What you are looking at right now is a Cheesy Pesto Hasselback Potato, aka the most amazing baked potato you’ve ever had! The potato is enticingly crispy on the outside and soft on the inside, smothered with gouda cheese and topped with some fresh mouthwatering pesto. Like I said before, this could arguably be the best thing that has ever happened to a baked potato.
Many people may be intimidated by the pictures of a Hasselback potato and may think that it is really difficult to make. Well, I am here to tell you otherwise. Hasselback potatoes are actually so simple to cut and easy to make look absolutely delectable.
In fact, I have a foolproof tip to ensure that you get a gorgeous looking Hasselback potato without cutting all the way through and making your potato look like a lawnmower ran over it. The foolproof tip is to place two chopsticks on both of the long sides of the potato. Refer to my picture below.
This little trick will ensure that your knife hits the chopsticks before it goes all the way through the potato. Freakin’ genius. Whoever thought of this trick should win some sort of prize. The only thing you need to be careful about is cutting the ends of the potato that do not reach all the way down to the chopsticks. Those you just need to eyeball and make sure your knife doesn’t go all the way through. But having these chopsticks by the side of your potato will make your life a heck of a lot easier. So go and grab some chopsticks before you go ahead and make these!
So what do you do when you’ve finished slicing these babies? You stuff it with slices of gouda! This can also be a little bit daunting. I was getting frustrated slicing so many goddamn slices of cheese at different levels of thickness but eventually, you get the hang of it. You’ll have about an hour while the potatoes are baking in the oven to master this cheese slicing craft, so don’t worry, you’ll get it all sliced in time.
Once the potatoes are finished cooking and stuffed with cheese, you will wait just a few minutes more for the cheese to melt all over the place, perhaps even pour out of your potato onto the baking sheet like it did on mine. But not to worry, there is never too much melted cheese.
Finally, you top these potatoes with some delicious pesto sauce. And voila, there you have your Cheesy Pesto Hasselback Potatoes!
Cheesy Pesto Hasselback Potatoes
Ingredients
- 6 Russet Potatoes
- 2 Tablespoons Olive Oil
- 1 Teaspoon Sea Salt
- 8 ounces Gouda cheese sliced
- 1/2 cup Pesto
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 425 degrees Fahrenheit
- Rinse and scrub potatoes clean
- Place a chopstick on each side of the long side of the potatoes while slicing
- Slice about 3/4 of the way down the potato until you hit the chopsticks
- Make each slice about 1/8 to 1/4 an inch wide
- Once all the potatoes are sliced into Hasselback potatoes, soak in a large bowl of cold water for 20 minutes
- Take potatoes out and pat completely dry with paper towels
- Brush 1 tablespoon or so of olive oil evenly over each potato and in between the slices
- Sprinkle with 1/2 teaspoon of salt
- Bake for about 30 minutes on a greased baking sheet
- While potatoes are cooking, cut the gouda cheese into very thin slices
- After 30 minutes has passed, take the potatoes out and brush again with 1 tablespoon or more of olive oil and sprinkle with another 1/2 teaspoon of salt
- Place back into the oven for another 30 minutes or so until potatoes are done cooking
- After the 30 minutes or so has passed, take the potatoes out and pierce the middle with a fork to see if it's tender and cooked all the way through
- If potatoes are not completely tender, cook for a few more minutes until the middle is tender enough
- Once potatoes are cooked all the way through, place a slice of cheese in between the slits of the potato
- Place back into the oven for another 5-10 minutes until the cheese is melted
- Take out of the oven and let cool for 5 minutes
- Spoon the pesto over the potatoes
- Serve and enjoy!
Melissa
I’ll make this!!! I super love potatoes! Didn’t even know of Hasselback potatoes, but they look so good and bonus that they’re easy to make!
leangreennutritionfiend
Hi Melissa, thank you for your comment! Hasselback potatoes are delicious, especially stuffed with cheese! Please let me know how they turn out 🙂