Recipe Swap: Loaded Baked Potato Bites

It's Recipe Swap time! This Taste of Home Cooking swap featured Game-Day Recipes.

I submitted my Chicken Bites with Homemade Honey Mustard and was given an original recipe for Loaded Baked Potato Bites from the blog A Seasoned Greeting.

I was excited to make these - I love mashed potatoes and could eat them daily!


This was a great recipe - perfect size, delicious, and hard to stop eating! And how cute are these little bites? I loved how they looked and couldn't stop taking pictures.

I didn't have a special occasion to make them for - unfortunately (or fortunately?) Jon's team, the Buffalo Bills, are never on TV here in PA, so Jon heads out to a local bar to watch the games. Instead, I made them for lunch! But I will definitely keep this recipe at the top of my list when I need an appetizer for a crowd.

The below recipe is for 45 bites; I made 15 but still used 2 potatoes so I'd have leftovers.

Ingredients

• 2 baking potatoes
• 3 oz softened cream cheese
• 2 tablespoons butter, melted
• 3 tablespoons milk
• 4-5 slices of bacon
• 3/4 cup shredded cheddar cheese
• 1 tablespoon dried chives (or equivalent of fresh chopped chives)
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1/2 teaspoon garlic salt (I don't use garlic salt, so I just added a bit of salt and some extra garlic powder)
• 3 boxes of 15-ct phyllo shells, thawed
• Paprika

Directions

• Peel and and cut potatoes into chunks, place in boiling water and cook for 10 minutes. Once cooked, drain water and return potato to pot.
• While potatoes are cooking, bake bacon strips at 400 degrees for 8-10 minutes until crispy. Cut into small pieces.
• After bacon is cooked, place the phyllo shells on a baking sheet and place in the oven at 350 degrees for 2-4 minutes to crisp. (this step is optional, you don't have to pre-crisp shells - I did)
• To the potatoes add the cream cheese, melted butter, and milk. With a handheld mixer, blend together. You just want to combine the ingredients until it holds together, if too thick add more milk. You DO NOT want this to be smooth or the consistency of mashed potatoes....you still want some chunks of potato in there. Because these were supposed to be a bit chunky, I chose to use my double action potato masher - it looks like this one from Crate and Barrel:

• Once blended, add the bacon pieces and cheese. Stir to combine. Next add the garlic powder, garlic salt, and chives. Stir to combine.
• Fill phyllo shells with mixture and sprinkle with paprika. I also topped them with a touch more cheddar cheese. Bake at 350 for 15 minutes.
• Serve with sour cream for dipping.

Take a look at all of the other great Game-Day Recipes that were a part of this Swap: