Side dishes · Potato sides

Loaded baked potato

Name: Loaded baked potato
Prep time: 5 min
Cook time: 60 min
Total time: 65 min
Yield: 4 servings
Ingredients: 4 large russets russet potatoes, scrubbed; 2 tsp canola oil; 1 tsp, coarse salt; 3 tbsp butter; 3/4 cup cheddar cheese, shredded; 3 slices bacon, crisped, crumbled; 6 tbsp sour cream; 2 tbsp fresh chives, snipped

The steakhouse side that eats like a meal: a properly crisp-skinned russet under butter, cheddar, bacon, sour cream and chives. Every topping a decision you can see.

Time: 65 min (5 prep + 60 cook)
Servings: 4
Per serving: 485 kcal
Protein: 16 g

Both directions are legitimate — the score measures fullness per calorie, not virtue. Every version is the same dish, rebalanced.

Ingredients

4 large russets russet potatoes, scrubbed1000 g
2 tsp canola oil10 g
1 tsp, coarse salt6 g
3 tbsp butter40 g
3/4 cup cheddar cheese, shredded80 g
3 slices bacon, crisped, crumbled45 g
6 tbsp sour cream90 g
2 tbsp fresh chives, snipped6 g

Every ingredient links to its food page — same data, same score, same formula.

Steps

Prick the potatoes, rub with oil and coarse salt, and bake directly on the rack at 220°C for 50–60 minutes. No foil — foil steams the skin you're trying to crisp.
They're done when a skewer meets no resistance and the skin sounds hollow.
Cut a cross, push the ends together so the flesh erupts, and fluff with a fork.
Butter first (it melts into the flesh), then cheese while hot, then bacon, sour cream and chives.

Why this score

easy to overeat

Dense calories with little protein, volume or fiber to fill you up.

Three routes to fullness — one is enough

13% of kcal

67% water

7 g/Mcal

What pulls it down

How scores work

Computed on the finished dish, not an average of the parts: 1939 kcal goes into the pot, 1277 g of ingredients comes out as ~1100 g of food → 176 kcal per 100 g. Cooking moves water, and energy density is the score's biggest lever — so we show the math. Full formula here.

Per

Calories: 176
Protein: (13%); 6 g
Fat: (49%); 10 g
Carbohydrates: (38%); 17 g
of which sugar: 1 g
Fiber: 1 g
Sodium: 364 mg

Percentages are the share of calories from each macronutrient.

Computed from the ingredients' USDA data — nothing typed by hand. Every number is traceable, every score recomputable.

More side dishes

Photo: AI-generated. Nutrition and score are computed from the ingredients with the published formula — this recipe hasn't been kitchen-tested by us yet.