Jalapeno Popper Potato Skins | Food Wishes

Hello, this is Chef John from foodwishes.com with jalapeno popper potato skins. That's right. We're going to take these two iconic sports bar appetizer menu items and we're going to put them together to make a new incredible party snack. And if you got friends coming over to watch the game, I cannot think of a better choice. And to get started, we're going to take some relatively small, uniformly sized rusted potatoes, and we're going to prick them all over with the tip of a small knife, which is going to help some of the moisture vent out as these roast. And by the way, make sure these are scrubbed and washed very well. Since one of the keys to a great potato skin, is actually being able to eat the potato skin. And that's it. Once our very clean potatoes have been pricricked, we will drizzle over a generous amount of vegetable oil, and we'll give these a quick massage. And once those are nice and evenly coated, we will transfer those onto a foil line baking sheet. And we will space those out nice and evenly, at which point we're going to transfer those into the center of a 400°ree oven for about an hour or so, or until our potatoes are tender, which is not something we ever want to guess about. So, what we'll do is grab that small knife again, and we'll go ahead and give these a test. And that knife should slide right in. And once we've determined they've cooked long enough, we will simply let those sit until they're cool enough to handle. I mean, we could cut them and scoop them piping hot, but why would you? Especially since we have other things to do. And one of those things would be to prep our jalapeno peppers. And we're actually going to need these in two different ways, right? We're going to want some nice thickly cut rings. And then in a few moments, we're going to dice them up. And once we cut some nice big rings from the thick part of the pepper, we'll want to remove the seeds. And for that, I like one of these little pastry cutters. But you can also do the same thing with the edge of a spoon or a melon baller. Or some people like to cut the end off the pepper and then try to scoop the seeds out and then slice it. But anyway, it doesn't matter as long as you end up with 36 seated rings since we're going to do three per potato skin. And then once we have enough rings, we'll use extra peppers or the smaller part of the pepper we didn't slice. And we'll cut the outside flesh away from the seeds and membrane in the middle. And then we'll simply cut those pieces into strips. And then turn it and slice them into a dice. Oh, and pro tip. Slice all your rings first. And then do this step with the extra pieces or extra peppers if you have them since you're only going to need about a third to a half a cup of the diced. And then besides prepping our peppers, if I'm making a jalapeno pepper, you better believe there's going to be some bacon involved. So, I'm going to take four strips that have been cooked nice and crisp, and I'm going to slice those into like quarterinch pieces. And I would have showed you how to cook the bacon. But let's be honest, if you can't cook bacon, you're probably not making these. But anyway, once our bacon and peppers are prepped, our potatoes should now be the perfect temperature to cut and scoop, which would be just barely warm. And we're going to want to cut these straight down the middle of the wider, flatter side, right? Not this narrow side. This wider flatter side. And by cutting the potato that way, our shells are going to be taller and more narrow and more impressive looking. And that's it. Once cut, we'll take a spoon and we will scoop out the cooked potato from the center, but definitely not all of it. What we really want here is a potato skin that has about an eighth of an inch of potato left on it, give or take. All right. You can leave a little more potato in there if you want, but I certainly wouldn't scrape out any more than this since we do need these to have a little bit of structure. And by the way, with the insides, you can make some amazing potato pancakes or mashed potatoes, of course, or potato soup. So, that's a nice little extra bonus when you make these. And what we'll do is place those back onto our sheetpan. And we will space those out nice and evenly. And then to help the edges crisp up, I like to take some vegetable oil and brush it all the way around the outside. Around the outside, around the outside, which might be optional, but no one's ever complained that the edges of their potato skin are too crispy. And that's it. Once those are set, we can go ahead and mix up this very simple cheese filling, which is nothing more than some roomtemp cream cheese, to which we will add our diced jalapeno, as well as some grated cheddar cheese. And yes, I chose the orange since it just seemed appropriate for this, although I'm not exactly sure why. But no matter what you use, we'll go ahead and mix that up. Oh, and by the way, don't forget to save some of the cheese for the top. And then before we fill our potato shells, I do like to sprinkle each one of those with a little bit of salt since, as you've heard me say before, an undersseasoned potato is an evil potato. So, we'll season those up a little bit before we fill them with our cheese mixture. And then you know the strategy for this kind of operation. We will add one nice big spoonful to each. And then with whatever is left, we'll go around adding a little more to each one until it's been as evenly distributed as possible. And then before we top these off, let's take our spoon and sort of push that filling down and spread it out a little bit and maybe even go in a little bit up the sides. Although don't feel like you have to fuss around too much since once these bake up, they're going to look incredible. And that's it. We'll go ahead and take our chopped up bacon and distribute that evenly amongst our 12 skins. And once those have been cheesed and baconed, we'll go ahead and place three jalapeno rings over the top, which I found to be the perfect amount. But if you want to put more, feel free. I mean, you guys are after all the missed things of your jalapeno rings. And once those have been placed down, we'll top these with the rest of our cheese. And we're not going to be putting on that much. Okay. I really want to see the jalapeno after these bake. So, some of you like me is going to find this step challenging cuz we kind of want to load it up with cheese. But just a modest scattering like this is going to be plenty. And that's it. These are now ready to pop into the center of a 475°ree oven for about 25 to 30 minutes or until the cheese is melted and bubbling and they're browned and crisp around the edges. And they hopefully look like this. And then just by reflex, I was going to tell you to let these rest for about 5 or 10 minutes before you serve them. But you know what? You really don't have to since by the time we transfer this onto a serving platter and place on some sour cream and chives to serve with them, I think they'll be at a perfect temperature to enjoy. And that, my friends, for a potato fanatic like me who also loves cheese and spicy things, not to mention bacon, is pretty much a perfect bite of food. And obviously the sour cream and chives is a perfect pairing. But I think a ranch dressing would also be very nice. Oh, and you didn't hear this from me, but if you're looking for a really nice brunch item, these filled with a poached egg are really, really good. As I found out, using up some of the leftovers. But having said that, don't plan on there being any leftovers. Unless you're home alone like I was with a whole platter, these are going to disappear and disappear very quickly, which is why I really do hope you give these a try soon. So, please follow the links below for the ingredient amounts, a printable written recipe, and much more info as usual. And is always in joy.