Healthy Baked Potato with Broccoli and Cheese
My Healthy Baked Potato with broccoli and cheese is creamy, hearty, and packed with flavor, just like the classic stuffed potato, but better for you! It’s vegetarian, gluten-free, and kid-approved, making it the perfect comfort food that’s easy to make and ready in just one hour.
Servings: 8 servings
Calories: 149.1kcal
Ingredients
- 4 medium russet potatoes 18 oz
- 2 cups chopped broccoli florets about 2 heads of broccoli
- 2 cups chopped cauliflower about 1 large head of cauliflower
- ½ cup low fat buttermilk
- 2 tbsp sour cream
- ½ tbsp butter
- ½ tsp salt more to taste
- ⅛ tsp pepper more to taste
- 1 tbsp minced chives or green onions
- 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese or any shredded cheese you like
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400°F.
- Pierce the potatoes several times with a fork. Place in the microwave and use your baked potato setting until the potatoes are cooked through, turning half way. (Or you can bake 1 hour in your oven at 425° F)
- While the potatoes are baking, chop all of your veggies (chives, broccoli, cauliflower, etc)
- In a medium saucepan, combine cauliflower and broccoli with a little salted water and cook, covered for about 3 minutes. Remove the broccoli with a slotted spoon and set aside in a bowl, continue cooking the cauliflower until soft, about 5 more minutes. Drain and set aside in a separate large bowl.
- Cut the potatoes in half lengthwise. Scoop the flesh out into the large bowl with the cauliflower, leaving a ¼" shell. Place the potato shells on a baking sheet.
- Mash the flesh with a potato masher or puree with a hand blender along with the cauliflower. Add the buttermilk, sour cream, butter, pepper, and salt, mash until smooth. Fold in half of the shredded cheddar (and chives if desired).
- Spoon the potato/cauliflower mixture back into the shells. Top with the cooked broccoli and remaining cheese on top.
- Bake for 5-10 minutes, or until heated through and the cheese is melted.
Notes
- My #1 Secret Tip for making a healthy baked potato is to always poke holes in the potatoes with a fork before baking. This allows steam to escape and prevents them from exploding in your oven or microwave. Poking holes in them also allows them to cook evenly, making them much easier to cut, scoop and assemble once you get to that step.
- Use Russet Potatoes: I find that russet potatoes are ideal for baking due to their high starch content and light, fluffy texture. Lower starch potatoes like red or Yukon Gold are better suited for roasting or sautéing and won't work as well.
- Add More Flavor and Texture: If you want to add more flavor, feel free to coat the skin of the potatoes with olive oil or avocado oil and kosher salt before putting them in the oven. This also helps to achieve a crispy potato skin and a soft, fluffy interior.
- Test For Doneness: To test if the potatoes are fork tender and ready, I always give them a squeeze with oven mitts or poke them with a fork. If they are relatively soft, I know they’re ready to go! If not, I put them in for a few more minutes. The larger your potatoes, the longer they will take to bake.
- Mix Well: Make sure to mix the filling ingredients really well, and mash up that cauliflower into a potato-like consistency so it tastes just like mashed potatoes once it’s baked! That’s the secret to my low fat stuffed baked potato.
- Blood Sugar Hack: I let the potatoes cool before reheating to give the starches time to transform into resistant starch which won’t spike blood sugar as much (source). I then heat them back up and enjoy the potatoes warm.
Nutrition
Serving: 1half of a potato with toppings | Calories: 149.1kcal | Carbohydrates: 21g | Protein: 7.5g | Fat: 5.2g | Saturated Fat: 3.4g | Cholesterol: 15.2mg | Sodium: 273.8mg | Potassium: 727.3mg | Fiber: 4.3g | Sugar: 3.9g