create your own

Restaurant Food at Home Baked Potato Bar

72
rate or flag this page

By boppster


Many restaurants offer a baked potato bar, with large pre-baked spuds and delicious toppings from which to choose. Recreating a potato bar a home is quick and easy.

A baked potato bar is a simple way to feed a few people or a large crowd at a party or event. It is also makes for a delicious meal where individual tastes and special diets can be accommodated. For instance, this is perfect for a mixed group of children and adults or for meat eaters and vegetarians.

Throw a dirt cheap dinner party for a large group of people. How? With a baked potato topping bar. You can bake up about 20 pounds of russet potatoes in a standard sized oven at a time. Have lots of toppings on hand like chili in a crock pot with sides of shredded cheese, hot sauce, chopped scallions, etc. Or try sour cream and bacon bits / chives, hot cheese sauce in a small heated crock with steamed broccoli, baked beans, flavored herbed butters (whipped is a nice touch), Tex-Mex toppings, or smoked salmon and whipped cream cheese. Need more ideas? How about chopped ham and peas with a cream sauce, pizza like toppings, stroganoff with mushrooms, ground beef and gravy, turkey sausage and white gravy, sloppy Joe filling, BBQ beef, taco style filling options, ranch dressing . . .get the picture? You can satisfy just about any group with this idea. It's also a very affordable pot luck if you and all your friends are temporarily broke but still want to get together. Bonus? Kids dig it.

Baked potatoes with toppings continue to wow the industry by capturing 8% to 12% of sales at several major fast-food chains that rolled out that surprise new product-hit over the last few years.

Basically, large baking potatoes are pre-cooked and kept warm until serving time. When it is time to eat, guests line up to split open their own potato and top as desired. It can be a lot of fun to see how all the individual “creations” turn out.

Baked potatoes are popular healthy choices both as side dishes and as entrees. Toppings and sauces for potatoes can vary enormously. Several innovative baked potato toppings and sauces include clam chowder, barbecue beef, fresh vegetables, and various cheeses. Fast food restaurants introduced baked potato items in the 1980's, and in 1994, many foodservice contractors offer serve-yourself potato bars.

In November 1983, Wendy's became the first chain to take baked potatoes systemwide, followed by Rax and then Arby's. Roy Rogers added baked potatoes in September 1984.

Toppings, from taco, beef and cheese to sour cream and chives, are the key ingredient to baked potato sales at all four chains. The Wendy's, Arby's, Roy Rogers and Rax baked potato, which sells for between $1.19 and $2.19, is a low food cost item that takes on an added dimension--and cost--when real bacon, cheddar cheese and sour cream are added.

Themed Potato Bar Party Meal

A potato bar can be a down-to-earth as a western BBQ or as elegant and gourmet as one likes. Changing the serving dishes, the banquet table décor, and the ingredients available will change the mood greatly.

For a western party, for instance, the potato toppings might focus more on BBQ sauces, cheese, and chili. Steak strips might be added. The table them could be denim with red and white checked fabrics or paper goods.

For a fancier party, shopping the local gourmet deli for fine and luscious ingredients might be just right. Most delis will allow shoppers to taste various items and can make recommendations as to what cheese and wines go best together, for instance. A gourmet table can be set with lots of elegance and sparkle, with fresh roses, and lovely cloth linens.

A party for children could have a completely different look with fewer, simple ingredients, strong and colorful paper plates and cups, and accents that fit the party theme. This would make a simple lunch for a birthday party.

Ideas for Baked Potato Bar Toppings:

  • Bacon bits
  • Cheddar cheese shredded or sauce
  • Cooked broccoli chunks
  • Sour cream
  • Butter
  • Salsa
  • Grilled onions and peppers
  • Chili
  • Taco Meat
  • Beef Stew
  • Chopped chicken
  • Chopped ham
  • Gravy
  • Alfredo sauce
  • Pulled pork
  • Mushrooms
  • Fajitas beef or chicken
  • With mexican sides
  • Grilled italian sausages
  • Mozzarella cheese marinara sauce & mushrooms


CREAMY STUFF

  • sour cream
  • shredded or crumbled cheddar
  • butter
  • garlic butter
  • parmesan cheese
  • queso
  • ranch dressing
  • blue cheese or blue cheese dressing

VEGGIES

  • chives or scallions
  • steamed chopped fine broccoli
  • artichoke hearts
  • steamed/sauteed spinach with feta

SEASONING and SPICY STUFF

  • salt
  • pepper
  • salsa
  • buffalo sauce

MEAT

  • vegetarian chili from can
  • meat chili from can or seasoned ground beef
  • seasoned shredded roast in crock pot
  • shrimp and sauce
  • chopped ham and cheddar
  • bacon or bacon bits
  • BBQ chicken



Good Earth Potato Menu Ideas

Grilled Chicken Caesar

Marinated and grilled to perfection, topped with veggies & caesar dressing.

Buffalo Chicken

The only thing missing is the bones! Served with your choice of chunky bleu cheese or celery ranch sauce.

BBQ Chicken

Slow cooked in a tangy "rib" sauce till it's falling of the bone. Shredded and stuffed into a crispy potato.

Beef Stew

Chunks of sirloin beef slowly cooked with onions, carrots, celery, tomatoes and peas...it's down home good!

Meatloaf

Delicious chunks of homemade meatloaf added to your crispy potato and homemade gravy.

Sloppy Joe

Spicy and tangy with peppers, onions redbeans and lots of sirloin beef. Try melted cheddar or pepper jack cheese.



Print   —   Rate it:  up  down  flag this hub

Comments

RSS for comments on this Hub

G@D profile image

G@D  says:
9 months ago

Great idea and cheap feed for friends. Meat and potatoes all on the same charcoal. Bring your on topping night! Instead of BOB party, it can be a BOT .

Submit a Comment

Members and Guests

Sign in or sign up and post using a hubpages account.


optional


  • No HTML is allowed in comments, but URLs will be hyperlinked
  • Comments are not for promoting your hubs or other sites

working