This Loaded Potato Skins recipe is an easy appetizer made with the crispy skins of a baked potato and filled with bacon, cheese, sour cream, and chives!
I love fun appetizers and this recipe is no exception. For more, check out Cowboy Caviar, a Charcuterie Board, or Artichoke Dip!
Why I love this appetizer:
- Simple – All you need are a handful of ingredients you probably already have on hand. These are simple and tasty.
- Flavorful – The crispy potato with the cheddar cheese, bacon, sour cream, and chives is an explosion of flavor and texture.
- Favorite – People of all ages love these, from little kids to grandparents, and they pair with many different meals.
What potato should I use?
Russet potatoes make the best crispy potato skins. For an appetizer, choose a smaller potato. For a more filling dish, use a large potato and use more filling.
How to Make Potato Skins:
Bake and Slice Potatoes: Bake in the oven at 400ºF for 1 hour. For large potatoes, cut each potato lengthwise, into three sections, creating three long slices. (So each potato should yield two skins, plus a middle section that you can discard or use to make baked potato salad :). For small potatoes, just cut in half.
Scoop Out Some Potato Flesh: Use a small spoon to scoop out some of the potato flesh in the center, leaving a thick layer near the skin, but hollowing it out slightly to create a “boat”.
Brush and Broil: Brush the potatoes with butter on the inside and outside, place them on a baking sheet, season with salt and pepper, and broil.
Add Toppings: Remove from the oven and add a generous amount of shredded cheese and bacon pieces into each potato skin. Top with sour cream and chives or green onion. Serve warm.
Broil: Place loaded potatoes back under the broiler for about 3-4 minutes until the cheese is nice and bubbly.
Serve: Remove from oven and top with sour cream and chives or green onion. Serve warm.
More Filling and Topping Ideas:
- Taco Style: Fill with taco seasoned ground beef and top with your favorite taco toppings.
- Sloppy Joe: Fill potato skins with sloppy joe beef filling.
- Chicken Enchilada: Fill with chicken enchilada filling.
- Pulled Pork: Load each potato skin with flavored, shredded pulled pork. Top with the best mango pineapple slaw.
- Mac and Cheese: Fill them with homemade mac and cheese for the ultimate comfort food.
For Air Fryer Potato Skins: Cook the potatoes in the air fryer using my air fryer potato instructions.
Storage and Freezing Instructions:
To Store: Keep leftover potato skins in the refrigerator. Rewarm them in the oven, air fryer, microwave.
To Freeze: Scoop the filling from the baked potato and allow the skins to cool. Store them in a freezer safe container for 2-3 months. Thaw them in the refrigerator overnight and then continue with broiling and filling the shells (step 5 of the recipe).
More Potato Recipes:
- Mashed Potatoes
- Air Fryer Baked Potato
- Potatoes Au Gratin
- Traditional Potato Salad
- Baked Potato Salad
- Funeral Potatoes
- Air Fryer Potato Wedges
- Breakfast Potatoes
- Creamed Potatoes and Peas
- Homemade French Fries
- Leek and Potato Soup
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Recipe
Loaded Potato Skins
Ingredients
- 6 small to medium sized Russet potatoes , washed and pat dry
- 8 ounces shredded cheddar cheese
- 8 slices bacon , cooked and crumbled
- 1/4 cup unsalted butter (half of a stick), melted
- sour cream , for topping
- chives (or green onion), chopped, for topping
- salt , to taste
- freshly ground black pepper , to taste
Instructions
- Bake Potatoes: Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Poke potatoes with a fork, place on a baking sheet and cook for 1 hour. Remove from the baking sheet, and allow to cool for about 15 minutes or until cool enough to handle.
- Cut Potatoes: For large potatoes, cut each potato lengthwise, into three sections, creating three long slices. (So each potato should yield two skins, plus a middle section that you can discard or use to make baked potato salad :). For small potatoes, just cut in half.
- Hollow out: Use a small spoon to scoop out some of the potato flesh in the center, leaving a thick layer near the skin, but hollowing it out slightly to create a "boat".
- Season: Turn your oven on to a high broil. Brush the potatoes with butter on the inside and outside and place them back onto the baking sheet. Season with salt and pepper.
- Broil for 7-8 minutes until the insides get a bit crispy from the melted butter.
- Add Cheese and bacon: Remove from the oven and add a generous amount of shredded cheese into each skin, topping with bacon pieces.
- Broil: Place back under the broiler for about 3-4 minutes until the cheese is melted and bubbly.
- Serve: Remove from oven and top with sour cream, chives or green onion. Serve warm.
- Store leftover potato skins in the refrigerator. Rewarm them in the oven or air fryer.
Notes
- Taco Style: Fill with taco seasoned ground beef and top with your favorite taco toppings.
- Sloppy Joe: Fill potato skins with sloppy joe beef filling.
- Chicken Enchilada: Fill with chicken enchilada filling.
- Pulled Pork: Load each potato skin with flavored, shredded pulled pork. Top with the best mango pineapple slaw.
- Mac and Cheese: Fill them with homemade mac and cheese for the ultimate comfort food.
Nutrition
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Adapted from Simple Comfort Food
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I originally shared this recipe January 2015. Updated February 2019 and December 2022.
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I made these with red potatoes and they tasted fantastic still with my limited ingredients. Added garlic powder and I’m glad I did. Simple recipe that leaves you room to add whatever you desire.
Love the simplicity of these. I’ve gotten in the habit of putting EVERYTHING on potato skins and all I taste is toppings. These let me enjoy the potato while still being plenty tasty! Very good recipe! Thank you!
I love these Delicious! I made them last night for my husband & I came out fabulous!
Thanks for the feedback–I’m so happy you liked them!
Amazing! Even though my broiler is whacked and burnt the edges, they were a big hit with big picky skins fans. Will watch over next time put on low broil!
Thanks!
Thanks for taking the time to comment Amy!
Amazing recipe
My 13 year old daughter wanted to learn how to cook as she is doing a school project. We adapted this recipe with one of our own. See if you like our version 🙂 (measurements and temperature adjusted as we live in England)
Loaded Potato Skins
Preparation Time 30 mins. Cooking Time 1 hr 10 mins
Ingredients
6 Medium sized baking potatoes, rinsed clean and patted dry
250g Grated Smoked Applewood Cheddar cheese
8-10 Slices of smoked back bacon (or Pancetta if you prefer)
Finely chopped spring onion
50g Unsalted butter (melted)
200g Sour cream
30g Fresh chives
Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste (optional)
Instructions
Preheat oven to 200 degrees Celsius. Pierce the potatoes with a knife or fork and place on a baking sheet and cook for 1 hour.
Whilst you are waiting for the potatoes to bake, finely chop the fresh chives and stir them into the sour cream to make your own sour cream and chive topping.
Remove from the baking sheet, and allow to cool for about 15 minutes.
Once your potatoes are cooled, use a sharp bread knife and cut each lengthwise in half.
Once you’ve cut all the potatoes, use a small spoon to scoop out a hollow in the potato to make a little boat. You still want to have a thick layer of potato near the skin, but you want it to be slightly hollowed out in the middle so you can fit as much ingredients in as possible.
Reduce the temperature of the oven to around 90 degrees Celsius. Brush the potatoes with butter on the inside and outside and place them back onto the baking sheet (Season with salt and pepper if you prefer for taste).
Cook for a further 5 minutes until the insides get a bit crispy from the melted butter.
Remove from the oven and add generous layers of cheese, bacon and spring onion into each skin, topping with a layer of cheese.
Place back into the oven for another 3-4 minutes until the cheese is nice and bubbly.
Remove from the oven and top with the sour cream and chives you made earlier. Serve warm. Yummy.
very good. but I would like a recipy witout mixing dairy and meat. can you recomend any?
You can substitute either the meat or the dairy. The end result will be different, but perfectly palatable.
Meat is simpler: just use extra cheese, or a full-fat cottage cheese.
Substituting dairy is more problematic: You can replace butter with a kosher-certified margarine, but there’s no really good substitute for cheese,.