Savory Twice-Baked Sweet Potatoes With Bacon and Cheddar
Sweet potato flesh scooped from the skins and mashed with bacon, sharp white cheddar, butter and sour cream, packed back into the shells and baked again until the tops brown and blister.
Servings 8 halves
Ingredients
For the Potatoes
- 4 medium sweet potatoes about 12 ounces each, scrubbed
- 8 slices thick cut bacon
For the Filling
- 4 tablespoons unsalted butter softened
- 1 tablespoon reserved bacon fat
- ½ cup sour cream
- 1 large egg lightly beaten
- 1 ½ cups sharp white cheddar shredded off the block, divided
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- ¾ teaspoon black pepper coarsely ground
- 3 tablespoons fresh chives chopped, divided
- 2 tablespoons whole milk only if the mash is too stiff
Instructions
First Bake
- Heat the oven to 425F. Scrub and dry the sweet potatoes, pierce each a few times with a fork, and set them uncovered on a foil lined sheet pan. Do not wrap them in foil.
- Bake 55 to 65 minutes, until the skins are wrinkled and sticky syrup is weeping from the fork holes. Cool 10 minutes.
- While they bake, cook the bacon until properly crisp. Drain on paper towel, chop coarsely, and reserve 1 tablespoon of the bacon fat.
Scoop and Mash
- Halve each cooled potato lengthwise and scoop the flesh into a bowl with a spoon, working from the middle outward and leaving ¼ inch of flesh attached to every shell so it holds its shape.
- Mash the warm flesh with the softened butter and the reserved bacon fat, then the sour cream, using a fork or masher. Never use a food processor, which turns sweet potato gluey.
- Fold in three quarters of the chopped bacon, 1 cup of the cheddar, the garlic powder, salt, pepper and half the chives. Add milk only if the mash will not mound on a spoon.
- Stir in the lightly beaten egg last and quickly, so it does not scramble in the warm mash. The egg sets during the second bake and keeps the tops domed.
Second Bake
- Set the eight shells on a sheet pan and mound the filling back in, doming it slightly above the rim.
- Top with the remaining ½ cup cheddar and the reserved bacon. Bake at 400F for 20 to 25 minutes, until the cheese is browned and blistered at the edges.
- Finish with the remaining fresh chives and serve hot.
Notes
- Twice-baked, not stuffed: the flesh comes all the way out of the skins, gets mashed with everything, and goes back in. A stuffed potato leaves the flesh in place with toppings on top.
- Never wrap in foil: foil steams the potato and a wet potato makes a filling that will not hold a shape.
- Leave ¼ inch on the shells: scraped down to bare skin, the shells fold in the moment you fill them.
- Cool 10 minutes before halving: hot skin is floppy and tears.
- No food processor: sweet potato turns gluey and stretchy in seconds.
- The egg: it sets in the second bake and keeps the tops domed and brownable. Optional, but the tops will spread flat without it.
- Keep it savory: no maple, brown sugar, marshmallow or cinnamon. Salt, coarse black pepper, sharp cheese and bacon fat are the levers.
- Make ahead: fill the shells and refrigerate up to 24 hours unbaked, adding 10 minutes to the second bake.
- Freezing: freeze filled unbaked shells 2 months and bake from frozen at 375F for 40 to 45 minutes.