Quick and Easy Loaded Potato Skins made three ways! Perfect for game day or a Super bowl party. The secret to this easy appetizer is in the potato!
I’ve said it before… potatoes are my love language. I can give up gluten… not potatoes. These loaded potato skins would be great for your next game day party, especially alongside these awesome wings! I made them three ways; traditional cheddar & bacon, buffalo chicken style, and jalapeño popper. All of which were seriously good! Not to mention, this trio of loaded potato skins is brought to you by a sneaky little hack that makes these one of the quickest and easiest appetizers you’ll ever make!
The Secret Ingredient
Potato skins are traditionally kind of a hassle to make! You’ve got to bake the potato, let it cool, scoop out the insides, bake it again, fill it with stuff, and then bake them again. I mean who has time for that?! Not me, that’s for sure! That’s why I’ve been using this semi-homemade trick! Enter:
Naked potato skins! You can find them in the freezer section at Kroger! I found these guys a while ago and it’s been a potato skin frenzy in our house ever since. They are real potatoes, prepped, frozen, and ready to be loaded. All you have to do is pre-bake them, fill them, and bake again. It saves so much time and effort!
Filling Ingredients for Loaded Potato Skins
So we have the potato part covered and I’m super pumped about that sneaky hack. When it comes to the filling, you can use whatever want! Stuff them with cheeses, bacon, pizza toppings… anything that sounds good! I made three versions:
- Traditional: crumbled bacon, cheddar cheese, green onion & sour cream.
- Buffalo: shredded buffalo chicken, Monterey Jack cheese, green onion and ranch dressing.
- Jalapeño Popper: cream cheese, roasted & diced jalapeños, and cheddar cheese.
For the buffalo chicken, I used the Instant Pot and followed what I did in this Buffalo Chicken Salad recipe. Here’s the gist though:
- Put chicken breasts and buffalo wing sauce in the instant pot.
- Press Poultry/Manual button for 12-15 min.
- NPR & Shred the chicken.
For the jalapeños you can roast and dice them yourself or buy them canned. To roast and dice the jalapeños yourself:
- Place 3 jalapeños on a baking sheet.
- Roast in a 425° oven for 10-15 min, rotating to char all sides.
- Place peppers in a bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Let steam for 5 minutes.
- Scrape the skins off of the jalapeños, remove the seeds, and dice.
Assembling the Loaded Potato Skins
- Pre-bake the naked skins until crispy.
- Load with cheeses, chicken, jalapeños, and bacon as desired.
- Bake until cheeses are melted, bubbly, and warmed through.
- Top with remaining toppings: green onions and ranch dressing as desired.
- Serve immediately.
All in all this appetizer comes together in under 30 minutes! I like keeping a box of these naked potato skins stashed in the freezer. When the need strikes, you’ve got all you need for a quick lunch or easy appetizer!
Quick and Easy Loaded Potato Skins – 3 ways!
Ingredients
- 1 lb box naked potato skins in freezer aisle
Toppings:
- 3 slices bacon cooked and crumbled
- 1/3 cup cream cheese Softened
- 1 cup cheddar cheese
- 1 cup Monterey Jack cheese
- 4 oz roasted & diced jalapeños canned
- 1/2 cup shredded buffalo chicken
- 1 small bunch green onions sliced
- 1/4 cup ranch dressing
- 1/4 cup sour cream
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 425°F. Arrange potato skins on a sheet pan, cut side up. Bake for 10 min.
- Remove the potato skins from the oven. Top 1/3 of the potatoes with cheddar cheese and bacon. Top the next 1/3 with about 1 Tablespoon of cream cheese, a sprinkle of cheddar cheese and diced jalapeños. Top the last 1/3 with shredded buffalo chicken and Monterey Jack cheese.
- Put the potato skins back in the oven and bake for 5-10 more minutes or until filling is hot, cheese is bubbly, the tops are light golden brown, and the potatoes look crispy.
- Remove from the oven and put a dollop of sour cream on the cheddar bacon potatoes. Drizzle the buffalo chicken skins with ranch. Sprinkle green onion on the bacon and buffalo potato skins.
- Serve immediately.
Notes
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Happy Cooking!
I didn’t know you could buy empty potato skins! What a great discovery and recipe! Thanks for posting this.