The Perfect Loaded Baked Potato Casserole: A Heart-warming Dish for All

Are you on the hunt for a show-stopping side dish that consistently wins everyone over? Something that offers warmth, comfort, and elicits pure delight from your dinner guests? Your search is over. We are about to create the definitive comfort food classic, cleverly redesigned for effortless serving and exceptional flavour: the Loaded Baked Potato Casserole. This recipe captures all the wonderful components of a traditional jacket potato—downy potato, crisp bacon, molten cheese, and sharp sour cream—and combines them into one magnificent, shareable bake. It’s an ideal choice for family meals, potluck gatherings, and snug evenings at home.

We feel that certain recipes offer more than just nourishment; they create a memory. This casserole is like a warm embrace in a dish, bringing back fond feelings of wholesome, satisfying meals that nourish the soul. Say goodbye to the fuss of stuffing individual potatoes. With our method, you achieve all that fantastic taste in a single, convenient, oven-baked dish. Let’s begin!

Why You’ll Adore This Recipe

• The Ultimate in Comfort: This dish is a glorious combination of creamy potatoes, smoky bacon, and gloriously melted cheese. It is the very essence of a heart-warming comfort food side dish.
• Ideal for Gatherings: As the perfect party potato recipe, it allows you to serve generous helpings from a single dish rather than preparing individual potatoes, which is perfect for feeding a crowd.
• Wonderfully Adaptable: While we provide the classic recipe, it is incredibly easy to customise. You can introduce different cheeses, substitute the bacon with another protein, or pack it with vegetables. The options are truly limitless!
• A Brilliant Time-Saver: You can prepare this casserole in advance, a real blessing when you’re organising a large meal or hosting company. Simply place it in the oven when you are ready to serve.
• Maximum Flavour, Minimum Effort: Savour the legendary taste of a fully loaded baked potato without the hassle of making each one separately. It’s a much simpler, more efficient path to that delicious outcome.

Ingredients

• 1.5 kg baking potatoes (Maris Piper or King Edward work brilliantly)
• 225g streaky bacon, chopped
• 250g mature Cheddar cheese, grated (plus extra for topping)
• 225g sour cream
• 120ml double cream or whole milk
• 85g unsalted butter, softened
• 4 spring onions, thinly sliced (plus extra for garnish)
• 1 tsp garlic powder
• 1/2 tsp onion powder
• 1 tsp salt (or to taste)
• 1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper

How to Make the Perfect Loaded Baked Potato Casserole

To ensure your cheesy potato bake is a resounding success, we’ve outlined our method in easy-to-follow stages. Join us as we craft a truly memorable dish.

Step 1: Prepare and Bake the Potatoes

The very heart of a superb potato casserole is, naturally, the potatoes. We’re aiming for a texture that’s soft, fluffy, and deeply flavourful.

1. Preheat your oven to 200°C (180°C Fan/Gas Mark 6).
2. Give the potatoes a good scrub under running water, then pat them dry. Pierce the skin of each potato a few times with a fork. This lets steam escape, which stops them from bursting and promotes even cooking.
3. Arrange the potatoes directly on an oven shelf and bake for 60-75 minutes. They are ready when a knife inserted into the centre meets no resistance. Baking them this way helps to achieve a drier, fluffier potato flesh.
4. Once ready, cautiously take the potatoes out of the oven and allow them to cool just long enough to be handled comfortably.

Step 2: Cook the Bacon and Prepare Toppings

While the potatoes are in the oven, you can get on with preparing the delicious “loaded” elements. The crispy bacon is an essential component of this Bacon potato casserole.

1. Add the chopped bacon to a cool, non-stick frying pan. Place over a medium heat and cook, stirring from time to time, until the bacon becomes crisp and golden. Starting with a cool pan allows the fat to render gradually for perfectly crispy results.
2. With a slotted spoon, move the cooked bacon to a plate lined with kitchen paper to absorb any excess fat. Put it to one side.
3. Grate your Cheddar and slice the spring onions. Remember to reserve a small amount of each to garnish the finished casserole.

Step 3: Create the Creamy Potato Filling

Now for the part where we bring all those wonderful flavours together! We will be turning our baked potatoes into a luscious, creamy, and savoury filling.

1. When the potatoes are cool enough to touch, cut them in half lengthways. Use a spoon to scoop the soft potato flesh into a large mixing bowl, leaving a border of about 1/4-inch inside the skins. You can either discard the skins or save them for making crispy potato skins later!
2. Into the bowl with the potato flesh, add the softened butter, sour cream, double cream (or milk), garlic powder, onion powder, salt, and pepper.
3. With a potato masher or a hand mixer on its lowest setting, combine all the ingredients until they are well-integrated and creamy. Take care not to overwork the mixture, as this can result in a gluey texture. A slightly rustic, fluffy consistency is what we’re after.
4. Gently fold in most of the crispy bacon, the majority of the grated Cheddar, and the sliced spring onions, keeping some back for the topping. Mix one last time to ensure everything is evenly distributed. Check the seasoning and adjust if needed.

Step 4: Assemble and Bake the Casserole

We’re on the home stretch now, ready to assemble our casserole. This final stage is what creates that irresistible golden, cheesy topping.

1. Lightly grease a 2-quart (approximately 2.3-litre) casserole or baking dish with a little butter.
2. Transfer the potato mixture into the prepared dish, using a spatula to spread it out into an even layer.
3. Scatter the reserved grated cheese and crispy bacon evenly across the surface.
4. Place in the preheated oven at 180°C (160°C Fan/Gas Mark 4) and bake for 25-30 minutes. The casserole is ready when it’s thoroughly heated, and the cheese on top has melted into a bubbly, golden-brown crust.
5. Take it out of the oven and let it stand for a few minutes before garnishing with the remaining spring onions. Serve piping hot and prepare for the praise!

Tips, Tricks, and Variations

We think this recipe is perfect as it is, but it also serves as a brilliant foundation for your own culinary experiments. Here are some of our top tips and variations to help you make it your own.

• Choosing Your Potatoes: For the fluffiest texture, we suggest using starchy potato varieties such as Maris Piper, King Edward, or Russets. You can discover more about the best potatoes for baking from reliable sources like the Potato Council.
• Vegetarian Version: This dish can easily be made vegetarian by simply leaving out the bacon. To replicate a smoky flavour, try adding a dash of smoked paprika or a plant-based bacon alternative. We also find that adding steamed broccoli florets or sautéed mushrooms provides wonderful extra texture and nutrients.
• Add Some Spice: If you enjoy a bit of a kick, consider adding some chopped pickled jalapeños, a pinch of chilli flakes, or a few drops of hot sauce to the potato mix.
• Experiment with Cheeses: While mature Cheddar is a timeless choice, don’t hesitate to mix things up! A blend of Monterey Jack and Cheddar melts beautifully, whereas a bit of Gruyère can add a delightful nutty complexity to this cheesy potato bake.
• Healthier Alternatives: To make a healthy Loaded Potato Casserole, you could replace the sour cream with plain Greek yoghurt, opt for turkey bacon over pork, and slightly reduce the quantities of cheese and butter. It will still be exceptionally tasty!

What to Serve with Your Casserole

While this Loaded Baked Potato Casserole is substantial enough to be enjoyed as a main course with a crisp side salad, it truly excels as a side dish. It complements almost any roasted or grilled meat splendidly. We find it is the ideal partner for a succulent Baked Ranch Chicken or a vibrant Lemon Garlic Chicken, creating a truly complete and gratifying family feast.

Storage and Reheating Instructions

One of the great advantages of this casserole is how well it keeps; the leftovers are just as delicious the following day!

• To Store: Let the casserole cool down completely before covering the dish securely with foil or cling film. Alternatively, you can transfer it to an airtight container. It can be stored in the refrigerator for up to 4 days.
• To Reheat: Individual servings can be warmed up in the microwave until hot. However, for the best texture, we suggest reheating the entire casserole in the oven. Cover it with foil and bake at 180°C (160°C Fan) for approximately 20-25 minutes, or until fully heated. Remove the foil for the final 5 minutes of cooking to help the topping become crisp again.
• To Make Ahead: The casserole can be fully assembled (but without the final cheese and bacon topping) up to 24 hours beforehand. Cover and keep it refrigerated. When you’re ready to cook, add the toppings and extend the baking time by 10-15 minutes to compensate for the colder starting temperature.

FAQ

Conclusion: Your New Go-To Side Dish

And there you have it—a straightforward, deeply satisfying, and utterly delicious Loaded Baked Potato Casserole that is sure to become a cherished part of your recipe repertoire. It is the ideal fusion of creamy, cheesy, and savoury notes, all conveniently baked in one dish. Whether you’re preparing it for a weekday family meal or as the standout side for a special occasion, this is a recipe that always delivers.

We truly hope you enjoy both making and savouring this casserole as much as we do. It represents more than just a set of instructions; it’s a testament to how simple ingredients can unite to form something extraordinarily special. So, we encourage you to give it a go! We would be delighted to hear how you get on. Please feel free to leave a comment below to share your thoughts, ask questions, or tell us about any unique twists you’ve added!

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Prep: 25 mins
Cook: 95 mins
Serves: 8

Ingredients

• 1.5 kg baking potatoes
• 225g streaky bacon, chopped
• 250g mature Cheddar cheese, grated
• 225g sour cream
• 120ml double cream or whole milk
• 85g unsalted butter, softened
• 4 spring onions, thinly sliced
• 1 tsp garlic powder
• 1/2 tsp onion powder
• 1 tsp salt (or to taste)
• 1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 200°C (180°C Fan). Scrub, pierce, and bake potatoes for 60-75 minutes until tender. Let cool enough to handle.
2. While potatoes bake, cook the chopped bacon until crisp. Grate cheese and slice spring onions, reserving some of each for the topping and garnish.
3. Cut potatoes in half and scoop the flesh into a large bowl. Add butter, sour cream, double cream, garlic powder, onion powder, salt, and pepper. Mash until creamy.
4. Gently fold in most of the bacon, grated Cheddar, and spring onions.
5. Transfer the mixture into a greased 2-quart casserole dish and spread evenly. Top with the reserved cheese and bacon.
6. Reduce oven to 180°C (160°C Fan). Bake for 25-30 minutes, or until the top is golden-brown and bubbly.
7. Let stand for a few minutes before garnishing with remaining spring onions. Serve hot.

Nutrition (per serving):
Calories: 620,
Carbs: 35g,
Protein: 23g,
Fat: 43g