Easy Loaded Mashed Potato Bowl
This Easy Loaded Mashed Potato Bowl recipe is a satisfying and easy-to-make meal that the whole family will love. It’s the ultimate comfort food, featuring mashed potatoes, bacon, cheese, sour cream, corn, and scallions. Plus, it’s an easy meal with minimal ingredients and comes together in under 20 minutes!
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Loaded mashed potato bowls are an excellent way to enjoy creamy mashed potatoes with all your favorite toppings mixed in. Whether you’re in the mood for crispy bacon, rich sour cream, or zesty green onions, a mashed potato bowl is a versatile dish you can jazz up to fit your tastes.
Plus, it’s quick and easy to prepare, making it a great option on busy nights or lazy weekends. And the best part is, this super simple recipe has minimal ingredients yet ultimate comfort food flavors!
Looking for more easy dinners that you can make in under 30 minutes? Try this Ground Beef Stir Fry or these Chicken Tacos, and don’t forget to add this potato bowl recipe to your list of easy weeknight dinners!
What you’ll love about this recipe:
RECIPE INGREDIENTS
You’ll need the following ingredients to make these delicious loaded mashed potato bowls:
INGREDIENT NOTES
Potatoes: Russet potatoes are the best potatoes for this recipe as the high starch and low moisture makes them fluffy and light, with a slightly sweet flavor.
Bacon: This adds excellent flavor and crispy texture, and we’re also using bacon grease for cooking the corn, which enhances the overall taste. In a pinch, you can use bacon bits.
Dairy: Staying true to the traditional baked potatoes, this recipe features dairy add-ins like butter, sour cream, and cheddar cheese.
Toppings: A little bit of sweet corn and scallions (also known as green onions or chives) add amazing flavor and texture to this dish.
HOW TO MAKE A LOADED MASHED POTATO BOWL: STEP BY STEP
Here are some quick visual instructions. Remember that full cooking instructions with exact ingredients will be in the recipe card below!
Step 1: Clean and scrub the potatoes well. Poke several holes in each potato with a fork. Cook potatoes in a microwave for 5 minutes, flip, and cook for another 5 minutes or until they are easily pierced with a fork.
Step 2: Meanwhile, heat a skillet over medium heat. Add bacon pieces and cook for 5-6 minutes until browned and crispy. Transfer bacon to a plate lined with a paper towel to absorb excess grease.
Step 3: Reserve one tablespoon of bacon grease on the skillet. Then, add corn to the pan and cook for 1-2 minutes until it is heated thoroughly.
Step 4: Carefully slice open the cooked potatoes and scoop out the flesh into a large bowl. Add butter, salt, and pepper and mix with a fork or a potato masher until smooth.
Step 5: Top the mashed potatoes with corn, bacon, cheese, sour cream, and green scallions. Enjoy right away.
RECIPE TIPS & TRICKS
- Microwave cooking time varies, so 5 minutes per side is a good starting point, but you may need to adjust a bit, all microwaves cook at slightly different rates.
- No microwave? Another quick way to cook them is on the stovetop: peel and dice potatoes and cover them with water. Then, bring potatoes to a boil and cook until fork tender, about 15 minutes. Next, drain and mash the potatoes with butter, salt, and pepper.
- Include potato skins for a different texture. If you enjoy the taste and texture of potato skin, include that in the mashed potatoes. They are a great source of nutrients. But if you prefer creamy potatoes, skip the potato skins.
Confidence Tip
After cooking, allow the potatoes to rest for a few minutes before handling them. Doing so will enable them to finish cooking and cool down a bit.
STORAGE & REHEATING
- Storage: Store leftover loaded mashed potatoes in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 3 days. It can be stored for longer, up to 5 days if it doesn’t have any toppings.
- Reheating: Reheat the leftover mashed potato bowl in a microwave for a few minutes until warm.
- Freezing: You can freeze the cooked potato without any toppings, but it’s important to remember that the texture of a frozen and thawed cooked potato may become grainy and mealy. This loaded mashed potato bowl is best enjoyed fresh.
Additions & Substitutions
ADDITIONS:
- Greek yogurt: You can swap out the sour cream for Greek yogurt to boost your protein.
SUBSTITUTIONS:
- Veggies: Steamed or roasted broccoli, sauteed mushrooms, green beans, or caramelized onions are all a great addition to a mashed potato bowl.
- Protein: Make it a meal and add cooked ground beef, chicken meat, or black beans to the potato mixture.
- Spice it up: Add garlic powder, onion powder, paprika, or even a pinch of cayenne pepper to the mashed potato mixture.
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
Russet potatoes are a great way to achieve creamy potatoes because they contain a lot of starch, but you can also use Yukon gold potatoes.
The easiest and quickest way is to cook potatoes in the microwave for 5 minutes per side. You can also boil peeled and diced potatoes in a small pot on the stovetop. Alternatively, and the most prolonged cooking method, you can bake them in a toaster oven for 40-60 minutes or until fork tender.
That’s a great way to enjoy this meal family-style! Add mashed potatoes to an oven-safe dish. Then add all your favorite toppings, like bacon and corn kernels, on top of the potatoes for a loaded mashed potato casserole.
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I hope you love this Loaded Mashed Potato Bowl. If you make it be sure to leave a comment and a rating so I know how you liked it. Enjoy, xo!
Loaded Mashed Potato Bowl
Ingredients
- 2 large russet potatoes
- 4 tbsp butter
- 1/2 tsp sea salt or kosher salt
- 1/4 tsp freshly ground black pepper
- 6 strips thick-cut bacon, chopped into small pieces
- 1 cup frozen corn
- 1 cup sharp cheddar cheese, shredded
- 4 tbsp sour cream
- green onions/chives, to taste
Instructions
- Prepare Potatoes: Clean and scrub potatoes well. With a fork, poke several holes in each potato. Place potatoes in the microwave and cook on high power for 5 minutes. Then flip, and cook for another 5-6 minutes until potatoes can be easily pierced with a fork. Note: Microwave cook times vary, so start checking the potatoes at the 10 minute mark. Remove potatoes from the microwave and allow them a few minutes to cool.
- Cook Bacon: While the potatoes are cooking, heat a skillet over medium heat. Add bacon pieces and cook 5-6 minutes until browned and crispy. Transfer bacon pieces to a paper-towel lined plate ((Short on time? Used good quality bacon bits and just warm the corn in the microwave))
- Cook Corn: Remove all but about 1 tablespoon of the bacon grease. Add corn to the skillet and cook 1-2 minutes until warmed through.
- Prepare Potatoes: Carefully slice open the cooked potatoes and scoop out the insides into a large bowl (you can also enjoy the skin too, if you like, but for a nice, smooth mashed potato bowl, just use the insides). Add butter, salt and pepper and mix with a fork to create mashed potatoes (See Note 1).
- Finish: Top potato with corn, bacon, cheese, sour cream, and scallions/chives. Enjoy right away!
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition is only an estimate based on the Very Well Fit Nutrition Calculator
I am obsessed with these mashed potato bowls! What a genius idea to make these into bowls and you can totally customize each one. Adding these to our dinner rotation!
These mashed potatoes were loaded with all the favorites that I love on the side of pork chops and were the perfect addition to dinnertime.
The only thing that kept me from eating this entire thing myself was the self-loathing that would have inevitably followed. SO GOOD.
This is now my new favorite way to eat potatoes! The whole family loved it. Sooo good!
We had this potato bowls for dinner last night and they were so good! We added popcorn chicken to ours and loved them!