Name: Broccoli Cheese Baked Potatoes
Prep time: 5 min
Cook time: 1 h
Total time: 1 h 5 min
Yield: 4
Cuisine: American
Ingredients: 1 tablespoon butter; 1 tablespoon flour; 1 cup milk; dash paprika, about 1/8 teaspoon; 1/4 teaspoon salt; 1 cup cheddar cheese, freshly shredded; 4 russet potatoes; 2 broccoli crowns, cut into florets; 2 tablespoon olive oil

Easy Broccoli and Cheese Baked Potatoes

March 31, 2020 by Lauren Schmidt Leave a Comment

Easy to make Broccoli Cheese Baked Potatoes make a delicious and easy meatless meal your family will love. Super easy to prep these baked potatoes with roasted broccoli and a quick 10 minute cheese sauce is a dinner you will be making regularly!

This post may contain Affiliate Links.

easy to make Broccoli Cheese Baked Potato on a plate with cheddar cheese sauce dripping down the side

Broccoli And Cheese Stuffed Baked Potatoes

You all have to put up with a very brief personal story about broccoli cheese baked potatoes from me for just a sec.

When I was pregnant with my oldest my first trimester was nightmare. Sick all the time, no energy, weird food cravings. You see where this is going?

At the time we lived in Columbus Ohio which happens the be the headquarters of the restaurant chain Wendy’s, so naturally the metro area of Columbus was full of Wendy’s, there seemed to be one on every corner.

Now Wendy’s might be the only fast food to carry baked potatoes on their menu, correct me if I am wrong. And during that first rough pregnancy Wendy’s Broccoli and Cheese Baked Potatoes were MY LIFE.

It is all I ever wanted. Matt will even tell you this ‘cute’ little antidote about that one time he accidentally drove past a Wendy’s without stopping to get me a Broccoli and Cheese Potato and I STARTED CRYING. Pregnancy hormones man…

Now to this day a good Broccoli Cheese Potato is still something I crave quite frequently. And in the last 5 years since my early pregnancy cravings I have become really good at making them at home.

So for you lucky folks I finally actually wrote down the recipe and I am sharing it with you today.

Now you don’t have to be obsessed with baked potatoes like me, but I am pretty confident your family with love this meal and you will love how easy it is to make!

flatly of two dinner plates with broccoli cheese baked potatoes and a sheet pan with roasted broccoli and baked potatoes

Ingredients:

A few simple things needed for these potatoes:

Russet Potatoes: When shopping try to get the potatoes all the same size so they all cook evenly. The nice thing about the recipe is you can scale it really easy, so if you want s few extra potatoes (or less) you can totally do that.
Broccoli: The most common form of broccoli is see in stores is the crowns, so grab a few crowns, or a large head and cut it into bite sized florets. Or just grab a bag or two of the pre-cut florets!
Olive Oil: You can use really use any oil you like here but I like the taste of olive oil on my potatoes. The oil is used for the vegetables for the oven for cooking, it keeps the outside of the baked potatoes crispy!
Butter: Preferably unsalted but if you only have salted, use less salt for the sauce. You will use the butter as part of a Roux to make the cheese sauce.
Flour: The thickening agent for the cheese sauce, you will mix the flour and butter together to make the roux and then add the cheese.
Milk: A main component of the cheese sauce. I used whole milk but any variety should do.
Spices: Paprika and Salt. Just a little bit of each.
Cheddar Cheese: Freshly Shredded, the sauce will be much more creamy if you shred your own cheese from a block. As far as variety of cheddars choose the one that suites you, for the most classic version use a mild cheddar cheese, but if you like the sharp varieties use that!

a sheet pan containing all of the ingredients needed to make broccoli cheese baked potatoes

Instructions for Broccoli and Cheese Stuffed Baked Potatoes:

Preheat oven to 400ºF. Clean potatoes. Carefully with a fork poke little holes all over each of the potatoes, about 9-12 times, this lets stem escape from the potatoes.

Using about 1 ½ tablespoons of the olive oil, rub oil all over the potatoes until covered. Arrange potatoes on a sheet pan, season with salt and pepper. Transfer to the oven and bake 45 minutes.

Just before the 45 minutes are up toss the broccoli florets in the remaining olive oil. When the time is up carefully add the broccoli florets to the sheet pan around the potatoes. Transfer back to the oven. Bake an additional 15 minutes or until potatoes are tender and broccoli is cooked.

baked potatoes and roasted broccoli on a sheet pan

While the sheet pan finishes cooking make the cheese sauce, you are basically making a roux and then adding the cheese.

In a medium saucepan add the butter and bring over medium heat. Melt the butter, once the butter starts to bubble add the flour and whisk together, it okay if it is clumpy.

Very slowly add about 1/4 of the milk to the saucepan, whisk together with the butter/flour mixture until smooth. It should start to thicken. Slowly whisk in the remaining milk, make sure there are no clumps of flour remaining. As the milk warms it should thicken, let it continue to heat up, stirring every so often until the milk is hot and starts to steam. Do NOT let the milk boil, it can take about 6 to 8 minutes for the milk to heat up and start to thicken.

step by step photos of making a roux for the cheese sauce

Once it has started to thicken stir in the paprika and salt.

Turn off the heat. Add half of the cheese to the top of the milk, let it begin to melt, 10 to 20 seconds then whisk in until combined. Repeat with the rest of the cheese to finish making your cheese sauce.

adding spices and cheese to the milk to make a creamy cheese sauce

To serve, slice open the potatoes, add broccoli to the middle and drizzle with the cheese sauce. Eat immediately.

cheese sauce being fired over a baked potato stuffed with broccoli

Tips & Tricks:

For a better sauce use fresh shredded cheese from a block instead of pre-shredded cheese, but the pre-shredded cheese can work if needed, it just might take longer for it to melt into the sauce.

You can scale this recipe as needed. Love the cheese, double the sauce! Make more or less potatoes as needed. You can even add in more veggies if you like, I think cauliflower and carrot are a good addition to the broccoli.

You can honestly make this recipe about 15 different methods. In a hurry, use your pressure cooker to make the potatoes and quickly steam the broccoli while making the cheese. Feel free to mircowave your potatoes and broccoli if needed. I have used many different methods to make this but this is the one I find EASIEST with time permitting.

If you have leftover cheese sauce it definitely can be refrigerated but it will thicken A LOT, when you reheat it the sauce will thin out again.

broccoli stuffed inside a baked potato topped with a creamy cheese sauce on a plate

Other recipes you may like:

Yield: 4 servings

Broccoli Cheese Baked Potatoes

Easy to make baked potatoes with roasted broccoli and a quick 10 minute cheese sauce that makes the perfect weeknight dinner!

Prep Time 5 minutes

Cook Time 1 hour

Total Time 1 hour 5 minutes

Ingredients

4 russet potatoes
2 broccoli crowns, cut into florets
2 tablespoon olive oil

for the cheese sauce:

1 tablespoon butter
1 tablespoon flour
1 cup milk
dash paprika, about 1/8 teaspoon
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup cheddar cheese, freshly shredded

Instructions

Preheat oven to 400ºF. Clean potatoes. Carefully with a fork poke little holes all over each of the potatoes, about 9-12 times, this lets stem escape from the potatoes.
Using about 1 ½ tablespoons of the olive oil, rub oil all over the potatoes until covered. Arrange potatoes on a sheet pan, season with salt and pepper. Transfer to the oven and bake 45 minutes.
Just before the 45 minutes are up toss the broccoli florets in the remaining olive oil. When the time is up carefully add the broccoli florets to the sheet pan around the potatoes. Transfer back to the oven. Bake an additional 15 minutes or until potatoes are tender and broccoli is cooked.
While the sheet pan finishes cooking make the cheese sauce, you are basically making a roux and then adding the cheese. In a medium saucepan add the butter and bring over medium heat. Melt the butter, once the butter starts to bubble add the flour and whisk together, it okay if it is clumpy.
Very slowly add about 1/4 of the milk to the saucepan, whisk together with the butter/flour mixture until smooth. It should start to thicken. Slowly whisk in the remaining milk, make sure there are no clumps of flour remaining.
As the milk warms it should thicken, let it continue to heat up, stirring every so often until the milk is hot and starts to steam. Do NOT let the milk boil, it can take about 6 to 8 minutes for the milk to heat up and start to thicken. Once it has started to thicken stir in the paprika and salt.
Turn off the heat. Add half of the cheese to the top of the milk, let it begin to melt, 10 to 20 seconds then whisk in until combined. Repeat with the rest of the cheese to finish making your cheese sauce.
To serve, slice open the potatoes, add broccoli to the middle and drizzle with the cheese sauce. Eat immediately.

Notes

For a better sauce use fresh shredded cheese from a block instead of pre-shredded cheese, but the pre-shredded cheese can work if needed, it just might take longer for it to melt into the sauce.

You can scale this recipe as needed. Love the cheese, double the sauce! Make more or less potatoes as needed. You can even add in more veggies if you like, i think cauliflower and carrot are a good addition to the broccoli.

You can honestly make this recipe about 15 different methods. In a hurry, use your pressure cooker to make the potatoes and quickly steam the broccoli while making the cheese. Feel free to mircowave your poatoes and broccoli if needed. I have used many different methods to make this but this is the one I find EASIEST with time permitting.

Nutrition Information:

Yield:

Serving Size:

1
Amount Per Serving: Calories: 422Total Fat: 21gSaturated Fat: 9gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 10gCholesterol: 43mgSodium: 419mgCarbohydrates: 44gFiber: 5gSugar: 2gProtein: 14g

Nutritional data is automated, final nutritional information will depend on ingredients used and any changes made.

And make sure you are following me on TikTok, Instagram, and Pinterest, for all the latest recipes!

Spinach Mushroom Stuffed Baked Potatoes with Cheddar

October 31, 2018 by Lauren Schmidt Leave a Comment

I will probably say this in the intro to every baked potato recipe I have but baked potatoes are one of my favorite meals. There are so many different ways top and stuff them, it seems like an endless combination of delicious meals! Well today’s Spinach Mushroom Stuffed Baked Potatoes with Cheddar is just one of the most delicious was to top your potatoes.

So true story when I was pregnant with my oldest son Archie, I had pretty bad morning sickness for essentially the first half of my pregnancy and I basically hated all food, with very few exceptions. One of these exceptions was a baked potato from Wendy’s. For about a month it was almost the only thing I could tolerate. I recall one time my husband drove by a Wendy’s restaurant and did not stop and get me a baked potato, instant meltdown (pregnancy hormones…). So it is only fitting to this day that I still love bake potatoes and my son Archie loves baked potatoes.

These Spinach Mushroom Stuffed Baked Potatoes are perhaps a tad healthier then the cheese smothered Wendy’s equivalent and probably easier to make than getting the family into the car and driving to the nearest Wendy’s.

The Ingredients

Baked Potatoes. In this recipe I use the oven to bake my potatoes but the beautiful thing about baked potatoes is there are more than one way to bake them, so if the oven doesn’t work for you bake them in the slow cooker, pressure cooker, or even in the microwave to make the time work best for you. Baked potatoes also have a ton of health benefits, they are an excellent source of vitamin C & B6, a good source of potassium (more than a banana!), plus they are fat-, sodium-, and cholesterol-free. Not to mention a medium sized potato is roughly 110 calories. So top your ‘taters with confidence knowing that you are feeding your family a healthy meal.

Mushrooms. I always refer to mushrooms as vegetables even though they aren’t, don’t you just kind of lump them in with veggies or is that just me? Either way I feel like they are one of those foods people aren’t indifferent about, they either like them or they don’t. Well I like them, hence why they are in this recipe. I like to buy the presliced one, because hello, so much easier for me when it comes time to cook dinner, although if you would like them to cook a little faster give them a quick chop just to make the pieces a bit smaller.

Onions, great flavor and really the only ‘work’ in this recipe because they have to be diced. Do you know how to correctly dice onions? I watched Gordon Ramsay do it in this video 3 years ago and it changed my life. It makes every onion 10,000% easier to dice once you get the hang of it. Do yourself a favor watch it, start practicing.

White Wine, yes this sauce benefits from oh so delicious white wine. You can use cooking wine or *cough cough* drinking wine, I use chardonnay because that is what I have in my house. If you don’t want to use wine or don’t have it on hand you could sub either vegetable or chicken broth but it will have a slightly different taste.

Garlic, for flavor. Again like the mushrooms I use pre-mined garlic, but if you are looking for maximum flavor and you have the time you can mince your own garlic.

Spinach, everyones favorite greens right? I use a full bag of 5 ounce baby spinach in this recipe. I always find it humorous that a full bag of spinach cooks down to what seems to be almost nothing. So when you add the full bag to the skillet, it might seem too much don’t worry its not, it will wilt down a lot.

Plain yogurt, just a touch to make the sauce slightly creamy. I prefer just plain low fat yogurt, greek yogurt could be used here but it will add a little more tanginess to the sauce versus creaminess.

And delicious Sharp Cheddar Cheese. This potato benefits form a nice extra sharp aged cheddar with an extra bite really compliments that mushroom spinach sauce. I personally believe the best sharp cheddar comes in blocks and not preshredded, so I recommend buying a block and grating it yourself. Sorry not everything in life comes better pre cut 😉

The Method

As mentioned before, bake the potatoes. In the recipe I give instructions to bake them in the oven. If you want to bake them in the microwave/slow cooker/instant pot go for it. You’ll still want the oven on if you want the cheese melted (you could probably even use the broiler if you don’t want to turn the full oven on) (or even melt the cheese in the microwave?). I prefer the oven method because it gives the potatoes a crispy outside and a fluffy inside.

Once the potatoes are baked you will give them a few minutes to cool before cutting open the top. You will want to make a single cut in the top leaving the ends intact. Nice the potatoes a squish together to open them up. Sprinkle with cheese and return to the oven for the cheese to melt.

The mushroom spinach sauce is super easy to make in the skillet while the potatoes are cooking. You’ll add a little oil and onions to the skillet and cook until translucent. Add the mushrooms and cook until watery and softened. The garlic and white wine will then be added to simmer away and reduce. The spinach will then be added to and cooked down. As you turn off the heat you’ll add the yogurt.

Top your cheesy potatoes with the sauce and boom, dinner is served. Enjoy your Spinach Mushroom Stuffed Baked Potatoes!

TIPS & TRICKS:

• Make the sauce as the potatoes are finishing cooking, the sauce comes together quick so you should be able to do that and get cheese on the potatoes at the same time

• If you don’t want to use wine or don’t have it on hand you could sub either vegetable or chicken broth but it will have a slightly different taste

Yield: 4 Servings

Spinach Mushroom Stuffed Baked Potatoes with Cheddar

a baked potato stuffed with sharp cheddar cheese and a simple mushroom spinach sauce

Prep Time 5 minutes

Active Cook Time 25 minutes

Inactive Cook Time 1 hour

Total Time 1 hour 30 minutes

Ingredients

4 large russet potatoes
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 medium onion, diced
8 oz sliced white mushrooms
1/2 cup white wine
1 teaspoon minced garlic
1 5oz bag fresh baby spinach
2 tablespoons plain yogurt
1 cup shredded sharp cheddar cheese
crushed red pepper for garnish

Instructions

For the Potatoes:

Preheat oven to 400º F. Poke the potatoes all over with a fork. Using 1 tablespoon of the olive oil, rub each potato with the oil to lightly grease each one. Sprinkle with salt and pepper to taste. Place on a sheet pan and bake for 60-70 minutes. Remove potatoes from oven to cool slightly. Cut open the potatoes, slice the top lengthwise and gently squeeze the potato to open up the middle of the potato revealing more of the fluffy white center. Sprinkle 1/4 cup of cheese inside each of the potatoes, place in oven and bake 5-6 minutes until cheese is nice and melty. Top with Spinach Mushrooms Sauce.

For the Mushroom Spinach Sauce:

With 5-10 minutes left of the potatoes baking: Heat remaining olive oil over medium-high heat in a large skillet. Add onions and cook about 2 minutes until slightly translucent.
Add mushrooms to the skillet and cook 5-8 minutes stir occasionally until the mushrooms have released water and cooked down.
Add mined garlic and white wine to the skillet. Mix everything to combine, bring to boil, and reduce heat to medium-low. Simmer 8-10 minutes until the sauce has slightly reduced.
Add spinach to the skillet, slowly mix everything together as the spinach begins to wilt. After the spinach has wilted, about 5-6 minutes turn off the heat and add the yogurt to the skillet. Stir to mix in the yogurt. Divide between your cheesy potatoes. Garnish with crushed red pepper to serve.

Notes

Nutritional data is automated, final nutritional information will depend on ingredients used and any changes made.

Nutrition Information:

Yield:

Serving Size:

1 stuffed potato
Amount Per Serving: Calories: 483

Peace & Love

Lauren, The Schmidty Wife

P.S. Love potatoes like my Spinach Mushroom Stuffed Baked Potatoes? Check out my Crispy Oven Roasted Baby Yukon Potatoes or my Rueben Stuffed Baked Potatoes.

Please note that my links above may be affiliate links, and I will earn a commission if you purchase through these links. I recommend them because they are helpful, and are companies that I trust, not because of the commissions that I may earn from you using these products.

Easy Broccoli and Cheese Baked Potatoes