Give Baked Potatoes 5X The Flavor And Make Them More Filling With A Scoop Of This Beloved Southern Dip

A baked potato is one of the world's great and simple pleasures. And enjoying one requires nothing more than maybe a little butter, a little salt, and a fork. All on its own, the humble potato is warm, filling, starchy, and satisfying.

But say you're looking to fancy that baked potato up a little bit. Maybe you want to take it from a side dish to a meal, make it a little heartier, or maybe you're just the kind of person who looks at a plain potato as a blank canvas just waiting to be tinkered with. If that's the case, then here's a suggestion beyond the traditional sour-cream-and-bacon-bits. Hit that potato with a scoop of pimento cheese, and you'll never look at a plain baked potato the same way again.

For those of you unfamiliar with this absolute champion of Southern food culture, pimento cheese is a classic spread that's held a place of honor on American tables for more than 100 years. Often called the "patê of the South" (even though it was technically invented as a marketing gimmick in the Northeast), the basic recipe is absurdly simple: shredded cheddar cheese, mayonnaise, cream cheese, and chopped pimento peppers. But there are as many variations of pimento cheese as there are people who make it, and pretty much any version can be used to upgrade a potato in any number of interesting ways.

The simplest way to use pimento cheese to enhance a spud is to bake a potato the way you normally would, split it open, and add a generous spoonful of whatever pimento cheese on top. No special tools needed, no additional steps, and the result will be delicious because hot potato and cool, chunky, gently spiced cheese spread? That's just a match made in savory flavor heaven.

But if you want to get a little fancier with it, how about making twice-baked potatoes filled with pimento cheese? According to experts, cooking the potatoes in the microwave first can save time (and doesn't shrivel the potatoes as much), and using a scratch pimento cheese made with sour cream subbed in for the mayo, then mixed with a little butter, some chopped bacon, and the scooped-out potato flesh works best, but you do you. A second bake then crisps the skins, browns the potatoes, and melts the cheese and potato mixture together into a fluffy, cheesy filling.

A similar process works for making potato skins (but without mixing the scooped potato back into the pimento cheese). And if you're looking at making a tray of loaded cheese fries or tater tots, adding pimento cheese is a solid move because it melts smoothly but stays thick enough to cling to whatever you put it on. Plus, the flavor is mild, so it won't overpower any other ingredient you want to add to liven things up.