Stuffed Baked Potatoes with Sausage, Apples and Cranberries

close up photo of stuffed baked potatoes

Stuffed Baked Potatoes with Sausage, Apples and Cranberries

Stuffed Baked Potatoes with Sausage, Apples and Cranberries is a delicious, exciting meal that celebrates fall and winter foods and coziness. This recipe is also versatile because it allows you to use the ground meat of your choice!

Perfect for Gluten-free, Paleo, Whole30, VAD and most real food diets, enjoy this dinner with the option to make ahead.

For AIP and nightshade-free, see the Notes section below the recipe, as this recipe has an easy nightshade-free variation.

Course DInner, Main Course, Main Dish

Cuisine American, European

Keyword apples, baked potatoes, cranberries, gluten-free, low vitamin A, paleo, sausage, stuffed, whole30

Prep Time 25

Cook Time 1 5

Total Time 1 30

Servings servings

Calories 649kcal

Author Megan

Cost $10

Equipment

baking sheet
large sauté pan
2 ounce scoop optional (helpful when filling the potatoes)

Ingredients

4 large russet potatoes
1 Tablespoon olive oil plus more for brushing potato skins
1 stalk celery cut in half lengthwise and diced
1 large apple peeled and diced
1 pound ground beef or other ground meat of choice such as turkey, chicken or buffalo (also fine to use ground pork or wild game)
1-1/4 teaspoons sea salt
1/2 teaspoon dried rosemary powder If you don't have rosemary powder, you can place dried rosemary into a coffee or spice grinder, or similar, to powder it.
1/2 teaspoon ginger powder
2/3 cup cranberries fresh or frozen, cut in half

Instructions

Preheat oven to 400℉. Brush potatoes lightly with olive or avocado oil. Place on dry cookie sheet. Bake potatoes until very soft inside, about 1 hour, depending on size. Insert a fork or knife into the center of the potato; (it should slide in easily). If it's not soft enough, bake another 10 to 15 minutes.
While potatoes bake, cook filling.
To hot sauté pan, add 1 Tablespoon oil. Cook celery about 3 to 5 minutes over medium heat. Add apple and cook another two minutes. Add beef, sea salt, rosemary powder and ginger. Turn heat to medium high. Cook about 6 minutes, breaking up beef in the pan as you cook, into small pieces.
Add cranberries and cook another 2 minutes, until softened slightly, fragrant, and beef's cooked all the way through.
Keep filling warm in pan on Warm burner until potatoes are ready.
When potatoes are done baking, remove from oven. Keep oven on.
Use a knife to cut a deep (halfway down the potato) long slice down the center and length of each potato. Use a dish towel to cover and squeeze the ends of the potatoes toward each other so each potato's filling becomes soft, fluffy and begins to spill up and out. (See photo below.) Use a spoon to remove about 2 to 4 Tablespoons smashed potato from each.
Stuff each potato cavity with 5 to 6 ounces of filling, and replace onto cookie sheet. Place in preheated oven, but as soon as putting baking sheet back into oven, turn Bake off, and turn on Broil.
(To make this recipe ahead of time [meal prep], stop before broiling, and see Notes section below.)
Broil for just a few minutes, keeping your eyes on the tops of the potatoes. Brown and crisp the top of the filling. How long this takes depends on your broiler and how close the potatoes are to the heat source, but 3 to 5 minutes usually.
Remove from oven. Serve. I like to serve this meal with both forks and spoons, to allow easier scooping of some of the potato flesh. (We don't personally eat the skins.)

Notes

Nightshade-free, AIP version

To make this recipe nightshade-free, for AIP or otherwise:

Pre-bake acorn squash instead of potatoes. The rest of the recipe stays the same.

MEAL PREP: MAKE AHEAD INSTRUCTIONS

To make this recipe ahead of time (meal prep), stop at Step 7 before broiling.
Refrigerate stuffed potatoes, covered well, until you're ready to make dinner. Fine to do this a day or two ahead of time.
Then preheat oven to 325℉.
Place potatoes in casserole dish with lid. Cover, and reheat until warmed through, about 30 minutes.
Then resume recipe with broiling step (8). Be sure to place potatoes on broil-safe pan first if your casserole dish is not.

Nutrition