Broccoli Cheddar Baked Potatoes
So much more than your basic baked potato.
You could say that broccoli and cheddar make the perfect pair, but do you know what else belongs right alongside them? Potatoes. And baked potatoes especially. Imagine if you took the comforting flavor of Broccoli Cheddar soup but concentrated it into a cheesy, ooey-gooey sauce and went ahead and smothered a fluffy baked potato with it. That’s a pretty accurate description of what you get with our Broccoli Cheddar Baked Potatoes but all you really need to know is that they’re deliciously cheesy and the ideal way to up your baked potato game.
You probably know how to bake a potato, but our preferred method is to give them a good scrub, coat them in a little olive oil and salt and let them hang out in a four-hundred degree oven for about an hour. They get crispy, salty skin this way while the interior is wonderfully soft and fluffy. That’s the basic part of this; what’s not so basic is the broccoli-cheese sauce that comes next.
I don’t mean that it’s ‘not basic’ in that it’s complicated. It’s not at all – it’s a sauce anyone can handle. (A quick roux followed by some milk and cheddar, easy!) I mean that it’s ‘not basic’ in the sense that it makes a baked potato seem extra special, even though you’re making the sauce while the potatoes are in the oven, so it’s not too much extra trouble at all.
It is, however, cheesy, comforting, and oh-so delicious and makes a baked potato into more of a meal. You could serve these as a side, sure, but I find they always seem to steal the show anyway.
Broccoli Cheddar Baked Potatoes
Ingredients
- 4 medium russet potatoes
- Olive oil, as needed
- 3 tablespoons butter
- 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
- 2 cups whole milk
- 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1/4 teaspoon onion powder
- 1 1/2 cups sharp cheddar cheese, grated
- 1/2 lb frozen broccoli florets, thawed and chopped
- Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
Preparation
- Preheat oven to 400°F. (You can thaw broccoli while oven is preheating and potatoes bake.)
- Scrub potatoes and poke with fork in several places. Rub olive oil in potatoes and season with salt. Bake until soft, about 1 hour.
- About 45 minutes into baking time, start the cheese sauce:
- In a medium pot over medium heat, melt butter. Whisk in flour and stir continuously until it starts to foam. Cook 1 minute.
- Gradually whisk in milk and bring to a simmer, whisking often. Once mixture is thick enough to coat a spoon, remove from heat.
- Stir in garlic and onion powder, and season with salt and pepper. Whisk in cheese a handful at a time, waiting until cheese has melted before adding next handful. Stir in chopped broccoli.
- Slice open baked potatoes and mash the insides. Pour cheese sauce into potato and serve. Enjoy!
Recipe adapted from Budget Bytes.