Loaded Potato Skins
Updated Oct 06, 2025
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These loaded potato skins are crispy, cheesy, and absolutely irresistible. They’re the kind of appetizer that disappears before you’ve even put the tray down. Comforting, crowd-pleasing, and gloriously old-school in all the right ways. With crispy potato shells, gooey melted cheese, salty bacon, and that cool dollop of sour cream, they hit every single snacky craving. And, yes, they’re just as much fun to make as they are to eat.
If you’re looking for the ultimate game day snack, party appetizer, or just a reason to bake potatoes and load them up with all the good stuff, you’ve come to the right place.
These crispy baked loaded potato skins are everything you want them to be: golden brown shells with a salty crunch, a nice cushion of fluffy potatoes, a blanket of melted cheese, crispy bacon crumbles, and a generous spoonful of sour cream with a sprinkle of chives or scallions. They’re nostalgic, totally satisfying, and easier to make than you think. And they disappear fast.
What's In This Post?
It’s so exciting when one of your favorite bar foods turns out to be something you can easily make at home. Think of this recipe for game day parties, binge-watching your favorite series, or when you have a gaggle of teenagers in the house.
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If you leave out the bacon, these potato skins are vegetarian (or try Vegan Loaded Potato Skins with black beans, vegan cheese, sour cream, and avocado). I feel like these beg for a beer alongside, but that’s up to you.
Ingredients
These ingredients are simple and humble, and you might even have them at home at this very moment. If not, you can pick them up in a minute at any grocery store.
- Potatoes – Choose potatoes that aren’t too huge, so the proportion of filling ingredients feels right to the actual potato skins. You want a good balance of potato and filling. Choose all-purpose or Russet potatoes that are around 5 to 8 ounces each. Give them a good scrub – but obviously, don’t peel them!
- Bacon – You can cook the bacon in the skillet as directed, or you can bake your bacon, especially if you’re going to have the oven on for the potatoes anyway. Or try air frying the bacon.
- Olive oil – To brush the skins so they crisp up nicely in the oven.
- Shredded cheese – I like a combo of sharp cheddar cheese and Monterey Jack cheese, but you can use the melting cheese of your choice. A Mexican blend is also a good choice.
Toppings:
- Sour cream
- Chopped fresh chives – You can use chopped or sliced scallions or green onions instead.
How to Make Crispy Potato Skin Boats
- Bake the potatoes: Preheat the oven to 375°F. Prick each potato with a fork several times (this prevents them from possibly exploding in the oven). Bake the potato directly on the oven rack for about 1 hour, until a small, sharp knife slides into the potatoes easily. Remove the potatoes from the oven and raise the temperature to 425°F (unless you plan to finish the potato skins at another time – then just preheat the oven to 425°F when you are ready to bake the potato skins).
- Cook the bacon: Frying it is most common, but you can also bake the bacon.
Put Your Air Fryer to Work!
Instead of baking or frying in these first two steps, try air fryer potatoes and air fryer bacon. One appliance instead of two!
- Prepare the potato skins: When the potatoes are cool enough to handle, halve them lengthwise. Scoop out most of the insides, reserving them for another use (see Recipe Note), leaving a 1/4-inch layer of potato inside the skin.
- Bake: Brush the insides and the outsides of the skins with olive oil, season with salt and pepper, and place them on a rimmed baking sheet, cut sides up. Bake the potato skins for about 20 minutes until crispy.
- Take the skins from the oven and divide the cheeses and the bacon evenly between the potato skins.
- Finish and serve: Bake for about 5 more minutes until the cheeses have melted. Serve the potato skins dolloped with sour cream and sprinkled with chives or scallions.
Make-Ahead
- You can make these in stages: bake (or air fry) the potatoes, then hollow out the shells, then bake (or air fry) the skins, and then add the filling for one last bake (or air fry!). The steps are all very straightforward, and nothing takes much hands-on time, but if you want to space out the process, that’s easy.
- The cooked potatoes can be stored in the fridge for up to 3 days. You can slice them in half and scoop them out just before the second baking and filling, or you can scoop them out and store them in the fridge that way.
Loaded Potato Skin Tips and Tricks
I like to use a measuring tablespoon to scoop out the baked potatoes. Make sure to leave a shell of about 1/4-inch of potato in the skins when you scoop them out. You don’t want to scoop out all of the potato; you want a layer of the tender potato in contrast with the crispy exterior.
The scooped-out part of the potato can be turned into all kinds of other deliciousness, like mashed potatoes (or herb mashed potatoes), Shepherd’s Pie, Cottage Pie, Colcannon, or Mashed Potato Cakes.
Turn the heat up after you finish baking the whole potatoes, so it’s at a higher temperature for baking the skins.
What to Serve With Loaded Potato Skins
If you wanted to make a meal of these, I would pair them with a big old salad like this crunchy green salad or maybe a wedge salad if you’re really feeling indulgent.
If you wanted to make a little spread of bar food…well, I wish I was there, I’ll just say that. These would be delicious with:
- Hot Crab Dip
- Baked Chicken Flautas or Baked Vegetarian Flautas
- Air Fryer Buffalo Chicken Wings
- Nachos
- Cheesy Ground Beef Quesadillas
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Loaded Baked Potato Skins
Ingredients
- 6 large baking (russet) potatoes (about 3 pounds; scrubbed)
- 6 slices bacon
- ¼ cup olive oil
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- Freshly ground black pepper (to taste)
- 1 cup shredded sharp cheddar cheese
- 1 cup shredded Monterey Jack cheese
- ½ cup sour cream
- ¼ cup chopped fresh chives
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 375 F. Prick each potato with a fork several times (this prevents them from possibly exploding in the oven). Bake the potato directly on the oven rack for about 1 hour, until a small, sharp knife slides into the potatoes easily. Remove the potatoes from the oven and raise the temperature to 425 F (unless you plan to finish the potato skins at another time – then just preheat the oven to 425°F when you are ready to bake the potato skins).
- Meanwhile cook the bacon. Line a plate with paper towels. In a skillet over medium heat until crispy, turning as needed, about 5 minutes total. Drain the bacon on the paper towels, and then crumble or chop the bacon when cool.
- When the potatoes are cool enough to handle, halve them lengthwise. Scoop out most of the insides, reserving them for another use (see Note), leaving a 1/4-inch layer of potato inside the skin. Brush the insides and the outsides of the skins with olive oil, season with salt and pepper, and place them on a rimmed baking sheet, cut sides up. Bake the potato skins for about 20 minutes until crispy. Take the skins from the oven and divide the cheeses and the bacon evenly between the potato skins. Bake for about 5 more minutes until the cheeses have melted.
- Serve the potato skins dolloped with sour cream and sprinkled with chives.
