Recipe: Low-Cal Mock Potato Skins
Having company over for the football game? It’s no fun just looking at the snack table while all the delicious foods disappear into the mouths of your guests. And it’s even worse when your diet loses to the game. So why not put PWM’s Mock Potato Skins on the table? This recipe is the second in our September series adapted to cut the fat and calories from your favorites (see our Faux Potato Salad here). As always, feel free to skip directly to the recipe below or just keep reading to pick up a few tips on creating this surprisingly authentic substitution for real potato skins.
First, the ingredients. Yellow squash steals the starring role away from white potatoes, providing a perfectly tender base for the spices. Bacon, low-fat shredded cheddar, light sour cream deliver and green onions deliver all the flavor you love about potato skins but keep the appetizer from lingering on your waist. And it’s so easy to put together:
Start by frying your bacon until it’s crisp, then give it a minute or two to cool and crunch it up into bits. Next wash the veggies. Trim and thinly slice the green onion. Trim both ends from the yellow squash and slice both half longways from end to end. If you have any blemished spots as I did on one squash, cut those away. Next place your squash cut-side up on baking pan prepared with parchment paper or cooking spray.
Pro Tip: Parchment paper makes clean up super easy and prevents the dark oil build-up that can be left behind by cooking sprays. Nothing will touch your pan beside the parchment paper and when you’re done you can just toss the paper. But if you’re new to parchment paper it can be easily confused with wax paper, which is not the same thing and could melt at high temperatures. Pay attention to the box label!
Once your squash has been arranged on your baking tray, sprinkle with the garlic and onion powders, pile on the cheese and bacon, and pop it all into a preheated 375 degree oven for about 13 minutes. Your baking time will vary depending on the size of your squash, so check that the squash is tender and the cheese is melted and bubbly before removing from the oven.
Before serving, top each squash with sour cream and bacon bits. Since the squash will be tender like a potato but still firm, you can take your pick on how to eat it—with a fork or as finger food.
Honestly, this recipe sticks very close to the flavor and texture profile of old-fashioned potato skins. Even the shape resembles a potato half. It’s so good!
Substitution Suggestions: Our calorie count is based on four servings with the ingredients listed, but you may prefer to make the recipe with a small dab of regular sour cream or even Greek yogurt. Adjust the calories and fat accordingly but you’ll still save about half the calories of a white potato by replacing it with yellow squash.
