twice baked potatoes is instead of scooping out the flesh with a spoon, use a knife and cut around the inside.  Then you can go in and dig out the potatoes with a spoon.  This leads to a lot less breakage of your potato skin.

I didn't measure this exactly, and you can pick and choose your ingredients.  You can use sausage, ground beef, or chicken instead of chorizo, or leave out the meat entirely.  Change up the cheese to whatever you have on hand.  I serve these with sour cream.  They freeze and reheat well, so I always make extra.

Chorizo Stuffed Twice Baked Potatoes

4 russet potatoes
6 to 8 oz chorizo, cooked
1 cup co-jack cheese, shredded
3 scallions, chopped

1. Bake potatoes until tender.  Set aside and cool to at least room temperature, but cooking them the day before and refrigerating them works great too.

2. Preheat the oven to 400 F.  Cut each potato in half and carve out the inside.  You will now have 8 potato shells and the potato insides. Put reserved potato insides into a medium bowl.

3. Mix chorizo, cheese, and scallions with potato insides.  Taste for seasoning.  Because chorizo is salty and spicy, I don't add any extra seasoning, but if you're using a different protein, you may want salt, pepper, or other spices.

4. Spoon the potato mixture into the potato shells, and place on a baking sheet.

5. Bake potatoes for 20 minutes until the cheese is bubbly and the skins are crisp.