Salad Dressing Is The Unusual Way To Elevate Baked Potatoes

The mild flavor of a baked potato makes it the perfect base for a variety of toppings. From pulled pork to ground beef, baked potatoes have long been a base where a wide variety of delicious ingredients have merged. A relatively mild potato allows for the sweet smokiness of bacon bits to play with the slightly garlicky notes of chives, all on a bed of tangy sour cream. As more and more ingredients are piled on, the baked potato becomes more and more a main dish than a simple side.

But why stop at the classics? If the inclusion of tuna in jacket potatoes has taught us anything, it is that spuds are a playground for even the most experimental of flavors. In the spirit of adventure, we share with you a new, unexpected, and promising ingredient that will further elevate your baked potato: salad dressing. Yes, just about any variety that suits your taste can work here. Yet, while Thousand Island and Caesar salad dressings are viable and delicious toppings for a baked potato, we recommend good old ranch. From fried pickles to pizza, ranch dressing has proven itself to be a powerful partner to all things briny, breaded, and baked — including your next baked potato.

Ranch dressing is sure to elevate your baked potatoes both because of its complexity and its ability to pair well with other flavors, which is why it is such a key ingredient in Chick-fil-A sauce. Then, there's texture to consider. Regardless of whether the ranch dressing has a base of buttermilk or sour cream, it will lend a wonderful creaminess to the baked potato experience. At the same time, notes of garlic, onion, and black pepper, however fleeting, capture the attention of other taste buds. Lastly, accents of herbaceousness from dill or other light ingredients are laced between all of these flavors, sometimes pierced by bursts of acidity from lemon juice.

This complex conglomeration of flavors works well with a vast majority of other baked potato toppings, as well as the potato itself. Whether you decide to add ranch dressing to your baked potato bar or not is ultimately up to you, but when it comes time to put the potatoes in the oven, promise us you will skip the aluminum foil.