Jacket potatoes are a beloved midweek meal that can be loaded with a wide variety of toppings. A tuna jacket potato is a firm favourite, though it can occasionally feel a little repetitive.

At times, tuna mixed simply with mayonnaise can taste rather bland, and it can even end up cooler than the jacket potato itself. This week, a viral recipe I saw on social media inspired a fresh take on the classic midweek staple. The tweak to the usual method was relatively minor, yet it made a remarkable difference to the final result.

Normally, I cook my jacket potato in the microwave for 10 minutes, followed by a further 45 minutes in the oven.

I would then make my tuna mayo, which would be added once the jacket potato had come out of the oven. However, this new approach transformed the jacket potatoes into a traybake.

The potatoes were cooked as normal, before the tuna mixture was layered on top in a deep oven dish. This was then smothered in cheese and placed under the grill for 15 minutes.

The outcome was considerably cheesier, crispier and more flavoursome than any jacket potato I had previously attempted. I followed Amy Sheppard's Tuna Melt Jacket Potato Bake recipe but made just a handful of adjustments along the way.

I still decided to pop the potatoes in the microwave first and didn't use the mature cheese spread in the recipe. This still produced a gloriously cheesy and delicious result.

Ingredients

• Four large baking potatoes
• One red pepper, finely chopped
• Four spring onions, finely chopped
• 280g garlic and herb soft cheese
• 70g mature cheese spread
• Two tins of tuna
• 80g tin sweetcorn, drained
• 50ml milk
• 50g cheddar cheese, grated and 70g extra for the topping
• Butter for potatoes
• Handful of chives, chopped
• Salt and ground pepper

Method

Heat the oven to 200°C Fan.

If you want to microwave your potatoes, pierce them and cook for 10 minutes.

Arrange the potatoes in a baking dish, ensuring they fit snugly but with a little space. Drizzle with oil and season with salt.

Roast in the oven for approximately an hour if not microwaved, or 45 minutes if microwaved.

Warm oil in a frying pan. Add the red pepper and spring onions, then cook on a medium heat until softened. Set aside.

In a large mixing bowl, combine the soft cheese, mature cheese spread, drained tuna, sweetcorn, milk, peppers, onion and grated cheddar. Season with salt and pepper and mix thoroughly.

Once the potatoes are cooked through, score a cross into the top of each one before gently squeezing the sides open.

Add a knob of butter to each potato before spooning over the tuna mixture, ensuring it covers the entire surface of the dish. Scatter over additional grated cheese before placing under the grill until melted and piping hot throughout - this took me 15 minutes.

Finish with a handful of chives and serve.