Thanksgiving Stuffed Potatoes
A Holiday Feast In A Potato
Thanksgiving Stuffed Potatoes are a fun meal with all your favorite holiday fixings and a great way to use up leftovers. Perfectly baked potatoes finished off with butter are topped with stuffing soufflé then drizzled with a savory gravy that has bits of smoked turkey. A dollop of cranberry sauce compliments the savory side of this potato.
I love Disneyland and I am a self proclaimed “Disney Adult,” but I am not one who goes to the parks for the characters or the rides, I go for the food. Disney is known for the snacks and I am totally there for that!
One of my favorite spots at Disneyland is the Troubadour Tavern in Fantasyland. They are known for their deliciously topped baked potatoes that they change seasonally and I try to eat every one.
This past week I was in Disneyland for all the Halloween fun and The Troubadour was at the top of my list. They were featuring a Celebration Potato and a Bulgogi Potato.
Both were delicious, and The Celebration featured all the tasty toppings from a classic Thanksgiving dinner.
My friend and I loved it. As soon as I came home I knew I needed to recreate it immediately for you!
I made this Thanksgiving Stuffed Potato yesterday and took all the pictures and was so excited to get this up on the page. I hope you love it!
Bake The Perfect Potato
The key to this recipe is baking your potatoes perfectly. Step by step instructions are on the recipe card for doing this.
I also have a full post about Perfect Baked Potatoes here on my website. I was telling my friend that Disney always gets baked potatoes just right.
The insides are always warm, tender, and buttery and the skin is also crispy and delicious to eat. This recipe would not be as good if the inside of the potato was not perfect.
Do not skip this step!
Make The Stuffing Or Buy It
If you want to avoid the whole process of making the homemade stuffing in this recipe you can make a box of instant stuffing like Stove Top. You will still need to add the two eggs and the cream to the prepared Stove Top so you get that soufflé-like topper.
I would reduce the cream to just 1/4 cup, but whisk with the eggs and fold into the prepared Stove Top.
You can also modify this recipe and instead use my World’s Best Thanksgiving Stuffing recipe or my Butter Stuffing recipe. All of these are great options, it is important to just have ANY stuffing.
Thanksgiving Stuffed Potatoes Recipe
Thanksgiving Stuffed Potatoes, a fun meal with all your favorite holiday fixings. Perfectly baked potatoes finished off with butter and a stuffing soufflé baked on top. Then drizzled with a savory gravy that has bits of smoked turkey. A dollop of cranberry sauce compliments the savory side of this potato.
Ingredients
- 4 Large Russet Potatoes
- 8 cups of dried stuffing cubes or dried cubed bread +2 cups just in case
- 6 celery ribs
- 1 medium to large yellow onion
- 1/2 tablespoon of onion powder
- 1/2 tablespoon of garlic powder
- 2 teaspoons of celery seed
- 1 teaspoons of celery salt
- 2 teaspoons of black pepper
- 2 teaspoons of poultry seasoning
- 2 heaping tablespoons of turkey or roasted vegetable Better than Bouillon
- 10 tablespoons of butter
- 2 eggs
- 3/4 cup of heavy cream
- 4 cups of water
- 1/2 lb of smoked deli turkey
- 2 packets of turkey gravy *I use the Knorr brand, it is pictured in the post before the recipe card
- 1 can of cranberry sauce
- Olive oil and Coarse Salt
Instructions
- To make the stuffing, finely dice the celery and onions. I prefer to also use the leaves from the celery as they add flavor.
- Add 6 tablespoons of the butter to a deep sided skillet, then add the celery and onions. Sauté low and slow until it is all soft and tender. Add all the seasonings and herbs: celery salt, black pepper, poultry seasoning, garlic and onions powders and celery seed ( I like to add a little more celery seed than this recipe calls for). Sauté this for 5 minutes.
- Add the Better Than Bouillon and sauté into the mix. Then add the water, bring to a simmer and then simmer 20 minutes stirring occasionally.
- Wash and dry the skins of the potatoes. Heat the oven to 400°, rub olive oil all over the potatoes, prick a few times with a fork. Salt and pepper all sides of the potatoes. Place on a baking sheet and bake for 60 to 75 minutes. Potato skins should be crispy and the insides soft. Keep an eye on the potatoes the first time you make this as cook times and temps vary on all ovens.
- When the celery and onion mixture has simmered, add the stuffing cubes or bread to a large bowl. Pour the mixture over the cubes and really let it soak in. This stuffing mix should be slightly wet. If there are noticeable pools of water, add the extra cubes you have for emergencies. But the mixture should be wet. Let this cool.
- When the stuffing is cooled, whisk the egg with the heavy cream. Add this to the stuffing mix. Again the mixture should be wet because this is going to puff up like a soufflé. If there are noticeable pools of water add some of the extra cubes.
- Carefully pull the potatoes from the oven and split down the middle. Do not cut completely in half as you want to make sort of an elongated potato bowl to stuff. I cut down the center carefully because this will be HOT. Then using a dish towel, push both ends of the potato slightly to the center to allow the potato insides to mash a little.
- Add two pats of butter to every potato and mix it around with the potato a little bit.
- Add 3 to 4 tablespoons of the stuffing mix to the top of the potatoes. I really piled it on. *You may have some stuffing left that you can freeze to bake later or bake it off and freeze it or eat it. Great with pork chops. Top each of the potatoes that have the stuffing with some pats of butter. Bake again at 400° for about 15 to 20 minutes. Watch this the first time you bake this. The stuffing should be "puffed up" golden brown and crispy edges.
- While the potatoes bake, chop up the turkey, sauté it in a pan with a little butter. Add the gravy packets and however much water the packets call for. Whisk and simmer until the gravy is thickened.
- When the potatoes are done, ladle the turkey gravy over the potatoes before serving and top with a dollop of cranberry sauce. *you can also add French fried onions to the top.