Bacon and Blue Cheeseburger Potato Skins

I will tell you a little bit more about me. I love a good cheeseburger. Hands down, nothing beats a really good cheeseburger, and one of my all time favorite burgers is a bacon and blue cheese burger. Simple, yet complex in flavor, this type of burger has great smokiness from bacon, and a great punch of blue cheese that when combined with some quality ground beef, is just out of this world. But there is more to this burger. In my opinion, there has to be quality bacon and the right blue cheese involved. So this past week, as I really wanted to go out and have a burger, it just did not happen, however, I had the thought on my mind of a great burger and fries, and hence why I created this masterpiece.

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One of the biggest traffic drivers on this site is my loaded potato skins. There is no doubt why they are a big traffic driver, they are just awesome.  Easy to make, and extremely satisfying with every bite, hands down, loaded potato skins are a great comfort food. So while creating this recipe, I thought I would take my standard potato boat and put everything in that I love in a cheeseburger and get the best of all worlds, and that was easily confirmed after my first bite.

Let’s get started.

(Makes 8 potato skins)

Ingredients: [Print this Recipe]

• 4 whole Russet potatoes, cleaned
• 1/2 lb ground beef, cooked
• 1/2 cup of great blue cheese, I used Hook’s Blue Paradise
• 6 slices of Nueske’s bacon, cooked and crumbled
• 3 tbsp unsalted butter, melted
• Salt, to taste
• Cracked black pepper, to taste

Begin by preheating your oven to 400 degrees. Poke the top of each potato with a fork and place on a baking sheet. Cook in the oven for 1 hour. Once cooked, remove from the baking sheet, and place on a plate to let cool for about 15 minutes.

Cook your bacon, low and slow on the stove, for about 15-20 minutes. The low and slow process, in my opinion, is the only way to cook bacon as it really yields perfect bacon every time. Remove the bacon and let any additional fat drain on some paper towel, before you crumble it down.

Once your potatoes are cooled, use a sharp bread knife and you will cut lengthwise, into three segments of one potato, long slices. Each potato will yield two skins. Place the middle slice in a bowl for later use, such as breakfast the following morning, or heck for that matter, add some butter, salt, and cream, and make some rustic mashed potatoes.

Continue this cutting process with the rest of the potatoes. You should then have 8 skins. With a small spoon, being careful, scoop out about 70 percent of the potato, as you still want some potato in your boat.

Next, melt your butter in the microwave. Get your broiler heated to high. Brush the butter on the inside and outside of each potato skin and place them back onto the baking sheet. Season the inside of each skin with salt and pepper.

Place them under the broiler for 8-10 minutes until the insides get a bit crispy from the melted butter. Remove, and place generous amounts of the cooked ground beef into each skin, topping with bacon pieces and about one tablespoon of blue cheese onto each skin. Place these back under the broiler for about 3-4 minutes until the cheese is nice and bubbly. Carefully remove from the oven, top with just a bit more blue cheese, and get ready for a flavor of explosion.

Serve on a platter and have your guests dig in. The subtle crisp from the exterior of the potato skin, with the tenderness of the potato on the inside, you get your french fry fix right off the bat. Then your burger fix comes in with just the right balance of bacon and sharp creaminess from the blue cheese. Smaller in size, and just packed with flavor, these skins definitely took over my craving for a burger. If you are a fan of blue cheese on your burger, definitely make these. You will be happy you did!

Wisconsin Resources:

• Hook’s Cheese
• Nueske’s Bacon