German-Style Baked Potatoes

Name: German-Style Baked Potatoes
Prep time: 5 min
Cook time: 15 min
Total time: 110 min
Ingredients: 5 Yukon Gold potatoes; 1 cup white onion (finely diced); 2 tbsp avocado oil; 4 slices bacon (chopped); 2 tbsp white sugar; 1 tsp sea salt; 1 tbsp Dijon mustard; ¼ cup white vinegar

German-Style Baked Potatoes. Doesn’t it make all the sense in the world? Take the silky, salty, sweet, savory dressing for German Potato Salad and transform it into a sauce for baked potatoes. Easily make it into a meal by adding some kielbasa and sauerkraut! This is seriously one of my favorite recipes this year… so far, at least.

OK, but first.

Can we all agree that Martha Stewart’s food pics are still one of the best things on the internet? I realize it’s a throwback, but it totally stands the test of time.

I only mention this because her method for absolutely perfect baked Yukon Gold potatoes is completely legit. Actually, it’s the only way I make baked potatoes anymore. If you don’t know about this yet, totally give it a shot. Couldn’t be easier, couldn’t be tastier.

And you get to smash them onto the counter fresh out of the oven to properly “fluff” before serving… that’s just plain fun.

Onto the recipe.

So I don’t have any stories about a connection to German heritage and certainly don’t have a family recipe to draw upon here. But I definitely know my way around a kitchen (albeit more so known for a Paleo kitchen) and this German Potato Salad recipe is great. Like, “why didn’t I think of that?” kind of great. I researched a ton and really tried to hit the traditional notes that one expects from the recipe. I hope you like it!

Finely diced onion, chopped bacon, sugar, salt, Dijon mustard, and vinegar. That’s where I landed. I did opt for avocado oil, but I just can’t help myself… I really like using avocado oil in lieu of canola or vegetable. It has a cleaner taste and, well, it seems to be a healthier choice. Use what you prefer, of course.

Pop the cleaned Yukon Golds in the oven as directed, then whip up this German dressing a few minutes before the potatoes are done cooking and/or while resting. The dressing holds the right texture and melts into the potatoes better if served relatively fresh and still somewhat warm.

I originally made this for dinner because I had a couple of kielbasas that I wanted to use. And because I can’t seem to stop buying the 10 lb bag of Yukon Gold potatoes at Costco, I needed to use those too. This is a glimpse into the kind of recipes you’ll find on this website. Finding ways to transform random groceries into a meal that makes sense is my superpower, apparently. (Homecooks, unite!)

So here we are, German-Style Baked Potatoes served with smoked kielbasa and sauerkraut!

Did you make it? How’d it go?

I like to make this a full meal by adding some kielbasa sausage (these pictures are from when we smoked ours on the Traeger) and a nice heap of good quality sauerkraut.

How did you serve it? I really, really hope someone morphs this into a German-potato-salad-eggs-benedict kind of genius at some point… Tag me please if you do: @colacinokitchen