Bacon and Blue Cheeseburger Potato Skins

Begin by preheating your oven to 400 F. 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 potatoes from the baking sheet and place them on a plate to cool for about 15 minutes.

Cook your bacon in a skillet on low heat 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 from the skillet and drain it on some paper towels before you crumble it.

Once your potatoes are cooled, use a sharp bread knife and cut them lengthwise. For each potato you’ll have three long segments—two nice rounded sections, one from each side for the skins and one thin cutout from the center. 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, carefully scoop out about 70 percent of the potato. You still want some potato near the skin, to hold the structure of 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. Pull them out of the oven and place generous amounts of the cooked ground beef into each skin, topping with bacon pieces and about one tablespoon of blue cheese for 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 will satisfy your french fry craving. Then your burger fix comes in with just the right balance of bacon and sharp creaminess from the blue cheese. Small in size and packed with flavor, these skins definitely satisfied 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!