This crispy Potato Skins recipe is easy to make at home and loaded with melted cheese, bacon, sour cream, and chives. Perfect as a game day snack or crowd-pleasing appetizer, these baked potato skins come out golden and delicious every time.
Baked Potato Skins come out crispy and delicious, every time.
Baked Potato Skins come out crispy and delicious, every time.Potato Skins are everything I love in a hearty appetizer; crispy, cheesy, salty, and totally satisfying. The combination of a crispy potato, melted cheese, smoky bacon, and a dollop of sour cream with chives is a flavor explosion in every bite! I always reach for russet potatoes because they get perfectly crisp in the oven, and I like using smaller ones when serving a crowd (they’re the ideal two-bite snack).
If you want them more filling, go for larger potatoes and leave a bit more of the insides intact. Whether it's game day, a family get-together, or a casual snack night, these baked potato skins are always a hit!
Check out my other appetizers, like Gazpacho, Pan con Tomate, Whipped Goat Cheese, or Easy Shrimp Cocktail!
How to make Potato Skins:
Bake and Scoop: Bake potatoes on a baking sheet at 400ºF for 1 hour, or cook them in the air fryer. Cut small potatoes in half; for large potatoes, slice lengthwise into three sections and discard the middle (or save it for Baked Potato Salad!). Use a small spoon to scoop out some of the flesh, leaving a thick border to form a “boat.”
Add Toppings: Brush the inside and outside of each potato with butter and place on a baking sheet. Season with salt and pepper, then broil for 7–8 minutes. Remove from the oven, fill with shredded cheese and bacon, and broil again for 3–4 minutes until the cheese is melted and bubbly.
Serve: Garnish these loaded potato skins with sour cream and chives or green onion, and serve warm.
Follow me for more great recipes
Recipe
Crispy Potato Skins
Equipment
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.6 small to medium sized Russet potatoes
- 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.¼ cup unsalted butter, salt, freshly ground black 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.8 ounces shredded cheddar cheese, 8 slices bacon
- 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.sour cream, chives
- 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
Follow Me
I originally shared this recipe January 2015. Updated February 2019, December 2022 and October 2025.
Adapted from Simple Comfort Food
This post contains affiliate links.
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,.