I love fiesta potatoes from Taco Bell. I love anything with cheese really, so this is my take on a dinner highlighting fiesta potatoes.

For starters, you need to account for time to bake the potatoes in the oven so that’s like an hour or so. From there, the recipe is pretty simple.

Beef and Broccoli Fiesta Potatoes

Prep time: 5 minutes | Cook time: 1 hour | Total time: Approx 1 hour and 10 minutes

Ingredients

• russet potatoes (I use around 3 or 4 since once baked, they’re halved)
• 3 tbs olive oil (for coating the potatoes)
• kosher salt (for sprinkling on the potatoes)
• 1 lb ground beef
• 1/4 cup taco seasoning
• 1 cup queso cheese (you can use jarred or canned or make it from scratch)
• 1 cup butter
• 1/2 cup milk
• 2 heads of broccoli, chopped into small florets
• 2 cups shredded cheese
• salt and pepper to taste

Recipe

• Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Grab a baking sheet and spray it with cooking spray or line it with parchment paper.
• While the oven preheats, get the potatoes ready. Wash and scrub them then poke the potatoes with a fork a couple times. Coat the potatoes with olive oil, sprinkle with salt and put them on the baking sheet.
• Bake the potatoes in the preheated oven for 45 minutes to one hour– until they’re tender when poked with a fork.
• While the potatoes are baking, prep your broccoli and beef filling.
• For the broccoli, in a small pot, bring water to a boil and boil your small florets until tender. Drain and set aside.
• In a large saucepan, add your ground beef and cook until it’s all browned. Add in the dry taco seasoning and stir until it’s all combined.
• Add the cheese to the saucepan and stir until it’s all melted. Set aside
• Once your potatoes are done, carefully cut them in half and scoop out the centers. Be careful not to cut the skin since you’ll use the skin pieces.
• Take the potato centers you scooped out and add them into a large bowl.
• Add butter and milk and stir until it’s all a nice mashed potato consistency.
• Add in the broccoli and beef mixture to the potatoes and gently stir.
• Add salt and pepper to taste and stir.
• Keep the potatoes skins on the original baking sheet, begin to add the beef mixture to eat potato skin “bowl”. Continue until all skins are used.
• Sprinkle each one with shredded cheese.
• Bake for an additional 10 minutes and enjoy.

XO, Rachel