These Loaded Hassleback Potatoes are filled with bacon, cheese, sour cream and butter. In other words, all the yummy things!
The Hassleback Craze
So what’s the deal with the Hassleback thing?
You can Hassleback potatoes, zucchini, cucumber, eggplant, and anything else you can slice thinly. But what’s the point of this?
Crispy. Flavor. Yummy. Mixing flavors.
Allegedly there was a Swedish chef who created the Hassleback potato at a pub called Hasslebacken. Is this true? I dunno, but whoever came with this is brilliant.
All I know is we like potatoes and this is another great way to eat them.
Hassleback potatoes are creamy on the inside and yet crispy on the edges, because those little slices cook up to a nice golden brown. They also take only a few more minutes to prepare than a regular baked potato because of the time it requires to slice, but the flavor is so much more delicious.
Why? Because you brush them down butter and let it all melt in the nooks and crannies created by the slicing process. The edges crisp up and voila. It’s like little crispy fries or potato chips. Yum.
The Slicing Process
You can buy a Hassleback potato slicer, but I’ll be totally honest… You can just put the potato in a big serving spoon and slice until the knife meets the spoon. Another trick is to put the potato between to chop sticks.
Or, you can do what I do, which is slice it on a cutting board freestyle.
Works just fine as long as you don’t cut too deeply. If you do, you end up with this:
But that’s OK, too. Just stick them back together and keep on keepin’ on. The bits that fall off will taste just as good. Better, even, because they crisp up perfectly. Who needs to the potato to be attached anyway?
The Butter Is The Important Part
The butter creates flavor, allows the potatoes to brown, and generally turns a plain potato into yumminess.
You’ll want to brush the potatoes with melted butter before you cook, as well as about halfway through. At that halfway point, the slices begin to open up so you can really the get the butter down into those nooks and crannies I mentioned earlier.
Sprinkling the potatoes with a bit of salt and pepper before baking also helps to create flavor.
Loaded Hassleback Potatoes
You can eat Hassleback potatoes plain and they will be delicious. But if you live at our house, bacon, cheese, and sour cream are added.
Because everything is better with bacon.
Loaded Hassleback Potatoes
Ingredients
- 4 Russet or Yukon Gold potatoes
- 4 tbsp melted butter divided
- 1/2 lb bacon cubed and cooked
- 1 cup shredded mild cheddar cheese or more to taste
- Sour cream to taste
- 2 tbsp chives for garnish minced
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 425 degrees or 400 degrees for a convection oven.
- Slice potatoes in 1/4 to 1/8 inches slices, stopping just before you slice through the potato. If needed, place the potato in a serving spoon or between two chopsticks and slice until the knife touches meets resistance.
- Place potatoes on a cookie sheet or in a glass baking dish. Melt 2 tablespoons of butter (or more if needed) and brush over the sliced potatoes. Sprinkle with salt and pepper.
- Bake for 30 minutes or until slices begin to separate. Meanwhile, chop the bacon into 1/4 inch slices and cook at medium low heat for 8-10 minutes or until crisp. Remove from heat and drain fat.
- Brush potatoes with remaining butter and bake for 30-40 additional minutes, or until edges are golden and the centers of the potatoes can be pierced with a fork. Serve with bacon bits, butter, sour cream, and shredded cheese. Sprinkle with chives for garnish, if desired.
