How To Make Potato Skins

Potato Skins

Crispy, cheesy potato skins are baked, then topped with cheddar cheese, salary, sour cream, and green onions. Make this like shooting fish in a barrel appetizer for your next political party!

Updated September 13, 2021

There is cipher like a plate full of crispy irish potato skins, filled with melty cheddar cheese, and topped with bacon bits, sour cream and greenish onions.

The first time I had these I was 21 years old, at an outdoor buffet on Newbury Street in Boston; I thought I had died and gone to sky.

Oh for the days of youth when 1 could eat spud skins with wild carelessness! I could eat a whole plate dorsum and then (and drink a pitcher of beer along with information technology) and be none the worse. Sigh.

The Secret to the Best Potato Skins: Bake, Don't Fry!

These potato skins are like shooting fish in a barrel to make. Some approaches call for deep frying, but I don't think it is really necessary. You lot just want to bake the skins at a high plenty estrus and so that they become crispy plenty to concur the toppings.

Kelly Hamilton

The Best Potatoes for Potato Skins

Russets make the all-time potatoes for these classic potato skins because of their they're big and their peel is tough enough to handle the preparation.

While other potatoes such as cerise potatoes or Yukon aureate potatoes will sense of taste skillful using this preparation, their thinner skins make them more than hard to work with. The skins will more hands rip while scooping, specially considering you pierce the skin in Step 1, creating minor tears already.

Tips for Baking a Irish potato

If you're new to baking potatoes, check out How to Bake a Potato for foolproof step-by-step instructions. If you desire just a few tips to broil a better irish potato, follow these.

Russets make the best blistering potatoes, but remember that the bigger the potato, the longer the baking time.
Poke holes in them to avert explosions and allow some of their moisture to escape.
Rub oil on the skins and sprinkle with kosher table salt.
Skip wrapping in foil.
To bank check for doneness, slide a fork or a skewer into the white potato. If it slides in and out easily, the white potato is done.

Topping Variations to Try

Cheese, sour cream, and chives are the classic topping for potato skins, but sometimes it's fun to switch it up.

Chili (with or without sour cream and chives)
Buffalo-sauced chicken and bluish cheese
Bacon, fried onions, and blue cheese
Cooked shaved steak, fried onions, and American cheese
Cooked broccoli and cheddar cheese

Make Ahead Tips for Potato Skins

Follow Steps ane, 3, and iv, baking, scooping, and roasting the skins. Then allow the roasted skins to cool completely and place them in a tightly sealed container for up to 2 days. When information technology comes time to bake the topped potatoes, bring the refrigerated skins to room temperature, and start at Step 5.

You tin as well cook the bacon alee of time, as it's done in Pace two, and refrigerate upward to four days. Bring to room temperature before adding them to the skins in Step 5.

Prep the cheese and greenish onions up to 2 days ahead of time, too, refrigerating them until needed.

Attempt These Recipes to Use Up the Insides of the Potatoes!

Easy Shepherd's Pie
Murphy Dinner Rolls
Bootleg Potato Breadstuff
Brand-Ahead Mashed Potatoes
Dull-Cooker Mashed Potatoes

If you have a potato whose pare or flesh has turned green, cut out those parts, do not use them. The green indicates the presence of a toxin that develops when potatoes are exposed to sunlight.

half-dozen medium (3 pounds) russet potatoes
Extra virgin olive oil
Kosher common salt
Freshly ground pepper
6 slices salary
four ounces grated cheddar cheese
one/2 loving cup sour cream
ii light-green onions, thinly sliced

Bake the potatoes:

Scrub the potatoes clean and so bake the potatoes using your favorite method, either oven or microwave. If using an oven, pierce a few times with a sharp pocketknife or the tines of a fork, rub with olive oil and broil in a 400°F oven for almost an hr until the potatoes are cooked through and give a footling when pressed.

If using a microwave, pierce the potato a few times with a sharp knife of the tines of a fork, rub all over with olive oil and melt on the high setting for about five minutes per irish potato.

I have found that blistering the potatoes in a conventional oven yields potatoes that are easier to work with (cut and scoop out), the irish potato seems to attach to the skins a little better, simply at that place is hardly a discernible deviation in the last production.

Kelly Hamilton
Melt the salary:

While the potatoes are cooking, cook the salary strips in a frying pan on medium depression estrus for 10 to 15 minutes, or until crisp. Drain on paper towels. Let cool. Crumble.

Kelly Hamilton
Cutting the potatoes in half and scoop out the insides:

Remove the potatoes from the oven and allow cool enough to handle. Cutting in half horizontally. Utilize a spoon to carefully scoop out the insides, reserving the scooped potatoes for another use, leaving virtually 1/4 of an inch of potato on the skin.

Kelly Hamilton
Bake the potato skins:

Increase the heat of the oven to 450°F. Brush or rub olive oil all over the potato skins, exterior and in. Sprinkle with table salt.

Place on a baking rack in a roasting pan (don't utilise a cookie sheet, it will warp, use a roasting pan or broiler pan that tin accept the heat).

Cook for 10 minutes on one side, then flip the skins over and cook for another ten minutes. Remove from oven and let cool enough to handle.

Kelly Hamilton

Kelly Hamilton
Add the cheese and bacon and bake again:

Suit the potato skins peel-side down on the roasting pan or rack. Sprinkle the insides with freshly basis black pepper, cheddar cheese, and crumbled bacon.

Render to the oven. Bake for an additional 2 minutes, or until the cheese is bubbly. Remove from oven.

Kelly Hamilton

Kelly Hamilton
Top with sour cream and green onions to serve:

Use tongs to place skins on a serving plate. Add together a dollop of sour foam to each peel, sprinkle with green onions.

Serve immediately.

Kelly Hamilton

Nutrition Facts (per serving)
379	Calories
17g	Fat
45g	Carbs
14g	Protein

Nutrition Facts
Servings: 4 to vi
Amount per serving
Calories	379
% Daily Value*
Full Fat 17g	21%
Saturated Fatty 7g	36%
Cholesterol 41mg	14%
Sodium 398mg	17%
Full Sugar 45g	xvi%
Dietary Fiber 5g	17%
Total Sugars 3g
Protein 14g
Vitamin C 20mg	101%
Calcium 190mg	15%
Fe 2mg	13%
Potassium 1195mg	25%
*The % Daily Value (DV) tells you how much a nutrient in a food serving contributes to a daily diet. ii,000 calories a day is used for general nutrition communication.

Nutrition information is calculated using an ingredient database and should be considered an approximate. In cases where multiple ingredient alternatives are given, the first listed is calculated for diet. Garnishes and optional ingredients are not included.