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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.
Every party menu needs a selection of hot bites and cold snacks. As a classically-trained chef, I’ve had professional training and experience in catering and parties, and these mini potato bites are one of my favorites to serve (and eat).
The secret to these tiny spuds is to microwave the baby potatoes. This easy shortcut lets you fill them faster without having to boil a pot of water. Then, coat the skins with olive oil, salt, and pepper, and bake until crispy.
I used a combination of classic Loaded Baked Potato toppings like cheese, sour cream, bacon, and scallions. Feel free to customize your filling to the ingredients you love best, and then serve these mini twice-baked potatoes at game days, parties, and other gatherings all year round.
Table of Contents
Twice Baked Potato 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.
- 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.
How to Make Twice Baked Baby Potatoes
- 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.
Twice Baked Potato Recipe Tips
- 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, casserole-size with my Twice Baked Potato Casserole, shareable Irish Nachos are a guaranteed crowd-pleaser, or try a classic side of Duchess Potatoes along side your favorite entree.
How to Serve Mini Potatoes
Mini potatoes are delicious warm or at room temperature (they can sit out at room temperature for up to 2 hours, 1 hour if the temperature is higher than 90 degrees). I like to serve extra sour cream on the side or even salsa and guacamole (both of those taste great, even with the bacon!).
To round out your buffet, include another protein-based hot appetizer like Crockpot meatballs or Bacon-wrapped shrimp and a few cold snacks or dips. Veggie pizza, Tortilla Roll Ups, or Taco Dip are all delicious choices.
Loaded Baked Potato Toppings
My version is based on classic twice-baked potatoes and so these potatoes are filled with a fluffy potato mixture and sour cream, shredded cheddar cheese, bacon bits, and scallions. Here are some more delicious suggestions:
- Southwest: Omit the bacon and instead fry up some chorizo and drain well. Top with black olives if desired. Serve with pico de gallo and guacamole for dipping.
- Wendy’s copycat: Top your potatoes with Beef Chili and cheese, just like the famous restaurant chain.
- Broccoli and cheese: Top potatoes with blanched broccoli florets and plenty of homemade cheese sauce.
- Burrito-inspired: Fill your potato jackets with pintos and cheese, economical and so delicious! Serve with your favorite hot sauce on the side.
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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Twice Baked Mini Potatoes
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.
Recipe Video
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.
My sister brought these to Christmas and they were my favorite food of the holiday! Now Iโm here to take the recipe for myself. ๐
I hope they were great! Thanks, Megan! – Meggan
My guests LOVED these, and they were easy to prepare ahead! I ended up cooking and mashing the whole bag of mini potatoes (1.5 lbs red), but only used about 20 skins, so my potatoes were well-filled. I then added a T butter and a bit more sour cream and seasonings to compensate for the extra filling. When mashed, the consistency was like a thick, pasty frosting. I wondered if it should be looser, but when baked, they were perfect! I used coarse kosher salt on the skins. I will make these again and again!
I’m so glad these worked out for you Vicki! I think a thick filling makes them easier to eat out of hand. Sounds so good. Thank you so much for your comment!
I made this recipe for a kids’ event. The kids liked them, but the adults ate way more than the kids did!
I love it! I’m so glad it was a hit. Take care, Mary! – Meggan
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