It's going to involve a little more than butter and sour cream. But making a baked (or sweet) potato a meal is an easy, satisfying way to solve dinner. We don't do it nearly enough.
We were inspired by Faith's 400-calorie lunches; one involved a sweet potato topped with yogurt and bacon. We love the combination of a sweet potato and something savory, which is why we included one of our favorite options below.
Most of these meals have some sort of protein, whether from meat or cheese, to keep everything balanced. But in essence, a potato can be a vehicle for almost any sort of dish--a staple just like brown rice or pasta.
Here are 10 yummy meals we'd recommend:
• 1. Last night's leftovers. Got some flank steak left over from fajitas? A little stir fry? Spoon it on top of a baked potato and drizzle on some sauce to add moisture. Almost anything goes.
• 2. Shredded chicken and spiked yogurt or sour cream. Take a handful of shredded rotisserie chicken (or leftovers; see above) and add some sour cream mixed with seasonings. Garlic powder, chili powder, smoked paprika all work. Sprinkle on some parsley for color.
• 3. Chili or stew. If you made a huge batch of chili and are getting tired of eating it day after day, this is one way to mix things up.
• 4. Black beans, avocado, and salsa. A combination similar to this lunch. Think of it as a Mexican potato.
• 5. Steamed broccoli and a good cheddar cheese. Classic pairing for a potato--for a reason! We love potatoes with broccoli and salsa (or broccoli and sour cream), too.
• 6. Hummus and chopped tomato. Maybe a bit unconventional, but we think the creamy hummus mashed into a potato would be really good. You just need something else for texture, like some chopped tomatoes or cucumber.
• 7. Bacon and egg. The potato is like your hash browns. Just top it with any type of egg and some crunchy bacon pieces.
• 8. Shredded pork and grainy mustard. If you braise a huge pork shoulder, you're bound to have extra. This is a great way to use it, and the mustard adds good flavor.
• 9. Roasted vegetables. A good mix of peppers, onions, squash, zucchini, or root vegetables would be great. We'd also add some yogurt mixed with cumin or curry.
• 10. Sweet potato with greens and parmesan. An all-time favorite in our house. Collard greens are the best; their slightly bitter flavor is so good with the sweet potato.
Related: Weeknight Comfort: Making Mashed Potatoes a Meal
Originally published August 10, 2010.
(Image: Flickr member FotoosVanRobin, licensed for use under Creative Commons)
You might also like
-
Hold the Mayo: 6 Great Potato Salad Recipes Without Mayonnaise
-
The Best Guacamole, Summer Cakes, Picnic Sandwiches, Fresh Takes on Iced Tea, and Beautiful, Unusual Kitchen Floors
-
Recipe: Tomato & Mozzarella Potato Salad with Lemon-Buttermilk Dressing
-
5 Tips and Tricks To Jazz up Those Classic Summer Side Dishes
5 Things Paris Taught Me About Travel
Recipe: Ham, Cheddar & Chive Egg Bakes
Good Food to Share 
The Big Book of Small, Cool Spaces 
Apartment Therapy Presents 
The Eight-Step Home Cure 
Bacsac Bacsquare 04...
Apartment Therapy's Sofa Shopping Guide
Nikki’s Sweet and Cheery Print Studio
Love the idea of bacon and a poached egg on top.
make a soup perhaps? Whirl (read puree) the leftover potato with some veggie or chicken stock, salt, pepper, and a bit of cream. Stir in some ham chunks (or whatever meat/fish you desire) maybe a handful of thawed frozen veggies (peas and carrots would work well) and sprinkle with chives. Dinner is done!
Love these ideas! My favourite way to eat mine is to top with cottage cheese and salsa. Protein-y and flavourful! :)
When I was a kid, one of our weeknight standards was baked potato with cheddar cheese sauce (shredded cheddar, milk, and flour), chopped ham, and steamed broccoli. It's really easy and really, really good.
One that we do a lot is greek yogurt and red caviar (the not so expensive kind) with leftover steamed veggies and lots of cracked black pepper. Russophile baked potatoes!
When I was a kid I went through a phase of several years where i had a jacket potato near daily..my fave were jacket potato pizzas..I would flatten out the cooked potato and load it with toppings and cheese as though it were a pizza dough. Mega yum!
saer
http://cravenmaven.wordpress.com
Carr Valley Chipotle Cranberry Cheddar Cheese and Sliced Green Olives - maybe a wierd combo, but delish!
@serendipitwaddle, lots of those are easily veganizable, though! This post reminded me of my beloved broc & cheese baked potatoes as a kid. I'm going to pick up some Daiya and Cheezly and make some vegan style!
I love baked potatoes---any time of the day, and I frequently eat a baked potato for breakfast. With a little cheese and butter, it keeps me going until lunch without any hunger pangs.
When I lived in the UK where jacket potatoes were frequently on the menu, I loved mine with tuna and mayo. Sounds odd but it was good, as well as cheap.
We eat jacket potatoes with nearly anything on it here. So glad to see it making the jump over to the US!
I had a very good baked potato topped with shrimp and a sauce made of ketchup and mayo called Marie Rose. Fabulous. I ordered it every night at a pub in England.
I'm not a big baked potato fan, but I do like to cut a potato into wedges, roast it, and dip the wedges into a yogurt-dill sauce. That's a meal on its own.
I like to put greek salad with extra vinegary dressing and feta cheese in my potatoes.
(Once I had a greek salad with my "side" of potato salad - mustard vinaigrette style - hidden beneath it and I have never had anything so delicious. It was at Zoe's which is mainly East Coast and I live in California now...le sigh.)
My favorite leftover potato dish would be mashed potato pancakes! mmmm just add an egg - about a tablespoon of baking powder and 2 tablespoons of flour to a nice large bowl of leftover room temp mashed. Then start stirring in enough milk until it's a nice wet consistency (a little thicker than pancake batter.) delicious
I am an American living in the UK, and I love their jacket potatoes here. Being vegetarian, they always have good options, and they top them with everything. I have even had one with pineapple and cottage cheese on it, which was strangely good.
When I was pregnant, I ate a jacket potato from the street vendor near my work almost every day. With Heinz baked beans and mature cheddar cheese. I craved them and never got tired of them.
We have brought this way of eating potatoes back to our families in the US, who are crazy about it too. Long live the jacket potato!
In the UK we have beans and cheddar cheese as our default topping on a baked potato. I love them with smoked mackerel pate made with yougurt and lemon.
Had just this dinner last night. Sweet potato with butter, a little grated swiss, bacon and a dollop of sour cream. Delicious, satisfying and incredibly easy!
Great ideas! I like to cut my potato into wedges, toss it with olive oil and Old Bay seasoning (or a mix of cayenne and cumin seeds), and roast it.
I like mine with pulled pork BBQ and a little cheese.
Chili works well too.
hmmm.. delicious!! In the city of Leiden here in Holland there's a restaurant, called Jacketz, that only serves baked potatoes. They have a whole bunch of delicous toppings to choose from. My favourite toppings are beetroot salad, lentil salad with hummus and tuna salad with dill....
Try them with topped with coleslaw.
bluejayway, i just had to say i felt the same! when i was pregnant in London i couldn't get enough of jacket potatoes. so good as a pub lunch! now i'm back in NZ and they are popular to eat at home but not so much out, well we don't really do the pub thing like the UK does, does any country do pubs like the UK??? (strangely my daughter doesn't like potatoes! overkill in the womb perhaps?)
My favorite is putting it in a bowl with steamed broccoli, nutritional yeast, salt, pepper, and maybe some earth balance. It's basically the vegan version of broccoli and cheese, but my omnivore husband will make this for himself even if we have cheese in the house.
Love the bacon and egg suggestion. I'll be thinking of that all day....
With a big dollop of guacamole.
I thought you promised _just_ a potato... :(
New Mexican - Hatch sliced green chiles, or green chile enchilada sauce, black olives or beans, jack cheese. After the potato has baked, spread it out on a plate, top with stuff, and run under the broiler to melt the cheese. Yum.
Works well with red chile sauce too.
I don't know why, but this is one of those things that just never turns out as delicious as it should be when I make it.
If I put broccoli, cheese, and yogurt on a potato, it's meh, yet if my mom does it, it's a party in my mouth. I have no idea what I'm doing wrong but oh well.
Kale pesto on top! (To make it, process a bunch of kale, stripped off the stems, with 1/3 C each of toasted walnuts and parm cheese. Add 3 cloves of crushed garlic, s&p and enough oil to make pesto-y. Store in the fridge)
Learned this 'recipe' from my Korean roommate who got it from her aunt:
Top baked potato with a dollop of mayo, sliced pepperoncinis, and chopped kalamata olives (brined). It's delicious and doesn't taste mayonaise-y at all. It even works with reduced-cal mayo.
Just did this for lunch and I paired my baked potato with some heated up leftover creamed spinach. YUM.