A little while ago I was having dinner with a friend when she looked down at my plate with a confused expression and asked what I was doing. I was eating my baked potato the way I usually do, but she had never seen anything like it. I assured her this is the best way to eat a baked eat a baked potato, and once you try it, you’ll never go back.

Here is your run-of-the-mill baked potato:

baked potato

Photo by Maria Glander

Most people would cut a slice down the middle, fill it with goodies, eat it, and throw away the rest. But here’s how you should actually do it.

Cut your potato in half, like so:

baked potato

Photo by Maria Glander

Perfect.

Now scoop out the potato from the skin.

baked potato

Photo by Maria Glander

Do this to both halves. You now have two perfect potato skins.

Fill ’em up:

baked potato

Photo by Maria Glander

You can fill them with sour cream, cheese, bacon bits, scallions, or go the traditional route and just add butter.

This way, you can enjoy two great aspects of the potato: the soft and warm inside and the crisp and crunchy skin (which is actually the most beneficial part of the potato to eat). Enjoy.

baked potato

Photo by Maria Glander