1 Prepare the bacon: Line a baking sheet with foil, then top with a wire baking rack (cookie cooling rack). Lay the bacon strips on the wire rack perpendicular to the wires, making sure the bacon pieces don’t overlap.

2 Bake the bacon and scrub the potatoes: Place the bacon in a cold oven and set the temperature to 375°F. Bake for 15-20 minutes. Check the bacon around the 18-minute mark. Some types of bacon cook faster than others. (See How to Make Bacon in the Oven for full details.)

While the bacon bakes, scrub potatoes well and then stab each potato about 10 times with a fork to prevent the possibility of a potato exploding in the oven. (It can happen!)

Remove the bacon from the oven; transfer to a paper towel-lined plate.

3 Bake the potatoes: Increase the heat to 400˚F. Place potatoes on a baking sheet, drizzle well with olive oil, and sprinkle with coarse salt. Bake potatoes for about an hour until the skins are shriveled slightly and the potatoes are very tender. (See How to Bake a Potato for more details.)

4 Blanch the broccoli: While the potatoes bake, cook your broccoli. Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Add a big pinch of salt to the water to season it. Add broccoli to the water and boil for 3 minutes until the broccoli is just tender, but not mushy at all.

1 Prepare the bacon: Line a baking sheet with foil, then top with a wire baking rack (cookie cooling rack). Lay the bacon strips on the wire rack perpendicular to the wires, making sure the bacon pieces don’t overlap.

2 Bake the bacon and scrub the potatoes: Place the bacon in a cold oven and set the temperature to 375°F. Bake for 15-20 minutes. Check the bacon around the 18-minute mark. Some types of bacon cook faster than others. (See How to Make Bacon in the Oven for full details.)

While the bacon bakes, scrub potatoes well and then stab each potato about 10 times with a fork to prevent the possibility of a potato exploding in the oven. (It can happen!)

Remove the bacon from the oven; transfer to a paper towel-lined plate.

3 Bake the potatoes: Increase the heat to 400˚F. Place potatoes on a baking sheet, drizzle well with olive oil, and sprinkle with coarse salt. Bake potatoes for about an hour until the skins are shriveled slightly and the potatoes are very tender. (See How to Bake a Potato for more details.)

1 Prepare the bacon: Line a baking sheet with foil, then top with a wire baking rack (cookie cooling rack). Lay the bacon strips on the wire rack perpendicular to the wires, making sure the bacon pieces don’t overlap.

2 Bake the bacon and scrub the potatoes: Place the bacon in a cold oven and set the temperature to 375°F. Bake for 15-20 minutes. Check the bacon around the 18-minute mark. Some types of bacon cook faster than others. (See How to Make Bacon in the Oven for full details.)

While the bacon bakes, scrub potatoes well and then stab each potato about 10 times with a fork to prevent the possibility of a potato exploding in the oven. (It can happen!)

Remove the bacon from the oven; transfer to a paper towel-lined plate.

3 Bake the potatoes: Increase the heat to 400˚F. Place potatoes on a baking sheet, drizzle well with olive oil, and sprinkle with coarse salt. Bake potatoes for about an hour until the skins are shriveled slightly and the potatoes are very tender. (See How to Bake a Potato for more details.)

Best Way To Make Bacon
I prefer to bake my bacon in the oven. Yep, you read that right—I place it on a baking rack over a baking sheet, and I get uniform crispy bacon every time. Check out my step-by-step guide: How to Make Bacon in the Oven.

THE BEST POTATOES FOR LOADED BAKED POTATOES
Simply Recipes has an excellent tutorial on baked potatoes, so I won’t reinvent the wheel here. I essentially follow the method in that article.

I shoot for medium-to-large potatoes (less than a pound per potato, for sure). I scrub mine well and stab them with a fork many times all over. Then, I rub them with some olive oil and a good sprinkle of coarse salt. Bake the potatoes at 400˚F until they have wrinkled skins and are very tender on the inside; about an hour is a good guideline.

I wouldn’t alter from the classic here. Russet potatoes are what you want. That said, I would stay away from the Godzilla-sized potatoes that you can sometimes find. A lot is going into these, and you don’t need to start with a pound of potatoes. I shoot for around 10- to 12-ounce russet potatoes.