Ranch-y Twice-Baked Potatoes

Can’t decide whether to serve mashed or baked potatoes at your holiday celebration? Or are you searching for the perfect dish you can prepare the night before a potluck get-together? Either way, I have you covered with these ranch-y twice-baked potatoes that house all the creamy, herby, zesty notes of a homemade ranch dressing all within the walls of a potato skin.  

Plus, if you have a pastry pipe handy, their presentation will impress your guests and make them realize how elegant a twice-baked potato can be.  

Recipe by: Kourtney Paranteau

Makes 6 twice-baked potatoes 

Process

Preheat your oven to 425°F. In a large bowl whisk together oil and kosher salt and, one by one coat each of your potatoes in oil and salt before placing them on a baking sheet. After all six potatoes are oiled and foiled, place the baking sheet on the rung nearest the top of your oven and bake your potatoes for an hour. Remove the tray from the oven and allow to cool for about thirty minutes.

Decrease the oven’s temperature to 350°F. Using a steak knife slice a potato down the middle and carefully scoop out its insides and place in a large bowl, repeat on all potatoes, and set the potato skins aside. With a potato masher, thoroughly mash the potatoes until they’re crumbled into tiny pieces before pouring in buttermilk and adding the sour cream. Go over the potatoes with the masher for an additional five minutes, until creamy, and stir in all of your herbs, garlic and onion powder, and Infused Lemon Zest Salt until evenly incorporated.

Working one by one, using a pastry pipe with the widest nozzle attached, slowly fill the potato skins back up with the ranch-y potato mixture, making extra sure their tops are overflowing and visually pleasing. Sprinkle the lemon zest evenly over the potatoes and bake for twenty minutes uncovered. Remove from the oven and allow to cool for five minutes before serving.

Note: If you want to make these a day ahead of time, simply wait to re-bake until the following day.