The restaurant TGI Fridays claims to have invented the potato skin in 1974 when one of the cooks was making mashed potatoes and decided to drop the potato skin in the fryer. When it came out of the fryer, he sprinkled it with seasonings, cheese, and bacon. The new creation was so delicious that the restaurant added it to its menu as an appetizer, and from there it quickly spread across the country. Decades later the dish remains one of the most popular at TGI Fridays.
Recipe Servings: 6
Prep Time
10 minutes
Cook Time
1 hour 30 minutes
Total Time
1 hour 40 minutes
Vegetarian
Vegan
Gluten Free
Dairy Free
Kosher
Halal
Ingredients
- 6 small to medium-size Russet baking potatoes
- Extra virgin olive oil, as needed
- Kosher salt, to taste
- Freshly ground pepper, to taste
- 6 strips of bacon
- 4 oz cheddar cheese, grated
- ½ cup sour cream
- 2 green onions, thinly sliced, including the greens of the onions
Directions
- Preheat the oven to 400°F.
- Wash the potatoes and then pierce each of them a few times with a sharp knife or the tines of a fork. Rub the potatoes with olive oil and place them on a baking sheet.
- Bake the potatoes for about 60 minutes or until they are cooked through.
- Place the strips of bacon in a frying pan over medium-low heat and cook for 10–15 minutes or until crispy.
- Remove the bacon from the frying pan and place it on paper towel to remove the excess oil.
- Remove the potatoes from the oven and let them cool enough to handle.
- Cut the potatoes in half horizontally and use a spoon to carefully scoop out the insides, reserving it for another use. Leave about a ¼-inch of potato on the skin.
- Increase the oven temperature to 450°F.
- Brush the olive oil all over the potato skins, outside and inside. Sprinkle them with salt.
- Place the potato skins on a baking rack in a roasting pan or broiler pan and cook for 10 minutes before flipping them over and cooking them for another 10 minutes.
- Remove the skins from the oven and let them cool enough to handle.
- Arrange the potatoes skin side down on the baking rack and sprinkle the insides with pepper, cheese, and crumbled bacon.
- Return the potato skins to the oven and broil for 2 minutes or until the cheese is bubbly. Remove them from the oven.
- Transfer the potato skins to a serving plate. Add a dollop of sour cream to each skin and sprinkle with green onion.
- Serve immediately.
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