Today I’m going to share with you the weirdly addicting thing known as loaded baked potato pizza. When I first heard of this, I shook my head. ‘The locals will put potatoes on anything here,’ I thought. Generally, I love potatoes. I can’t get enough of them, honestly. But on a pizza?
I squinted at it sideways for months. <_<
When I finally tried my first piece, I was extremely surprised at how well I liked it. I liked it so much, in fact, that I took note of all the components and set about backwards engineering it.
I started with my go-to pizza crust recipe. It yields consistent flavor and texture. I’ve never had a bad run with it.
The “sauce” is a ranch type sauce. This is where the garlic and sour cream elements of a baked potato come in, so I took my ranch dressing recipe (see below), upped the ratio of sour cream, and added extra garlic.
Both of the local pizza joints used red russets on their pizzas, so that’s what I used too. They are precooked before going on the pizza. I’ve tried precooking via microwave and baking in the oven; both work equally well.
What are other classic elements of a loaded baked potato? Cheddar cheese, crumbled bacon (I used turkey bacon), and green onions. (One of these days I will also add olives, because I love olives on baked potatoes, and on a pizza it’s as natural as marshmallows in rice krispie treats to begin with!)
In the end, this is one of the simpler “more involved” pizzas I’ve made!
Loaded Baked Potato Pizza
- 1 batch pizza dough (or whatever you prefer for your crust)
- 1 1/2 – 2 cups ranch dressing
- 6 red russet potatoes, cooked and cut into 1″ pieces
- 2 cups shredded sharp cheddar cheese
- 1/2 cup cooked and crumbled bacon (more or less to taste)
- 3 green onions, chopped
- Pre-heat oven to 425 °F.
- Spread sauce evenly over prepared pizza dough.
- Layer potatoes, cheese, bacon, and green onions evenly over the sauce.
- Bake for 15-20 minutes, until cheese is bubbling and crust is golden brown.
Fogwood’s House Ranch Dressing
- ¾ cup mayonnaise (reduce to 2/3 cup for pizza sauce)
- 1/3 cup sour cream (increase to 2/3 cup for pizza sauce)
- 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder (increase to 1/2 teaspoon for pizza sauce)
- 1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
- 1 Tablespoon dry parsley flakes
- salt and pepper to taste
- milk to thin (omit for pizza sauce)
- Combine all ingredients in small bowl.
- Thin with milk to desired consistency.
- For best flavor, allow to chill in the refrigerator for at least 1/2 hour.
Creative Wending 
Wow, I think my initial response is to be skeptical, like you were, but I’m intrigued! You must like things saucy, though–it seems like a lot for one pizza. Does it reduce a lot or something?
I may have to give this a try sometime. 🙂 Thank you!
I may have the quantity of sauce off a little bit? Honestly, I don’t measure the ranch dressing ingredients (I’ve made it so much it’s more a by-feel thing now.) 1 – 1 1/2 cups could be more accurate for a pizza. Put it down until it looks good? Lol. I actually don’t like a lot of sauce, which is one of my complaints with some of the local pizza joints.
Oh okay! I’ll keep that in mind. I really only like sauce as more of a flavor glaze. 😀 Though it depends on the toppings and the sauce, of course.
“Flavor glaze.” I love that!