Looking for a tasty and customizable breakfast option? Try these delicious breakfast baked potatoes! We'll cover how to make them with both sweet potatoes and russet potatoes so you can have breakfast just the way you like!
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Why you need these potatoes
I've never met anyone who doesn’t like baked potatoes. They're a filling and complete meal, so it’s only natural that they make a delicious breakfast too! Besides that, here are some other key reasons you need to make them and why they're the best breakfast potatoes!
- Customizable and Scalable - The wonderful thing about baked potatoes is that everyone can top theirs with whatever they like. Yes, there are some common ingredients like bacon, sour cream, and chives, but you can do so much more and mix up the type of potato base. Plus, you can make as many or as few potatoes as you need to feed yourself and your family.
- Flavor Packed - The russet baked breakfast potato has your classic toppings - the bacon, chives, and cheese but with the addition of a perfectly runny egg. While the baked sweet potato breakfast has mouth-watering chorizo, black beans, and a crispy fried egg!
- Meal Prep Friendly - You can easily make all the ingredients for baked breakfast potatoes in advance. Just save the eggs for last. This way on a busy morning, you just pop everything in the microwave or oven to reheat and make the eggs while it's warming up.
- Fueling - The best thing about potatoes is that they're super filling foods and when topped with an egg and a protein they'll surely fuel you throughout the day. And sweet potatoes have the added benefit of Vitamin A to keep your immune system running in tip-top shape!
Want something else to have alongside your breakfast baked potatoes? Try some of our other favorites: Spinach and Cacao Smoothie, Bahama Mama Smoothie, or the Avocado Peanut Butter Smoothie.
Ingredients and Substitutions
All substitutions are a 1:1 substitutes unless otherwise noted.
Potato: We use sweet potatoes and russet potatoes for our breakfast dish. These are both widely available, large enough to fill, and cheap to buy.
Substitutions: Any potato or yam that is large enough to mash the inside and fill with toppings will work. This can be yams, white sweet potatoes, or purple potatoes; pretty much the only potatoes that won’t work are fingerling potatoes because they're so small.
Fat: Potatoes are fairly dry inside because of how fibrous they are. To help bring out the flavor and create a creamy texture, we need a little fat to mix in. For the sweet potatoes, we use butter, and for the russet potatoes, we use plain Greek yogurt.
Substitutions: Both of these fats are interchangeable. You can use regular butter, coconut oil, sour cream, vegan butter, or even creamy nut butter. Although, I recommend only using coconut oil and nut butter for the sweet potato.
Egg: Nothing says breakfast like a perfectly cooked egg!
Substitutions: We prefer our eggs fried and runny but you can cook them however you like - including scrambled, hardboiled, or poached. You can also leave off the egg or use a tofu scramble if you're vegan.
Breakfast Baked Potato - Sweet Potato
These are some of our favorite toppings for sweet potatoes, but you can use any combination or type of toppings you like. You can even take the potato in a sweet direction by topping it with bananas, cacao nibs, and nut butter!
- Chorizo
- Black Beans
- Avocado
- Cilantro
- Lime
- Salt & Black pepper
Breakfast Baked Potato - Russet Potato
We like to keep it pretty classic with the russet potato toppings, but some other tasty additions would be jalapenos, green chilies, or turkey bacon instead of regular bacon.
- Bacon
- Cheddar cheese
- Sour Cream
- Red Onion
- Chives or green onions
- Steak Seasoning
Recipe Testing Notes
Throughout our testing of these homemade breakfast potatoes, we learned some key things that worked and didn't work. Here are the key takeaways!
- Baked potatoes can be cooked in many ways: We tested these potatoes by baking them in the oven, the microwave, and the air fryer. The air fryer produced the best results in both texture and time it took. While the oven had good texture, it took an hour for them to be soft enough to mash and while the microwave was super fast, the skin was soft and hard to handle.
- Because of this, we recommend using an air fryer if you have one. If you're cooking a large batch of potatoes, then we recommend the oven and if you're short on time, we recommend the microwave.
- Prick: When baking potatoes, you need to prick the outside to allow hot air to escape and help it cook through. In our experience, we found it helpful to poke the potatoes with a knife or fork that went about 1”-2” deep. This helps the inside of the potato cook faster and more even with the outside.
- Ways to mash the inside: In our testing, we tried cutting off the top of the potatoes and scooping out the inside and we tried slicing them completely in half. We came to the conclusion that as long as the potatoes were cooled enough to touch and had been cooked all the way through in the oven or air fryer, then it was not necessary to scoop out the insides to mash, mix, and add it back to the potato.
- In this case, it was easier to slice the potatoes mostly in half, leaving the bottom skin intact, and carefully mash the insides with the fat of choice. But, when making the potatoes in the microwave, the skin tends to fall apart during mashing so it is better to cut the top off and scoop out the insides, mash, and then return it to the potatoes.
How to Make This - Step by Step
Be sure to scroll to the bottom for the full recipe card!
Step one: Make the potatoes
You can bake potatoes in one of three ways - in the oven, in the microwave, or in the air fryer on a tray with aluminum foil.
We prefer the air fryer method and coat the potatoes with a little olive oil before cooking. Check the recipe card of this breakfast potato recipe for the exact cooking time for each.
Step two: Make the toppings
While the potatoes cook, make the toppings. Bacon and eggs are the toppings for the russet potatoes. Chorizo, black beans, and eggs are the toppings for sweet potatoes.
Step three: Mash
Once the potatoes are done and cooled enough to handle, slice them open lengthwise. Be careful, a lot of steam will likely come out! Add your fat of choice to each side of the potato and use a fork to carefully mash up the insides or scoop it out into a bowl and combine, then add it back to the potato.
Step four: Combine
Now add your toppings to the top of each potato with all the fixings and enjoy!
Watch How to Make This - Step by Step
Joy Tips!
Making baked potatoes is pretty easy, but here are a few expert tips to make sure they're flawless!
- If the potatoes aren’t cooked all the way: If you don’t have time to keep cooking the potatoes and the insides are too hard to mash, scoop out the insides with a cookie scoop or hard spoon. Then blend the filling with the fat and add it back to the potatoes.
- Prick the potatoes more than you think: This is key to cooking the potatoes throughout. Prick the potatoes 1”-2” deep or through the top third of the potato with a long fork or knife. Also, prick them all over, and then do it again!
Common Questions
You can bake it in the oven at 350 degrees F for about an hour. Or, you can bake it in the air fryer for 30-40 minutes. Times will vary depending on if you are using small or large potatoes.
Sure! You can make everything but the eggs ahead of time and just store it all in the fridge until ready to eat. Check out our section below on how to reheat!
It's better to bake at 350 degrees F to allow the potatoes to cook slower. High temperatures will dry out the potatoes.
Recipe Variations
Potatoes make such a great base for so many versions of a breakfast baked potato! Here are some of my other favorites.
- Nuts and Seeds: For this one, I recommend topping the sweet potato with sliced banana a drizzle of nut butter, and chocolate chips or cacao nibs.
- The Denver: For this take on a baked russet potato, add some sautéed bell peppers, onions, and pepper jack cheese. You can also add green chilies for a spicy kick!
- To the Tropics, We Go: A personal favorite of mine is to use coconut oil in the mashed sweet potato. Then top with pineapple, shredded coconut, and a drizzle of macadamia nut butter. Yum!
Want to Save It For Later? Here's How!
These potatoes save well for later. Here’s the best way to do it.
Fridge: To save these in the fridge, you can mix most everything together and store it all in an airtight container. I recommend trying to remove any sour cream, Greek yogurt, or sauce before storing as these do not reheat well.
Freezer: Unfortunately, these do not freeze well.
Reheating: To reheat these, you can either microwave the potatoes and filling for 1-2 minutes until heated through. Or, you can place just the potatoes in the oven on a sheet tray and reheat at 350 degrees F for 10 minutes. If doing this, I recommend reheating the toppings on the stove in a large skillet over low to medium heat.
Leftover Ideas
If you have leftover baked potatoes the next day or the next morning but aren't feeling breakfast potatoes any longer, here are a few ways to use those leftovers.
- Breakfast Potato Pancakes: To make these, add a little garlic powder, onion powder, a raw egg, some milk to thin out the batter, and the potatoes to a blender and blend until smooth. Then, pan-fry until golden brown on each side and top them with any leftover breakfast baked potato toppings. Check out our recipe for Instant Potato Pancakes for in-depth instructions!
- Breakfast Casserole Muffins: Think shepherd's pie but for breakfast. To make this, add the toppings from the sweet potato to the bottom of the muffin tins. Then mash the leftover potato with an egg and top the muffin tins with it. Bake this at 350 degrees F for 20-30 minutes, until the potatoes are set.
- You could do this with the russet potatoes if you have enough topping ingredients to fill a muffin cup (bacon alone is not enough).
Fun Fact
Did you know potatoes are about 80% water? Hence why so much darn much steam comes out when you cut them open! Another fun fact is that Germans eat about double the amount of potatoes as Americans eat! (source)
More Breakfast Recipes!
Looking for more tasty breakfast recipes? Try some of our other favorites!
- Overnight Oats with Protein: With five variations on this classic recipe, it's hard to pick a favorite. But, if we had to it would be the banana and chocolate chip!
- Steak and Eggs Breakfast on the Grill: This easy brunch or breakfast meal is ready in 30 minutes and won't heat up your house!
- Bacon Cottage Cheese Egg Bake: Have your Starbucks egg bites at home with this delicious egg bake that is filled with bacon and gruyere cheese!
Did you try this and love it? Leave us a review, we would love to hear from you!
Recipe
Breakfast Baked Potato - 2 Ways
Ingredients
- 2 potatoes sweet potato or russet potato
- 3 tablespoon fat Greek yogurt, butter, or sour cream
- 2 eggs
- ¼ teaspoon salt and pepper of each
Toppings - Sweet Potato
- ½ pound chorizo
- ⅓ cup black beans
- avocado, cilantro, sour cream optional for topping
Toppings - Russet Potato
- 4 slices bacon
- ¼ cup shredded cheddar cheese
- chives, sour cream, jalapenos optional for topping
Instructions
- NOTE: We recommend using the air fryer for the potatoes but to use the microwave or oven, see the notes below.
Make the potatoes
- Prick the potatoes all around to a depth of about ⅓rd of the potato with a fork or knife. Place both in the air fryer and air fry for 35-40 minutes at 350 degrees.
For the sweet potatoes
- After the potatoes have cooked for 25 minutes, make the chorizo by pan frying it in a large skillet. This should take about 10 minutes. Once it is almost done, add the black beans to warm them up for 5 minutes.
- Then, scoot everything to one side and crack 2 eggs in the pan. The oil from the chorizo should be plenty to fry the eggs in but if not, add a little oil or butter for frying. I like to cook the eggs for 3-4 minutes on the first side and the another 1 minute on the other side so the yolk is still runny. Adjust the timing to match your preferences.
- Once the potatoes are done, carefully slice them in half lengthwise to open them up. Let them cool this way for 5 minutes so you can handle them. Then use a fork to mash the insides with the butter, salt, and pepper.
- Top each potato with the chorizo, black beans, and an egg. Feel free to add avocado, cilantro, and a sauce!
For the russet potatoes
- After the potatoes have cooked for 25 minutes, make the bacon. For the bacon, you can either dice and pan fry or bake in the oven on a lined sheet at 400 degrees for 10-12 minutes. If you go the oven route, I recommend preheating the oven when you put the potatoes in the air fryer.
- When the bacon is almost done, heat a frying pan over medium heat. You can do this in the same pan that you fried the bacon in, if you went this route. Add a little oil or butter if needed and crack 2 eggs into the pan. Cook for 3-4 minutes on one side and then flip and cook for another minute for runny yolks. Adjust time to match your preferences.
- Once the potatoes are done, carefully slice them in half lengthwise to open them up. Let them cool this way for 5 minutes so you can handle them. Then use a fork to mash the insides with the yogurt or sour cream, salt, and pepper.
- After the bacon is done, lay it on a plate lined with paper towels to absorb any excess fat.
- Top each potato with crumbled bacon, cheddar cheese, and an egg. Feel free to add chives and additional yogurt or sour cream.
Video
Notes
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and lined a tray with foil or parchment paper.
- Prick the potatoes all over, about ⅓rd of the depth.
- Drizzle with oil and place on the tray.
- Bake for 50-60 minutes, or until soft through. This will vary depending on the size of the potatoes.
- Prick the potatoes all over to a depth of about ⅓rd of the potato.
- Place on a plate and microwave for 7 minutes. Remove and flip them over. Careful, they are hot and so it the plate!
- Return to the microwave and heat another 7 minutes until soft.
- If the potato isn't soft, continue this process for increments of 1 minute until they are soft.
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