Bacon Cheddar Barbecue Potato Rounds

Are you in the market for an all-American Super Bowl appetizer? This is your recipe. Make it; serve it; own it. Your guests will love this and just pretend like you invented it. These rounds are reminiscent of potato skins, except they aren't fried and are smaller, so eat as many as you want!

I first had these at a Pampered Chef party circa age twelve. Back to the potatoes, I am not a huge fan of potatoes and never have been, but these don't even taste like the starchy spud y'all know and love. These are great as a side and as an appetizer. They are perfect for a hoard of hungry men...just the crew that was eating with us that night. We (my aunt, my mom, and I) cooked more than enough of these to feed a starving army, so we were able to serve this as an appetizer and with the entrée.


Considering the fact that we did not start cooking until 5:00 and we had twelve people coming over at 6:30 and had six different dishes to make, we accomplished quite a bit in a short period of time. We did, however, manage to dirty every dish in the kitchen (multiple times) and throw a few potatoes across the room at one point; thanks, Alice.

Aside from that, it was incident-free and a huge success. Mom was on dish duty; my aunt was on prep/slice/brush/remind-Lelan-to-take-pictures-duty; Dad, per usual, was on taste-test duty; and I was busy delegating tasks and fixing the dishes I am too type-A to hand over to someone else. Everyone left by 10:00 in search of their favorite (read: loosest fitting) sweatpants, so I think we accomplished our mission: satiate hungry men and accept the fact that there's nothing you can do to alleviate the pain they inflicted upon themselves by eating so much of your delicious food. If only they stopped at the third helping or were pickier eaters. Oh well.

Potatoes--ones that are typically good for baking, Russets work well
Oil
Barbecue sauce
Cheddar cheese
Bacon, cooked and crumbled
Other toppings of your choice

Sliced and all oiled; ready to bake!

Preheat your oven to 375. Wash and dry as many potatoes as you think you will need. A good rough calculation is 1 potato per 2 people if you're serving it as a side and 1 potato per 3 people if it's an appetizer. Slice the potatoes into 1/4 inch rounds. Brush both sides with oil.  Bake for 15 minutes.

Bring on the barbecue

After 15 minutes, remove the potatoes from the oven and brush barbecue sauce on both sides. Top with cheese, bacon, and onions. Place in the oven to bake for 15 more minutes. Yep, it's that easy. Serve these on game day and let me know the crowd's review!

Ready to bake on last time!

You can make the toppings all your own--add a dollop of sour cream when they come out of the oven and have cooled for a minute. Add scallions or diced red onion.  Be creative!  Please, please use good barbecue sauce. This is the heart of the dish, and you just can't cut a corner here.  There is one type I use that has a Vidalia onion variety, and it is so good it will make you cry, literally. It is so sweet and onion-y that your eyes will water uncontrollably when you smell it. It smells so good, though; you just can't help but smell it even though you know the consequences. I am going to make my own barbecue sauce just as soon as the mercury rises, and I come out of my winter hibernation; until I can use my grill without turning into an icicle, I'm sticking to the store-bought barbecue.