Twice-Baked Cajun Shrimp Stuffed Potatoes
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If you’ve never had a twice-baked potato, it’s basically like baked potatoes and mashed potatoes had a baby. There’s a restaurant in San Diego called Island Prime that has theeeee most ridiculous twice-baked potato, loaded with lobster. This is my version of the TBP, inspired by Island Prime and chocked-full of Cajun seasoned shrimp and cheddar cheese.
You’ll need potatoes, onion, cheese, hot sauce, Cajun seasoning, butter, sour cream, shrimp, garlic, celery and green onions. Also, salt, pepper and olive oil (not pictured).
Wash and dry the potatoes thoroughly. Use a fork to prick holes around the potatoes to let the steam escape. Coat in olive oil and bake for about an hour, until tender.
While the potatoes are baking, you can start on the shrimp mixture.
Melt butter in a skillet over medium heat. Add in onion, celery and garlic and cook until softened, about 5 minutes.
Add in half of the green onions…
… and the Cajun seasoning. (tangent: can we talk about this action shot? *pats self on back*)
Add a couple of dashes of hot sauce, more if you like it spicy, and stir to combine.
Add in the shrimp, cook until opaque. Set the mixture aside.
The potatoes should be done now, yeah?
Once the potatoes are cool enough to handle, slice of the top 1/3.
Gently scoop out the potato flesh into a bowl, leaving about 1/4″ of potato still attached to the skin. Scrape out the flesh from the potato tops, too. You can discard those top skins.
They should look a little something like this. Be careful not to dig too deep, you don’t want to break the bottom of the potato shell.
Add the sour cream, salt, pepper and remaining green onions to the scooped out potatoes. Mash until desired consistency…
Optional step: I like my twice-baked potatoes super creamy and smooth, so I use a hand mixer, on low, for about 1 minute, just to get out the big lumps and smooth it out a bit.
Fold in the cheddar cheese.
Gently fold in the shrimp mixture. Don’t forget the butter. Add all that butter at the bottom of the pan in, too.
It should look a little something like this. Taste the mixture and adjust salt, pepper and Cajun seasoning as needed. I added a bit more Tony Chacheres.
Pile the mixture back into the potato skins as hiiiiiigh as you can pile it. Top with additional cheese, if desired. Bake for another 20-25 minutes, until heated through and the cheese is melty and delicious.
BLOOP.
The inside is just so creamy and delicious. The sour cream adds great texture and a little bit of a tang to cut through the richness of the cheese. And the shrimp are just bomb, so there’s that.
Serve it with a little salad and you’ve got dinner.
Let’s just look at the inside again. SO GOOD.
- 4 large russet potatoes
- olive oil
- 1/2 cup butter, unsalted
- 1/2 cup chopped onions
- 1/2 cup chopped celery
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 5 green onions, divided, more for garnish if desired
- 2 tsp Cajun seasoning (like Tony Chachere), more to taste
- dash hot sauce, more to taste
- salt and pepper
- 1lb shrimp, peeled, deveined and cut in half
- 1 cup grated cheddar cheese, plus more for garnish if desired
- 1 cup sour cream
- Preheat oven to 350F.
- Wash and dry the potatoes and prick with a fork several times to allow steam to escape while cooking. Place on a foil-lined baking sheet and bake until tender, about 1 hour.
- While the potatoes are cooking, cook the shrimp mixture. Melt butter over medium heat in a skillet. Add in onions, celery and garlic and cook until softened, about 5 minutes. Add in half of the green onions, Cajun seasoning, hot sauce and stir to combine. Add in chopped shrimp and cook until opaque. Set aside.
- Once the potatoes are done, let them cool enough to handle. Slice off the top 1/3 of each potato and gently scoop the flesh and place into a bowl, leaving about a 1/4” border of potato still attached to the skin. Scoop out the flesh from the potato tops and add to the bowl; discard the skin from the tops.
- Mash the scooped out potatoes with 1 tsp salt, 1/2 tsp black pepper, the remaining green onions (reserve a little for garnish if you like), and sour cream. You could stop here, but I like to use a hand mixer for just a minute to get the potatoes extraly smooth and delicious.
- Gently fold in the cheese, then the shrimp mixture. Taste, and adjust salt, pepper and Cajun seasoning as needed. Pile the shrimp mixture as high as you can back into the potato shells, being careful not to break them. Sprinkle with any remaining cheese. Place the potatoes back in the oven on a baking sheet and bake until heated through, about 20-25 minutes. Garnish with green onions.
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