Add A Dollop Of This Dressing To A Baked Potato And You Won't Eat It Any Other Way

Whether you call it a baked potato or a jacket potato, the crisp exterior skin and fluffy interior of this oven-baked staple is a thing of beauty and comfort. There's few warm, filling foods that can be easier to make, but there are oh-so-many ways to raise the bar and make this favorite side that's easy enough to serve as a main dish even more appealing. Though countless baked potato upgrades like Buffalo chicken and ranch or Mexican-style toppings have made their way into the conversation, why not consider swapping out the butter or sour cream for equally creamy but deeper in flavor blue cheese dressing.

Adding a generous amount of blue cheese dressing takes your plain baked potato to an earthy and rich place that gives dirty martini vibes. In fact, you could double down on those slinky cocktail notes with a sprinkle of briny sliced olives on top of the tender mash, or simply go old school with additional toppings like crispy bacon bits and chives or even fried onions that scream steakhouse wedge salad.

Blue cheese is known far and wide for its funky and palate-coating intensity that keeps you coming back for more, making it perfect for a simple starchy base like a baked potato. You know you are on to a winning pairing when a famous foodie like Alton Brown espouses the flavors, like in his ode to blue cheese and potatoes with martini potato chips. If you are lit up by the idea of the blue cheese and potato marriage, but would like to go a more elaborate route, try making the longtime classic side dish potatoes Delmonico with the addition of blue cheese dressing in lieu of some of the milk and cream.

If you are keeping true to the goodness that is the OG baked potato but with a simple blue cheese glow-up, set yourself up for peak potato enjoyment by following best baked spud practices, like choosing russet potatoes for their premium texture, baking the tubers at 400 degrees Fahrenheit, and making sure they are cooked to fork tender. If you'd really like to make blue cheese the theme of your meal, tuck into your blue-cheese-accented baked potato alongside a dirty martini with blue-cheese-stuffed olives. The saltiness and overall flavor bomb of the blue cheese is sure to change how you look at the humble potato.