My One Issue with Pioneer Woman’s Twice-Baked Potatoes

The Pioneer Woman (aka Ree Drummond) is one of the most prolific food personalities of our generation. She has a beloved blog, a Food Network show, multiple cookbooks, and her own line of products. She’s known for her hearty, down-home cooking, so when I stumbled upon her recipe for twice-baked potatoes, I knew I needed to try it as part of my showdown.

Stuffed with bacon, sour cream, cheese, and green onions, Ree’s recipe is reminiscent of a loaded potato. It sounded like something I would personally love to eat, so I headed into my kitchen and gave it a go.

Get the recipe: The Pioneer Woman’s Twice-Baked Potatoes

To make The Pioneer Woman’s twice-baked potatoes, start by baking eight potatoes. Reduce the oven temperature and let the potatoes cool slightly.

Place a generous amount of butter (two whole sticks, to be exact) chopped bacon, and sour cream in a bowl. Cut each potato in half lengthwise, scoop out the flesh, and add it to the bowl with the butter. Use a potato masher to mash the potatoes, then add shredded cheddar Jack cheese, milk, seasoning salt, sliced green onions, and black pepper. Mix everything up, then fill the potato shells with the mixture. Top each potato with more shredded cheese and bake until golden-brown. To finish the potatoes, garnish with additional green onions and black pepper.

The flavor of these potatoes was great. The combination of bacon, green onions, cheese, and sour cream was delicious and practically impossible to dislike. The seasoned salt helped amp up the flavor and make the potatoes shine. However, the texture was a bit off. Two sticks of butter combined with one cup of whole milk made the filling a bit greasy and gloopy. It was firm enough to stuff the potato shells, but not quite right. The recipe didn’t specify what size potatoes to use, so I used what I thought were medium-sized potatoes. (What is a “medium” potato, anyway?) In retrospect, I probably should have used larger potatoes, and the wetness of the filling could have something to do with this. That said, I still think the butter and milk ratios felt a bit high.

Overall the potatoes were still tasty, and I would happily eat them if they were in front of me. I don’t think I would make this recipe again — or if I would, I would reduce the amount of butter and milk significantly.

• Reduce the amount of butter. I think you could cut the amount of butter in half from two sticks to one. You can always add more, if you think the filling needs it.
• Omit the bacon if you’re vegetarian. The bacon was good, but not necessary. If you want to try this recipe but don’t eat meat, feel free to omit it without worry. It didn’t add too much to the recipe and I wouldn’t be disappointed to see it go.
• Make sure to use seasoned salt instead of plain kosher salt. Ree’s recipe calls for seasoned salt, not regular kosher salt. I used Lawry’s and loved the depth of flavor it added to the filling. It helped elevate the recipe and added a savoriness that I really enjoyed.

Rating: 8/10

Have you ever made The Pioneer Woman’s twice-baked potatoes recipe? Let us know in the comments!