Potato Skins
A crowd-pleasing pork built around small baking potatoes, shredded cheddar cheese and bacon — roughly 65 minutes start to finish, and rated medium to make. Below: the ingredients split into pantry staples and a quick shopping list, a built-in serving scaler, and the method in 7 steps.
You'll mainly reach for oven and frying pan / skillet. At medium difficulty across 7 steps, it's manageable with a little attention.
What you'll need
Shopping list (5)
Pantry staples (you likely have these)
🔁 Unit converter
How to make it
- Heat the oven to 200 C / 400 F, scrub the potatoes, prick them all over with a fork and bake directly on the rack for about 50 to 60 minutes, until tender when pierced.
- Meanwhile, fry the bacon in a pan over medium heat until crisp and fully cooked through, then drain on paper towels and crumble or chop into small pieces.
- When the potatoes are cool enough to handle, halve them lengthwise and scoop out most of the flesh, leaving a sturdy shell about 1 cm thick (reserve the flesh for another use).
- Brush the inside and outside of each potato shell with the vegetable oil and sprinkle with the garlic salt.
- Return the shells to the oven, cut side up, and bake for a further 10 minutes until the edges begin to crisp.
- Fill each skin with shredded cheddar and a scattering of the crumbled bacon, then bake for another 5 to 8 minutes until the cheese is melted and bubbling.
- Top with a dollop of sour cream, a sprinkle of chopped chives and a grind of black pepper, and serve hot.
You'll use: Oven · Frying pan / skillet · Pan · Large pot
Ingredient substitutions
- Sour Cream
- plain Greek yogurt · crème fraîche
Tips & common questions
How long does Potato Skins take to make?
About 65 minutes from start to finish — an estimate based on the 7 steps and 8 ingredients. Times vary with your kitchen and how much prep you do ahead.
What can I use instead of sour cream?
Try plain Greek yogurt. See the substitutions section above for more swaps.
Can I scale this recipe up or down?
Yes — use the servings control above the ingredients and every quantity rescales automatically (fractions included). Cooking times stay roughly the same; very large batches may need a little longer.
How should I store leftovers?
Cool leftovers quickly, refrigerate in an airtight container, and eat within 3 days. Reheat until piping hot throughout.
Related recipes
Potato Skins is an original recipe developed in-house by Consomee. Photo: Potato skins arranged on a plate as an appetizer.jpg by don_naked, CC BY-SA 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons. We add the serving scaler, ingredient tools, timing and structure on top — how we source recipes.