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Short-Order Kitchen

High-Protein Loaded Baked Potato

By Wes Ellis1 min read
Three loaded baked potatoes with shredded cheddar, sour cream and chives on a wooden board.
Recipe card
Servings
1
Prep
5 minutes
Cook
5 to 10 minutes (microwave) or 45 to 60 minutes (oven)
Method
Microwave
Heat
400°F (if baking)
Difficulty
Easy
Jump to ingredients & directions ↓

Part 6 of the thread Out of the casserole dish

THE SHORT VERSION4 points
  • The potato is the slow part: 5 to 10 minutes in the microwave or 45 to 60 at 400°F.
  • Greek yogurt does the sour cream job.
  • Chicken or turkey bacon for protein, broccoli for bulk.
  • Prep the toppings while the potato cooks.
THE RECIPE · HIGH-PROTEIN LOADED BAKED POTATO

Ingredients

You'll need

  • Microwave or oven
  • Fork and knife

Directions

Potato

  1. Poke the potato all over with a fork.
  2. Microwave on high 5 to 10 minutes, flipping halfway, or bake at 400°F for 45 to 60 minutes, until a fork slides in easily.
  3. While it cooks, get the chicken or bacon chopped, the broccoli steamed and the green onions sliced.

Load it

  1. Slice the potato open lengthwise without cutting all the way through. Fluff the inside with a fork and season with salt and pepper.
  2. Layer in the chicken or bacon, broccoli, Greek yogurt and cheese or queso.
  3. If the toppings went on cold, give the whole thing a short spin in the microwave until the cheese melts.
  4. Top with green onions and eat it hot.
Notes Best fresh. If you're prepping ahead, store the potato and toppings separately and reheat together. Roughly 450 calories and 35 g protein, give or take, depending on how heavy you go on the toppings.

wesellis.com/blog/loaded-baked-potato/

A baked potato is a side dish until you pile enough on it. Then it's dinner. The amounts here are loose on purpose: some chicken, some broccoli, a spoonful of yogurt, a bit of cheese. Build it to how hungry you are.

Microwave, then finish if you want

The microwave gets a potato cooked through in 5 to 10 minutes, but the skin comes out soft. If you care about the skin, start it in the microwave and finish it in a hot oven or air fryer for a few minutes to firm up the outside. If you don't, skip it. Nobody's grading.

Tip

Fluff the inside with a fork before you add anything. It opens up room for the toppings and lets the salt get into the potato instead of sitting on top.

Toppings that pull their weight

Cooked chicken is the protein. Turkey bacon works too if you want the classic loaded-potato taste. Greek yogurt stands in for sour cream, and a little queso goes further than shredded cheese because it spreads into every crack. Leftovers from Chicken and Broccoli Casserole make a very good topping on their own.

Try this

For a sweet potato version with a heartier topping, see Stuffed Sweet Potatoes With Chili.

LINKED FROM3 notes

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