Crab-Stuffed Potatoes

One benefit of closing the shop and coming back to the blog is that I have a really good idea of what sorts of things y’all are wanting for dinner. I’ll be sharing a number of LCK favorites in the coming weeks. As always the focus will be on affordable restaurant-quality food that’s easy to make in your home kitchen with regular equipment and no crazy ingredients. As a home cook at heart, I’m excited to be blogging for you again!

One big hit was our Crab-Stuffed Potatoes. These are simply twice-baked potatoes with a cheesy crabmeat filling. Think Crab Mornay crossed with a loaded baked potato. (I KNOW, right?!) They may feel fancy, but actually this is an easy weeknight meal that also freezes great. In fact, they freeze so well, you might as well double the recipe while you’re at it.

They are also surprisingly economical as luxury food goes. Y’all do know I tell you the truth always, don’t you? Here’s a happy truth practically made for these inflationary times: Crab-Stuffed Potatoes are absolutely acceptable with decent canned crab. I’m not kidding. Don’t waste your time and money getting the $30 stuff in the seafood case. Save that for another recipe. (I’ll certainly let you know when it’s necessary!) But for this, a 6 oz. can of Bumblebee white crabmeat really and truly is just fine.

For this recipe you can bake the potatoes any way you prefer, but the method below has some distinct advantages. First, it yields the best tasting baked potatoes ever. Second, the skin gets a little crispy and makes scooping out and refilling the potatoes a breeze. Plus they hold up beautifully when wrapped individually in plastic, put in a zipper bag, and tossed in the freezer to reheat later.

One ingredient I call for may need a bit of discussion: Zatarain’s Concentrated Shrimp and Crab Boil, which is the liquid version:

I use it sometimes in place of hot sauce, but it is strong, and you really do need to use it a drop or two at a time. The flavor is very different from Old Bay or even Zatarain’s powdered crab boil, but you can substitute either of those to taste instead if your prefer. You could also substitute any Creole seasoning you may have on hand.

Crab-Stuffed Potatoes make a great lunch by themselves, or a mighty fine dinner main dish. Add a crisp dinner salad and you’re done.

Crab-Stuffed Potatoes

2 large baking potatoes
Oil, butter, or cooking spray
3 T. butter
¼ cup buttermilk
2 T. snipped fresh chives, or 2 t. dried
A few drops of Zatarain’s Concentrated Shrimp and Crab Boil, or to taste (Be careful. This is a liquid, and little goes a long, long way!)
Salt and pepper to taste
1 6 oz. can of crabmeat
½ cup shredded Gruyère or Swiss
Paprika for garnish

Scrub the potatoes, prick the skin several times with a fork and rub all over with oil, or butter, or spray with cooking spray. Preheat oven to 400°. Bake the potatoes directly on the oven rack for an hour or until they yield to gentle squeezing.

Allow the potatoes to sit on the counter for a couple of minutes. For the best consistency you need to make the filling while the potatoes are still hot. Using an oven mitt and a long serrated knife, cut the potatoes in half lengthwise. Using a spoon, carefully scoop out the potato flesh, leaving a ¼” shell. Put the potato flesh in a medium bowl.

To the hot potato flesh, add the butter, buttermilk, chives, and three or four drops of the crab boil. Add salt and pepper to taste. Mix thoroughly with a fork, or use a potato masher. Gently fold in the crabmeat and cheese.

Divide the filling among the potato shells. Don’t make the tops too smooth–the bumps are what brown so nicely. Sprinkle the stuffed potatoes with a little paprika for color.

At this point you can cool them, and wrap them individually for the freezer, or refrigerate them to bake later, or you can go ahead and bake them immediately. Bake the potatoes at 350° until they are hot and browning on top. Warm potatoes will be ready in 10 minutes or so, frozen potatoes will take closer to 30 minutes, thawed or refrigerated ones will fall somewhere in between.