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Mini Twice Baked Potatoes are like appetizer-sized potato skins with the volume turned up. Although this party snack recipe tastes like it took all day, these bacon-studded beauties can be yours in just 35 minutes.
I’ve always had an infatuation with Twice Baked Potatoes as a side dish option. What’s not to love about cheesy, fluffy potatoes stuffed inside a crunchy potato skin, all topped with bacon, sour cream, and chives?
Since they’re pretty decadent and are somewhat of a labor of love, when I was a kid, my family never ate them as much as I’d like. But I’m delighted to be making up for lost time thanks to this quicker, party-friendly format that can be ready to serve and savor in a mere 35 minutes.
These Mini Twice Baked Potatoes are endlessly customizable (see fun topping ideas below to take this appetizer recipe on a trip around the globe!) and are always a hit when I share them as part of a game-day menu, a holiday appetizer, or at a potluck.
Table of Contents
Recipe ingredients
At a Glance: Here is a quick snapshot of what ingredients are in this recipe.
Please see the recipe card below for specific quantities.
Ingredient notes
- Baby potatoes: Red or white-skinned; either is fantastic. Seek out similarly-sized, small round potatoes for easy snack-ability and even cooking time.
- Olive oil: A light coating on the skin of the baby potatoes acts like “glue” for the salt as the spuds bake, plus lends a lovely sheen and crisp texture to the potato skin.
- Scallions or chives: Dill or any other favorite herbs you crave and have handy will also work as a garnish for these bite-sized snacks.
- Bacon: Once you crumble or chop it, just 2 strips of cooked bacon go a long way to lend a salty and savory punch to these Mini Twice Baked Sweet Potatoes.
Step-by-step instructions
- Preheat the oven to 450 degrees. Prick each potato a few times with a fork. Arrange the potatoes in a single layer on a microwave-safe plate lined with paper towels. Microwave on HIGH for 4 minutes. Turn the potatoes over and microwave for an additional 4 minutes on HIGH.
- Using an oven mitt or kitchen towel to handle the hot potatoes, halve each potato lengthwise and scoop out the middle into a medium bowl, leaving 1/4″ layer of potato on the side of each skin.
- Arrange the potato halves cut side down (skin side up) on a baking sheet. Brush with olive oil and sprinkle liberally with salt. Bake for 10 minutes or until the skins are crispy. Remove from the oven and set oven to broil.
- Meanwhile, to the bowl with the scooped potato filling add cheese, sour cream, scallions, butter, 1 teaspoon salt, and ½ teaspoon pepper. Mix well.
- Divide the filling among the crisped potato skins.
- Return filled potato skins to the oven and broil until cheese is melted and bubbly. Remove from oven and top with bacon bits. Garnish with parsley if desired and serve warm.
Recipe tips and variations
- Yield: My Mini Twice Baked Potato recipe makes eight servings, each with 4-half baby potato bites (for 2 potatoes per person).
- Storage: Store leftovers covered in the refrigerator for up to 4 days.
- Make ahead: These mini potato skins can be assembled a day in advance. Bake right before serving time.
- Craving more cheese and potatoes? Go full-size with Twice Baked Potatoes, shareable Irish Nachos are a guaranteed crowd-pleaser, or try a classic side of Duchess Potatoes along size your favorite entree.
Recipe FAQs
I’ll coach you through this classic dinner side dish idea via my Russet-based Twice Baked Potatoes recipe.
Consider leftover chicken, shredded pepper jack cheese, corn, and roasted peppers for a Mexican twist. Or for an Italian riff, try cooked and crumbled chorizo, shredded Mozzarella, diced tomatoes, and basil (or bruschetta).
This is the same technique I use to bake potatoes in half the time. A quick shift microwave trims a lot of oven time from the recipe; leaving fewer minutes between you and a platter of Mini Twice Baked Potatoes!
Twice-Baked Potatoes
A true steakhouse classic, Twice Baked Potatoes are doubly delicious and easy to make ahead. These show-stealers are loaded up with lots of cheddar, bacon, and scallions for major flavor in every bite. Twice Baked…
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Baked Potato Skins
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Mini Twice Baked Potato Skins
Ingredients
- 16 baby potatoes scrubbed (about 1 ½ pounds, see note 1)
- 2 tablespoons olive oil (see note 2)
- Salt and freshly ground black pepper
- ½ cup shredded cheddar cheese
- ¼ cup sour cream or plain Greek yogurt
- 2 tablespoons chives or scallions, plus more for garnish (see note 3)
- 1 tablespoon butter melted
- 2 strips cooked bacon crumbled (see note 4)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 450 degrees. Prick each potato a few times with a fork. Arrange the potatoes in a single layer on a microwave-safe plate lined with paper towels.
- Microwave on HIGH for 4 minutes. Turn the potatoes over and microwave for an additional 4 minutes on HIGH.
- Using an oven mitt or kitchen towel to handle the hot potatoes, halve each potato lengthwise and scoop out the middle into a medium bowl, leaving 1/4″ layer of potato on the side of each skin.
- Arrange the potato halves cut side down (skin side up) on a baking sheet. Brush with olive oil and sprinkle liberally with salt.
- Bake for 10 minutes or until the skins are crispy. Remove from the oven and set oven to broil.
- Meanwhile, to the bowl with the scooped potato filling add cheese, sour cream, scallions, butter, 1 teaspoon salt, and ½ teaspoon pepper. Mix well.
- Divide the filling among the crisped potato skins. Return filled potato skins to the oven and broil until cheese is melted and bubbly. Remove from oven and top with bacon bits. Garnish with parsley if desired and serve warm.
Notes
- Baby potatoes: Red or white-skinned; either is fantastic. Seek out similarly-sized, small round potatoes for easy snack-ability and even cooking time.
- Olive oil: A light coating on the skin of the baby potatoes acts like “glue” for the salt as the spuds bake, plus lends a lovely sheen and crisp texture to the potato skin.
- Scallions or chives: Dill or any other favorite herbs you crave and have handy will also work as a garnish for these bite-sized snacks.
- Bacon: Once you crumble or chop it, just 2 strips of cooked bacon go a long way to lend a salty and savory punch to these Mini Twice Baked Sweet Potatoes.
- Yield: My Mini Twice Baked Potato recipe makes eight servings, each with 4-half baby potato bites (for 2 potatoes per person).
- Storage: Store leftovers covered in the refrigerator for up to 4 days.
- Make ahead: These mini potato skins can be assembled a day in advance. Bake right before serving time.
Nutrition
Meggan Hill is a classically-trained chef and professional writer. Her meticulously-tested recipes and detailed tutorials bring confidence and success to home cooks everywhere. Meggan has been featured on NPR, HuffPost, FoxNews, LA Times, and more.
Megan – If I want to make this for our grad party – one of many appetizers (charcuterie, mini sandwiches, sushi, meatballs, veggies, etc)……how many do you think I should make per person? 2-3? Since originally posting this, have you tried freezing them?
Thank you!
Hi Melissa! Thank you so much for your questions! I like to prepare 4 halves/2 potatoes per person. I still haven’t tried to freeze them, but if I were to I would I would bake them, adding fresh parsley garnish at the end. Allow to cool and place them on a baking sheet covered in plastic in the freezer. Once they are frozen, I would transfer them to a freezer-safe ziptop storage bag and freeze them until ready to use. Reheat in a 350-degree oven until they are cooked through and register 165 degrees in the center on a digital thermometer. I hope your grad party is great! – Meggan
I just hosted a party last night and made these! They were the biggest hit and I wish I had prepped some more. I’m vegan and it was very easy to veganise this recipe. Just swapped to vegan cheese, butter and bacon. I left out the sour cream and added a splash of soy milk. These are so tasty and perfect for a party.
Glad they were a hit, Elina! I’m glad it was easy to substitute ingredients! – Meggan
So Good! Had requests for the recipe and for any leftovers! Will Certainly make again.
Hi Terri, that’s so great! I’m so happy to hear that! They are so good, just tiny little bites of potato with the best toppings. I’m glad they worked out. Thank you for the comment! -Meggan