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Mix and match baked potato toppings for the best easy dinner, a loaded baked potato! It’s customizable to any diet and eater.
It can be hard to find a dinner idea that works for everyone. But here’s one we fall back on time and time again—the loaded baked potato! Mix and match baked potato toppings, and you’ve got a delicious dinner that fits almost any diet.
Alex and I often do this when we’re feeding a crowd, and everyone always loves it! There are endless ideas for customizing the meal, and it lets every eater get creative by choosing what they like. Here’s how to make a loaded baked potato bar, and some of our favorite topping ideas!
Baked potato toppings
Got your baked potato? Let’s load it up! Here’s where it gets fun and creative. You can lay out all the toppings and let the eaters choose, or make up just the ingredients for one of the flavor combinations. Here are some of our favorite baked potato toppings:
- Classic: Sour cream, high quality cheddar, chives, bacon or coconut bacon
- Mexican: Pico de gallo, corn, black beans, guacamole, cheese, sour cream, cilantro
- Lox: Smoked salmon, chives, cream cheese
- Chili: Chili, cheddar cheese, green onion, sour cream
- Broccoli Cheddar: Sauteed broccoli, sour cream, cheese sauce or vegan queso
- Nacho: Taco meat or vegan taco meat, refried beans, cheddar cheese, nacho cheese or vegan nacho cheese, salsa, sliced green onions, chopped lettuce, pickled jalapenos, crushed tortilla chips
- Ranch: Sauteed vegetables, ranch dressing (or vegan ranch), chickpeas or shredded chicken, chopped chives
- Fajita: Fajita veggies, refried beans or pinto beans, sour cream, shredded cheese
The type of potatoes to use
The best potatoes for a baked potato? Russet potatoes or sweet potatoes. Russet potatoes are the type that are traditional for a baked potato. They’re called starchy potatoes and come out with a fluffy texture when baked. Contrast that with waxy potatoes like Yukon gold, red potatoes, or fingerling potatoes—these types are better for roasting and mashing.
Sweet potatoes are also a great choice! They have slightly more fiber and different vitamins, as well as a beautifully sweet flavor. Interestingly, they’re similar in nutrition to the russet potato (see Sweet Potatoes vs White Potatoes).
Loaded baked potato cooking methods
Here are our top methods for baking a potato, with a few alternative ideas:
- Classic: For a whole baked potato, rub the skin with olive oil and prick with a fork. Place on the oven grates and bake at 425°F 20 minutes, then flip and bake 25 minutes more until fork tender (or more, depending on the size).
- Quick baked method: For a quick baked potato, cut the potatoes in half, rub with olive oil prick with a fork. Place on a baking sheet and bake at 450°F for 25 to 35 minutes, until tender. Mash the tops with a fork before serving.
- Grilled: Go to Grilled Baked Potato for instructions.
Turn it into a meal
Ready to eat? Here’s how to serve a loaded baked potato: try a baked potato bar!
- Make a baked potato bar. Set out the baked potato toppings in small bowls and let each eater top the potatoes as they choose.
- Accessorize with a green salad. Pair the starchy potato with a fresh green salad. Some ideas for pairing are this arugula salad, chopped salad, kale salad, tossed salad, or Mexican salad.
Dietary notes
A loaded baked potato is naturally gluten free. Depending on the toppings, it also works for vegetarian, vegan (plant based), and pescatarian diets.
Loaded Baked Potato Toppings
Mix and match baked potato toppings for the best easy dinner: a Loaded Baked Potato! It’s customizable to any diet and eater.
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 45 minutes
- Total Time: 55 minutes
- Yield: 4 servings 1x
- Category: Main dish
- Method: Baked
- Cuisine: American
- Diet: Vegetarian
Ingredients
- 4 russet potatoes
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 ½ cups purchased pico de gallo
- 15-ounce can black beans
- ¼ teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 cup canned corn (or thawed frozen)
- 1 cup guacamole
- Shredded cheddar cheese, optional
- Fresh chopped cilantro
- Sour cream (or cashew cream)
- Other topping ideas:
- Classic: Sour cream, high quality cheddar, chives, optional bacon
- Lox: Smoked salmon, chives, cream cheese
- Chili: Chili, cheddar cheese, green onion, sour cream
- Broccoli Cheddar: Sauteed broccoli, sour cream, cheddar cheese or Vegan Queso
- Nacho: Vegan Taco Meat or taco meat, canned refried beans, cheddar cheese or Vegan Nacho Cheese, salsa, sliced green onions, chopped lettuce, pickled jalapenos, crushed tortilla chips
- Ranch: Sauteed Vegetables, Homemade Ranch Dressing, chickpeas or shredded chicken, chopped chives
- Fajita: Fajita veggies, refried beans or pinto beans, sour cream, shredded cheese
Instructions
- Preheat: Preheat the oven to 425°F. (Alternatively, you can use our Quick Baked Potato or Baked Sweet Potato methods.)
- Bake the potatoes: Scrub the potatoes and pierce them all over with a fork. Rub each potato with olive oil. Place the potatoes directly on oven rack (with a tray on rack below to catch any dripping oil). Bake 20 minutes and flip with tongs. Bake additional 25 minutes and check for tenderness with a fork. The fork should easily pierce the potato to the center. If not tender, continue baking, up to 15 minutes more depending on size of the potato.
- Prep the toppings: Meanwhile, drain and rinse the black beans and mix them with the kosher salt. Drain or thaw the corn. Chop the cilantro. Or follow the notes above for other topping ideas!
- Serve: When the potatoes are done, open the tops with a fork and top with the pico de gallo, seasoned black beans, corn, guacamole, cheddar cheese, cilantro and sour cream. Or follow the notes above of your choosing. Enjoy!
More healthy dinner ideas
Some of our favorite easy healthy dinner ideas? Shrimp and salmon are simple to whip up, like pesto salmon or pesto shrimp. We love bowl meals like a rice bowl, burrito bowl, shrimp bowl or salmon bowl.
Sheet pan dinners are another great option, like this veggie-filled sheet pan dinner, salmon and asparagus, or sweet potato tacos. Lastly, we love a good quick pasta, like tortelloni or a tortellini skillet.
I baked some potatoes cause me and my mom were very hungry so I made the fajita baked potato’s omg it was the bomb.com! very nice for occasions or just for lunch! loved the idea.
Thank You. I’m inspired now to work toppings nearing those of a classic potato salad. What do you think? T.
We made the fajita veggie baked potato for dinner. What a fabulous easy idea. Subbed black beans for pinto as that’s what we had in the pantry. Looking forward to trying some of the other variations.