Do you love making baked potato recipes but hate this fuss of baking potatoes in the oven, especially in the summer? It’s tough to turn on the oven when you got hot air all around the place, or worse yet, you’re paying more to cool down the house.
This baked potato bar recipe is a fun DIY weeknight meal that you can make in your very own slow cooker without the fuss. You can squeeze out your creative juices to make your baked potato bar a crowd pleaser! Create the perfectly-made baked potatoes straight in your crock pot, grab those delightful toppings and claim the bragging rights!
Crock Pot Baked Potato Bar
Make your delicious Crock Pot Baked Potato Bar at the comforts of your very own kitchen with this fantastic recipe. The great thing is, I don’t even have to turn my oven on!
Crock pot baked potatoes are so much more hands off than oven-baked potatoes. That’s because you get the awesome goodness of baked potatoes without breaking a sweat from the steaming hot temperature of the standard oven. Just scrub those potatoes, sprinkle some salt, and your slow cooker will deliver those fluffy potatoes on your plate the way you love them. Seriously, what mom doesn’t love dinners that make themselves??
Why Should You Use a Crock Pot?
Besides, this slow cooker baked potato style also saves my precious time since I won’t need to heat up my oven for an hour to have these tenderly-made potatoes ready at my barbecue party during summer.
Crock pot baked potato bars are easy to make, and you will only need 5 minutes of prep time. And the next four hours will be yours to keep 🙂
- Sautéing or steaming the vegetables
- Meat roasting
- Frying bacon strips
- Preparing buttered garlic and mushroom
- Making condiments, such as chili sauce, melted cheese, red peppers, and salsa
- Enjoying your family time
One more thing, I should not forget to mention is how good these crock-pot baked potatoes taste when I match them to my main courses (hello, delicious!)
- Back ribs stew
- Grilled chicken
- Grilled seafood
- Chicken soup
- Vegetable salads
- French onion soup
- Casserole dishes
When serving tasty crock-pot baked potato bars to my kids, I always make sure that my favorite toppings won’t be ignored. Want more variety and frills?
Here are some of my topping ideas you may try:
- Steamed or roasted vegetables
- Shredded chicken (Rotisserie, boiled or slow cooker)
- Diced tomatoes
- Red peppers or chilies
- Chili oil
- Chives
- Chopped scallions
- Garlic mayo dressing
- Sour cream cheese
- Sliced avocado
- Bacon strips
- Melted Cheddar cheese or mozzarella cheese
- Pulled pork
- Greek yogurt
- Garlic mushrooms
- Ground pork, beef or chicken
I have a simple but delicious way to make crock-pot baked potato bar, and I believe you may never go back to the old way once you try this method.
These subtle-tasting baked potatoes are as easy as scrub, poke and then set them all in your slow cooker. Every single member of my family thinks I’m so cool when I make these!
An easy-to-make vegetable side dish I can put beside my potatoes in the crock-pot, leave it for a few hours, and then come back to find everything cooked perfectly without having to endure the hot oven on.
Ingredients and tools to gather:
- 4 pounds of potatoes
- Olive oil
- Coarse sea salt
- Aluminum foil
- Potato toppings
Directions for Making the Crock Pot Baked Potato Bars:
- Scrub potatoes with a vegetable scrubber or a washrag and then dry them thoroughly.
- Poke the potatoes using either a knife or fork on all sides.
- Rub down the potatoes with olive oil and sprinkle some salt. Make sure to apply oil and salt evenly on all sides.
- Place them in the slow cooker for 3-4 hours on high heat or, if you’ll be gone for some time, set the cooking time to 6-8 hours on low heat.
- Remove the potatoes from the crock-pot, unwrap, serve and top them with your favorite toppings!
Recipe notes:
For four pounds of potatoes, I used my 6-quart slow cooker, and it was perfect.
After two hours, you can split them in half if you need to rush the process, otherwise, keep them cooking.
Cooking time may vary according to the size of your potatoes. Large potatoes consume more time while smaller potatoes cook a bit faster. You may also try this cooking method with other varieties of potatoes like russet, purple, yellow, fingerling, and red, among others.
If you won’t serve the potatoes right away, store them in the crock-pot on warm mode to preserve their crisp texture.
This flavorful slow cooker baked potato bar is perfect for a family day! So, be more creative and start topping these appetizing baked potatoes with cheese, meat bits, and special spices!
Crock Pot Baked Potato Bar
Ingredients
- 4-6 Russet Baking potatoes
- 2 cups sour cream
- 2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
- 1/2 pound bacon baked and crumbled
- 1 can Hormel chili (with or without bean) or use homemade chili
Instructions
- Scrub your potatoes well with a vegetable scrubber or a wash rag.
- Poke each potato with a knife or fork and rub down with olive oil and sprinkle with sea salt.
- Lastly, place them in the slow cooker for 3-4 hours on high or low for 6-8 hours.
- When ready to serve, cut halfway down the middle of the potato, press down and top with toppings.
- Enjoy!
