This recipe for potato skins is Russet potato halves topped with cheese and bacon, then baked to crispy perfection and finished with sour cream and green onions. A classic appetizer that’s easy to make and always a crowd pleaser!
I love to serve a variety of hot appetizers when I’m entertaining, including baked buffalo wings, jalapeno poppers and these loaded potato skins.
Baked potato skins are popular for good reason – who can resist the combination of bacon, cheese and sour cream? Not me! These homemade potato snacks are SO much better than anything you’d buy in the freezer section, and they’re easy to make too!
For more great potato appetizer recipes, take a look at my homemade french fries, Irish nachos, chili cheese fries and carne asada fries!
Table of Contents
Potato Skins Ingredients
For this crispy potato skins recipe you will need potatoes, olive oil, salt and black pepper to season the potatoes. Next up you will want toppings which include shredded cheese, bacon, sour cream and green onions. Put everything together and you’ll have the ultimate appetizer. See the recipe card below for amounts and details.
- Potatoes: I use small Russet potatoes for this recipe. Look for potatoes that are the right size to pick up as a loaded potato skin. Avoid red potatoes and Yukon Gold potatoes because they don’t have good skins for this recipe.
- Olive Oil: The olive oil is used to cook and season the potato skins. Since the oil helps flavor the skins, you will want to use olive oil instead of another type of cooking oil.
- Toppings: For the toppings you can use anything you like. Classic potato skins have loaded baked potato toppings like cheddar cheese, bacon crumbles, sour cream and green onions. I have more fun ideas in the “flavor variations” section below.
How Do You Make Potato Skins?
To make potato skins, first bake some small Russet potatoes for about an hour, or until softened. Slice the potatoes in half and scoop out the insides with a spoon or melon baller making the “skins.” Leave 1/4 to 1/2 inch of potato flesh on the inside of the skins.
Place the potatoes on a baking sheet or a sheet pan. Brush the skins with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper to taste. Bake the potato skins until crisp, then add shredded cheese and bacon on top. The potatoes get one more trip through the oven, then add sour cream and green onions. Serve and enjoy!
Tips For The Perfect Potato Skins
- For an elegant look, use a piping bag or resealable bag with the tip cut off to pipe sour cream on the potato skins.
- Don’t use pre-shredded cheddar cheese as it is coated in anti caking agents and doesn’t melt well.
- I use kitchen shears to cut my raw bacon into small squares. Then I cook the squares in a pan until done and place the bacon on a paper towel to drain the grease.
- I recommend preparing your bacon while your potatoes bake. If your bacon finishes before your potatoes, just place the cooked bacon in an airtight container in the fridge until you are ready to sprinkle it on your potatoes.
- Make sure to wash your potatoes and scrub any dirt off the outside.
- If you accidentally remove too much potato while hollowing out the skins, just take some of the removed potato and press it back into place.
- No green onions on hand? Feel free to use chives instead.
Quick Tip
When choosing your potatoes, pick the smallest Russet potatoes you can find. You want smaller potatoes because they will be easy to serve as a handheld snack and will maintain their shape better than larger potatoes.
Recipe FAQs
To bake a potato, simply wash and dry the potato, prick it with a fork and place it in the oven at 400 degrees F. The potato needs to stay in the oven for about an hour or until softened. The bake time will vary depending on the size of the potatoes.
Leftovers will stay fresh in the refrigerator for 2 days. You can place the skins back in the oven to warm them through and crisp them up. I recommend removing the sour cream and green onions before they go back into the oven, then put fresh toppings on after they’re heated through.
The total bake time for this recipe is 1 hour and 20 minutes, which takes into account the time to bake the whole potatoes, as well as crisp up the skins.
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Flavor Variations
Classic potato skins are delicious baked potatoes in the palm of your hand, but there are other flavors you can incorporate.
- Mexican: You can substitute Mexican chorizo sausage instead of bacon and add black beans. You can also cook ground beef with taco seasoning and put that on the potatoes.
- Chili: You can use a spoonful of beef chili instead of bacon on the skins.
- Cheesesteak: You can add diced cooked steak and bell peppers to the skins. For this version, do not add bacon.
- Veggie: Skip the bacon and add some finely diced chopped veggies such as broccoli, shredded carrots and red bell peppers.
- Meat Lovers: Add other types of meat to the filling such as cooked crumbled sausage, diced ham or cooked diced chicken
- Lighter: If you’re looking to make this a healthier recipe you can use center cut bacon or turkey bacon, reduced fat cheese and reduced fat sour cream.
- Pizza: Spoon a little marinara sauce on your skins then sprinkle on shredded mozzarella cheese and mini pepperonis.
- Dips: You can dip the skins in homemade ranch dressing, salsa fresca or blue cheese dressing.
These potatoes are amazing and are so much better than restaurant or frozen versions. They are great for a party or just for an every day snack.
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Potato Skins
Ingredients
- 6 small Russet potatoes
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- salt and pepper to taste
- 1 1/4 cups shredded cheddar cheese
- 3/4 cup bacon cooked and crumbled
- 3/4 cup sour cream
- 1/3 cup green onions sliced
- cooking spray
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Coat a sheet pan with cooking spray.
- Prick the potatoes with a fork and bake for one hour or until softened.
- Cut the potatoes in half. Carefully scoop out the insides of each potato half, leaving a 1/4 – 1/2 inch rim.
- Turn the oven heat to 450 degrees F. Brush the potato skins with olive oil and season with salt and pepper to taste.
- Bake the potato skins for 10 minutes, then flip them over and bake for 10 minutes on the other side.
- Fill each potato skin with cheese and bacon. Return to the oven and bake for 2-3 minutes or until cheese has melted.
- Place the sour cream in a piping bag or resealable freezer bag with one corner snipped off. Pipe a dollop of sour cream onto each potato.
- Sprinkle with green onions, then serve immediately.
Notes
- Pick the smallest Russet potatoes you can find. You want smaller potatoes because they will be easy to serve as a handheld snack and will maintain their shape better than larger potatoes.
- For an elegant look, use a piping bag or resealable bag with the tip cut off to pipe the sour cream onto the potato skins.
The scooped out potato isn’t mentioned
The scooped out potato is not used in the recipe, otherwise there’s not room in the skins for all the toppings.
I’m sorry, I was thinking twice baked, not skins. Thank you for the reply.
I wanted to make these for christmas dinner. Can I make them a day ahead and just heat them up in the oven the day of?
You could bake the potatoes ahead of time, but I’d wait to add all the toppings until you reheat them!