12 Easy Baked Potato Meals for Lazy Nights

Lazy Night Baked Potato Dinners I Make When I Want Good Food Without Really Cooking

There are nights when I want a good dinner.

And then there are nights when I want a good dinner, but I have absolutely no interest in making a good dinner.

Those are two very different moods.

I live alone, so cooking a whole meal for one person can sometimes feel like way too much work.

I'm supposed to pull out three pans, chop vegetables, cook a meat, make two sides, clean everything up and then sit down by myself and eat it?

Ma'am.

It's Tuesday.

This is one reason I've become a big fan of meals that feel like actual dinner without requiring me to spend my evening in the kitchen.

And baked potatoes are one of my favorites.

First of all, I love potatoes.

Mashed, fried, roasted, baked.

I'm really not interested in discriminating.

But baked potatoes are especially good for lazy nights because I can turn one potato into an entire meal depending on what I put on top of it.

Even better, I don't necessarily have to cook everything from scratch.

Rotisserie chicken exists.

Precooked bacon exists.

Frozen broccoli exists.

Canned chili exists.

I believe in using the help we've been given.

So if you're hungry, tired, cooking for one, trying to spend less on takeout, or staring into your refrigerator hoping something starts looking like dinner, here are 12 loaded baked potato meals I actually make.

First, Here's How I Make the Potato

I usually use a medium or large russet potato because I want enough room for the toppings.

If this potato is going to be dinner, I'm not looking for a cute little potato.

I wash and scrub it, dry it, and pierce it several times with a fork.

If I'm baking it in the oven, I rub the outside with a little oil and salt.

I like that crispy, salty skin almost as much as the inside.

Microwave: This is my lazy night winner. A medium to large potato can take around 8 to 12 minutes depending on its size and your microwave. I start with about 5 minutes, flip it, continue cooking, and check it until a fork slides easily into the middle.

Oven: Bake at 425°F for roughly 45 to 60 minutes. This takes longer, obviously, but the skin comes out much better.

Air fryer: cook around 400°F for roughly 40 to 45 minutes, flipping about halfway through. Check it toward the end because potato size and air fryers vary.

Once it's soft, I split it open and fluff the inside with a fork.

A little butter, salt and pepper goes in first.

Then here comes the fun part.

1. Bacon Cheddar Potato

I'm starting with the obvious one because sometimes the obvious answer is the right answer.

Butter. Cheddar cheese. Bacon. Sour cream. Green onions.

That's it.

I fluff the potato with butter, pile shredded cheddar onto it and let the cheese melt.

Then I add bacon, sour cream and green onions.

If I'm feeling spicy, I'll add jalapeños.

Ranch is good too.

And no, I'm not necessarily frying bacon for this.

Precooked bacon or real bacon crumbles from the grocery store work perfectly well on a night when the entire point is that I don't feel like cooking.

With a microwaved potato and precooked bacon, dinner can be sitting in front of me in about 15 minutes.

2. Chili Cheese Potato

This may be one of the easiest ways to turn a baked potato into a serious dinner.

I heat up beef and bean chili, spoon it over the potato and cover it with shredded cheddar.

Then I add sour cream and green onions.

If I have diced onions, jalapeños, hot sauce or crushed tortilla chips around, those can go on too.

And yes, canned chili counts.

We're making dinner.

We're not auditioning for a cooking show.

This is also one of those meals that works beautifully when I already have leftover chili in the refrigerator.

3. Chicken Bacon Ranch Potato

There are certain combinations that don't need much explaining.

Chicken. Bacon. Ranch. Cheese.

I use shredded rotisserie chicken or precooked chicken, warm it for a couple of minutes and put it over my potato with cheddar.

Once the cheese melts, I add bacon and drizzle ranch over everything.

Tomatoes are good on this too, and I'll add hot sauce when I want a little kick.

The rotisserie chicken is the real shortcut here because I can use the rest for sandwiches, salads or another potato later in the week.

I'm getting my money's worth out of that chicken.

4. Taco Beef Potato

If I have leftover taco meat, I already know what I'm eating the next day.

I warm the seasoned ground beef, put it over my potato, add shredded cheese and let everything get nice and melty.

Then comes sour cream and diced tomatoes.

Salsa, guacamole, jalapeños and crushed tortilla chips are all welcome here.

Honestly, most of the things I'd put inside a taco taste pretty good sitting on top of a potato.

If I'm cooking the ground beef fresh, this one takes a little longer.

If the meat is already cooked, this becomes a very fast dinner.

5. Broccoli Cheddar Potato

This is what I make when I want something cheesy but also want to throw a vegetable in there so I can feel slightly more responsible.

I steam broccoli, add it to the potato and cover everything with cheddar.

Frozen steam in the bag broccoli makes this ridiculously easy.

I can add butter, sour cream, black pepper or even cheese sauce if I want it extra creamy.

This one is cheap, filling and requires almost no prep.

That's exactly the kind of relationship I want with dinner some nights.

6. BBQ Pulled Pork Potato

This one sounds like I worked much harder than I actually did.

I warm up precooked pulled pork with barbecue sauce, pile it onto the potato and add shredded cheese.

That's basically dinner.

Pickles are surprisingly good with it. So are crispy onions, extra barbecue sauce or a little coleslaw on top.

And grocery stores sell pulled pork already cooked in refrigerated tubs, pouches and frozen packages.

I have no problem letting somebody else pull the pork.

7. Buffalo Chicken Potato

If I want something spicy, this is one of my favorites.

I take cooked shredded chicken and toss it with buffalo sauce.

Then I pile it onto the potato, add shredded cheese and let the cheese melt.

After that, I drizzle ranch or blue cheese dressing over the top.

Green onions, crumbled blue cheese or even a little chopped celery can finish it off.

Rotisserie chicken makes this incredibly fast.

The potato is mild enough that it works really well with the spicy buffalo sauce too.

8. Pizza Potato

This sounds a little strange until you think about what's happening here.

Potato.

Marinara.

Pepperoni.

Mozzarella.

I spoon warm marinara over the open potato, add mini pepperoni and shredded mozzarella, then heat it until the cheese is melted and bubbly.

Parmesan, oregano, red pepper flakes, mushrooms or black olives can go on top if I have them.

This is also one of the easiest options because practically everything comes ready to use.

No chopping.

No meat to cook.

Barely any cleanup.

Beautiful.

9. Philly Cheesesteak Potato

This one takes slightly more effort, but it definitely feels like dinner.

I cook thin sliced steak with onions and bell peppers for about 6 to 8 minutes, depending on how thin the meat is, then pile everything onto my potato.

Provolone goes on top.

Mushrooms, jalapeños, hot sauce or cheese sauce can join the party too.

Here's where I cheat: frozen steak strips and frozen sliced pepper and onion blends can cut down the prep.

I'm very comfortable with shortcuts that still taste good.

10. Garlic Parmesan Chicken Potato

This one is for the nights when I want something rich and savory without doing much.

I warm diced cooked chicken in garlic butter or garlic Parmesan sauce, then spoon it over the potato.

Parmesan goes over the top, and I'll add parsley if I happen to have some.

Mozzarella is also very good here, especially if I want everything extra cheesy.

Using precooked grilled chicken strips makes this another roughly 15 minute dinner when the potato goes in the microwave.

11. Cajun Shrimp Potato

Now we're getting a little fancy.

Or at least we're going to let the potato believe we are.

Shrimp cooks so quickly that this still works for a lazy night.

I season peeled shrimp with Cajun seasoning and sauté them in butter for a few minutes until they're fully cooked.

Then they go right on top of the potato.

I like sour cream or a little garlic cream sauce with this one.

Lemon, parsley and hot sauce work too.

Frozen peeled and deveined shrimp save most of the annoying prep, and precooked shrimp can make it even faster.

Suddenly my baked potato has somewhere important to be.

12. Four Cheese Potato

Some nights I don't want meat.

I want cheese.

An unreasonable amount of cheese.

I fluff the potato with butter and a little cream cheese, then add cheddar, mozzarella and Parmesan.

I heat it until everything is melted and bubbly and finish it with chives and black pepper.

That's dinner.

Bacon can absolutely find its way onto this potato too, but it's good without it.

This might actually be the easiest one on the entire list because every ingredient is already sitting there waiting for me to use it.

The Grocery Store Shortcuts I Have No Shame About Using

I've reached a point where I don't believe every meal needs to start with raw ingredients.

Sometimes paying a little more for something that's already cooked saves me from spending much more on takeout because I was too tired to cook what I bought.

So when I'm shopping for easy dinners like these, I'll look for rotisserie chicken, precooked bacon, canned chili, frozen broccoli, cooked pulled pork, frozen steak strips, frozen peppers and onions, peeled shrimp, shredded cheese and premade sauces.

I can mix and match those ingredients instead of buying completely different groceries for every potato.

That's the part I really like.

If I buy rotisserie chicken, I can make Chicken Bacon Ranch one night, Buffalo Chicken another night and Garlic Parmesan Chicken later.

Ground beef can become Taco Beef or Chili Cheese.

Bacon works on almost everything because bacon understands its job.

And if I'm really tired?

Four Cheese is waiting for me.

One Potato Can Absolutely Be Dinner

I think sometimes we make dinner harder than it has to be, especially when we're cooking for ourselves.

I've done the thing where I look at everything required to make the meal I had planned, decide I'm too tired, and end up ordering food instead.

Meanwhile, there's a potato sitting three feet away that could've handled the situation.

A plain baked potato isn't necessarily exciting.

But add chicken, broccoli, chili, taco meat, shrimp, cheese or whatever else I already have in the refrigerator, and now I've got something warm, filling and actually good.

That's what I want from lazy night food.

I don't need twelve ingredients.

I don't need four pans.

I definitely don't need an hour of dishes waiting for me after dinner.

Some nights I enjoy cooking.

Some nights I want to put a potato in the microwave, throw good things on top of it and go sit down.

Both count as feeding myself.

And tonight, that is enough.

#EvolvingWomanhood

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