The concept of loaded potato skins is amazing. However, very few restaurants or recipes deliver on their potential. Usually, there is too much potato, not enough toppings, not enough seasoning and no crunch. This recipes fixes all of that with a few tweaks. The most important being the type, size and preparation of the potato. Forgo the traditional large russet potatoes and grab small to medium size Yukon Gold potatoes instead.
Similar to my smashed potatoes recipe, the Yukon Golds soften in boiling water then get smashed on a half size sheet pan and baked until deeply golden brown and crunchy on bottom. The only difference in the preparation between the two recipes is instead of coating the pan with olive oil, we use the rendered fat from the bacon that gets cooked first. The bacon fat gives an incredible smoky flavor to the potatoes and helps brown the bottoms beatifully. Once the potatoes are smashed they get a drizzle of more bacon fat then seasoned liberally with garlic powder, onion powder, kosher salt and black pepper. Before they go into the oven each smashed potato is covered in shredded cheese.
The potatos bake on the bottom rack to ensure the bottoms get brown and crispy. The shredded cheese bakes to the point of being almost burnt. If you’ve never had cheese like this, it is incredible. The cheese takes on a whole new nutty flavor profile. Once cooked more cheese is added to bring the desired melty creaminess plus sour cream. Cooked bacon and chopped chives finish off the toppings. Taste to see if the potatoes need a final salting. Serve immediately. These crispy loaded potato skins truly meet their full potential in this recipe. Enjoy!
Crispy Loaded Potato Skins
Ingredients
- 15 medium yukon gold potatoes
- 1 lb bacon cooked, crumbled
- reserved bacon fat
- 2 c shredded cheddar or colby jack cheese
- 1 c sour cream
- 1 bunch chives chopped
- kosher salt
- black pepper
- onion powder
- garlic powder
Instructions
- Dice and cook bacon on the stovetop over medium heat. Once crispy, remove and place on paper towels. Strain and reserve the bacon fat.
- Preheat oven to 425 degrees
- Add small to medium sized Yukon Gold potatoes to boiling water. Once the water re-reaches a boil, set a timer for 14 minutes.
- Strain the potatoes.
- To a half size sheet pan pour the reserved bacon fat in 2 teaspoon size pours all over the sheet pan. You'll need 15 evenly spaced out pools.
- Smash each potato with the bottom of a glass over each of the pools of bacon fat.
- Drizzle each potato with a little more bacon fat on top.
- Season the potatoes liberally with garlic powder, onion powder, kosher salt and black pepper.
- Top each potato with a handful of shredded cheese. Try not to get the cheese on the pan itself.
- Bake on the bottom rack of the oven for 28 minutes.
- Check the bottoms of the potatoes. If the ones on the outside are brown and crispy rearrange to the middle of the pan. Move the ones from the middle to the outside where heat concentrates so they brown as well. Put back in for 5 minutes on the bottom rack.
- Once all the potatoes are beautifully brown on bottom and have an almost-burnt cheese top remove from the oven and top with more cheese.
- Put back in the oven just until the cheese melts.
- Top with sour cream, cooked bacon crumbles and chopped chives. Taste to see if the potatoes need a sprinkle of salt. Serve immediately.