VeggieOctober 15, 2026 · vegetarian
Loaded baked potato with black-eyed pea chili
Giant steakhouse potatoes, crispy skin and creamy inside, piled with a smoky black-eyed pea chili built from a jar of tomatillo salsa. Twenty minutes of actual work.
- Prep
- 20 min
- mostly hands-off oven time
- Cook
- 1 hr
- Total
- 1 hr 20 min
- Serves
- 3
I love cycling through different grocery stores even though H-E-B is always number one. This time I stayed in the H-E-B family and went to Central Market, and found these giant steakhouse baking potatoes. I was so excited.
The potato doesn't take much active time, but it does take a while in the oven if you want it really good.
Crispy skin, extremely creamy interior. Twinkle's never had a vegan chili of sorts, and I didn't want to make one from scratch, so this was the shortcut. I hate waste, so that tomatillo salsa finally found its purpose.
How it came together
Loaded baked potato with black-eyed pea chili
What you'll need
For the potatoes
For the chili
To assemble
How to make it
- 1
Wash and scrub the potatoes well with just water, then dry them off.
- 2
Spray with oil, sprinkle with kosher salt, and stab each potato 6 to 10 times with a fork so it cooks evenly inside.
- 3
Bake at 450°F for about an hour, up to 1.5 hours. I used the toaster oven right on the rack, no need to fire up the big oven. Test with a fork or skewer.
- 4
For the chili: simmer the salsa with the peas, smoked paprika, liquid smoke, coriander-cumin powder, brown sugar and tomato paste. Mash some of the beans, then add butter for creaminess. It turns a beautiful brown-orange chili color.
- 5
Cut each potato in half, slather with Mexican sour cream, add green onions and cheese, dump on the chili, cilantro on top.
Sean's tweaks
- One potato easily feeds two people with a side, especially at lunch. This was heavy as written.
- No need to make chili from scratch. A jar of tomatillo salsa plus smoked paprika and liquid smoke gets you there.
Good to know
- Giant steakhouse baking potatoes came from Central Market. Any big russet works, just adjust the bake time.
- The toaster oven handles two potatoes fine and heats up faster than the big oven.
More to cook
Made it? Tag @betterthantakeout.food so we can see.