Ahh loaded potato skins…one of everyone’s favorites off the appetizer menu! But also, something that varies from restaurant to restaurant quality wise. This foolproof recipe is a crowd pleaser each and every time you make them!
What Makes Them Restaurant Style?
You know how everything (for the most part) you make at home is always slightly better for you because you don’t add that extra grease and or butter to whatever you’re making? Well let these be the exception to that!
The secret in ensuring they are restaurant style tasting is the added butter and seasoning that you add to the skins after the first round of baking. This addition of the butter and salty garlic flavoring allows for the potato skins to get more crispy and taste more like what you’d order from your favorite local bar food restaurant.
Ways to Reuse the Insides of the Potatoes
Once you finish the first round of baking the potatoes, you will cut them in half and shell out about half of the potato contents to ensure the potato halves are actual skins with a thin layer of potato. Rather than letting the insides of the potato go to waste, store the insides in an airtight container and repurpose one of the following ways:
- Loaded mashed potato bowl – Stir in some butter, sour cream, cheese and bacon and microwave for 30 second intervals, stirring in between.
- Mashed potatoes – Stir in a little milk, butter and sour cream and microwave for 30 second intervals, stirring in between.
- Hash browns – They may come out more like crunchy mashed potatoes as opposed to cubed home fries, BUT throw a little butter in a skillet over medium heat and let the potatoes cook until browned on one side. Flip them and brown on the other side. Remove from heat and add a little sea salt.
Ingredients
Makes 8 potato skins
- 4 Idaho potatoes
- 2 tbsp butter
- 1 tsp garlic salt
- 1 c shredded cheddar cheese
- 3 cooked strips of bacon – crumbled
- 1 jalapeño – diced
- ½ c sour cream
Instructions
- Bake the whole potatoes for about 40 minutes at 375 degrees Fahrenheit.
- Remove the potatoes from the oven and cut in half while they are still hot.
- Using a spoon, scoop out about half of the potato from each potato skin to create a bowl-like shape. I like the skins to have about a potato thickness of about a centimeter.
- Spread potato skins on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper or foil.
- Melt the butter and stir in the garlic salt in a small bowl.
- Using a marinating brush, brush butter evenly on shelled out potato skins.
- Evenly top the potato skins with cheese and crumbled bacon.
- Return the potato skins to the oven and bake for 10-12 minutes.
- Remove from the oven, top with jalapeño and serve immediately with sour cream on the side for dipping.
