Loaded Twice Baked Potatoes (Freezer Friendly)
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These freezer-friendly loaded twice baked potatoes include crispy potato skins overflowing with creamy mashed potato, crumbly bacon bits, and lots of melted cheese.
Today’s recipe about how to make loaded twice baked potatoes is quick and easy to throw together and serves as a wonderful side dish or main entree.
Back when we had people over for dinner on a regular basis, this was a go-to dish for me that I served just about every time. It was a great way to round out the meal without taking any additional prep time and they always got rave reviews.
I’m going to show you the ingredients I use, which are crispy bacon, melted cheese, sour cream for extra creaminess, and green onion. But the best-stuffed potatoes are the ones made to your individual tastes. I’ve seen folks add milk, tomatoes, leftover chicken or bbq (yum!), mayonnaise, ricotta cheese, fresh or dried herbs, etc. The sky is the limit here.
Oh, and did I mention the fun thing about these potatoes is that you can make a batch ahead of time and freeze them to use in a jiffy at a later date? Reheating may then be done either in the oven or microwave, so this is a win-win either way you look at it.
Now, how bout some loaded ‘taters?
Recipe Ingredients
- Potatoes
- Butter
- Cooked and chopped turkey bacon
- Green onions
- Shredded cheddar cheese
- Sour cream
- Salt and pepper
How to Make Loaded Twice Baked Potatoes
Bake your medium potatoes and cut them in half lengthwise like this.
I bake my potatoes by starting them in the microwave for about five minutes, then transferring them to a 450-degree oven for about an hour. Sometimes I rub them down with a little cooking oil and sprinkle some coarse sea salt on them before baking as my great-grandmother did. MMM-MM good!
Scoop out the pulp but leave enough that the potato skin still has a bit of shape to it.
To your pulp, add butter, sour cream, salt, and pepper.
Mash up well with a potato masher or just a fork.
Add in cheese and mash that, too.
Add all other toppings.
Stir your up well.
And resist the urge to eat the entire bowl as is.
Spoon the mashed potato filling into each potato shell.
Line these beautiful loaded potatoes up on a baking sheet and place this in the freezer, uncovered, for about an hour.
This is called flash freezing and it keeps them from sticking together.
After they are frozen, remove them from the sheet and put them in a zipper seal bag.
Return to the freezer until you need them.
Ready to prepare your main dish or side?
When you are ready to make your loaded twice baked potatoes, take as many as you need out of the freezer and sprinkle with cheddar cheese to bake.
You don’t have to use extra cheese unless you are a cheese lover like me!
YUM! I like to keep these in the freezer and reheat just one or two for a quick lunch but as I said, they are a great side dish to have on hand for any meal.
Enjoy!
Storage
The freezer directions are above, but you can reheat the thawed potatoes in the microwave, oven, or air fryer. They’ll also last in the fridge for up to 4 days when stored in an airtight container.
Recipe Notes
- Here are some loaded potato variations:
- Cream cheese and chives: substitute the sour cream and cheddar cheese for 1.5 cups of cream cheese and use 1/4 cup of chopped fresh chives instead of the chopped green onion. You could also do this with blue cheese and chives.
- Substitute the bacon for sauteed mushrooms.
- Beef and broccoli: substitute the bacon for 8 ounces of cooked lean ground beef and 1 cup of finely chopped broccoli florets.
- Use any kind of shredded cheese you like, such as pepper jack cheese, colby jack cheese, or gruyere cheese.
Recipe FAQs
Why did my loaded potatoes fall apart?
The main reason loaded potatoes fall apart is because you scooped out too much of the flesh. Leaving at least a quarter-inch of flesh will help the potato skin retain its shape.
What are the best potatoes for twice baked potatoes?
I strongly recommend using russet potatoes for this loaded twice baked potatoes recipe. They have more starch than say Yukon gold potatoes, which wouldn’t work.
What do you serve with loaded twice baked potatoes?
If you’re serving your potatoes as a side dish, they work great with a simple main dish. This might be roasted chicken, fried chicken, pork chops, meatloaf, or pulled pork. Add some greens like fresh green beans or collard greens and you have a complete (not to mention utterly delicious) main meal.
You may also like these potato recipes:
Rotisserie-Style Crock Pot Chicken and Potatoes
Sweet Potato Skins With Candied Bacon and a Spicy Basil Cream Sauce
Loaded Sweet Potatoes With Marshmallows
Ingredients
- 7 medium-sized potatoes, washed
- 1/2 cup sour cream
- 3 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon pepper
- 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
- 4 chopped green onions
- 1 1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese
- 8-10 slices cooked and chopped turkey bacon
Instructions
- Bake potatoes and cut in half lengthwise. Scoop out pulp, leaving enough for the skin to retain its shape.7 medium-sized potatoes, washed
- In a mixing bowl, combine scooped potatoes, butter, and sour cream. Mash together well. Add cheese and mash again. Stir in all remaining ingredients and then spoon the filling into the potato skins.1/2 cup sour cream, 3 tablespoons unsalted butter, 1/2 teaspoon salt, 1/4 teaspoon pepper, 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder, 4 chopped green onions, 1 1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese, 8-10 slices cooked and chopped turkey bacon
- Line the filled potato skins up on a baking sheet or another baking dish and freeze, uncovered, for about an hour. Remove and place into zipper seal bags and return to freezer.
- To bake from frozen: Place on a cookie sheet in a 350-degree oven for half an hour, top with cheese, and return to oven until melted.
- To microwave from frozen: Place on a microwave-safe plate and heat for about 2-3 minutes or until heated through.
- To bake from room temp: Top with cheese and place in oven until heated through (about 15 minutes).
Notes
Nutrition
I will prepare and someday my chance will come.
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Guess as life has become more complicated and constantly busy I would love to sit down and have dinner with my mom and dad.Never seem to spend enough time with mama anymore and dad is almost 70 now so really need to make it happen no matter how chaotic things keep getting you just never know when that chance may be gone so please take advantage of it while you can so you have no regrets..
OOOPS! When I went to copy the recipe…saw the answers to my questions!!! Sorry…Gerry
Christy, I assume the frozen ones don’t have to be thawed when ready to reheat…correct? Also can you give an approximate time and temp for them to be ready to eat so I know how long they have to be in for before serving…thanks for another great recipe! Gerry
These look great, Christy!
I love them..my mom makes them every Christmas eve, along with Prime rib and asparagus. Yummy!!
I would love to be able to have dinner with my father. He is alive, but lives a long way from me. It has been WAY too long!
I also wanted to let you know I have been making bows for my girls, and they are SO cute!
I read your newsletters often and appreciate your cooking tips like preserving apples with salt, but this one really caught my eye. What a good idea to prepare baked potatoes ahead of time. My husband is the cook of the house and a finnicky eater, but I think he would like to try this technique.
As for that special dinner guest. I would be too intimidated to eat with any famous figure I admire and uncomfortable with most strangers so I would invite my best friend Celia. She is like a sister I never had. She is very intelligent and would share many personal topics, listen intently to mine. We would then cry, laugh and be very uplifting to each other all during the same meal! Her favorite advice to me was “Now Louise everything is going to turn out just fine.” or “It’s going to be alright.”
We now live many states apart and just recently I was able to meet her for lunch at our favorite place during a trip to that area. What a joy to pick up where we left off over a year ago.
I am so glad that Christy came up with this idea. I love loaded potatoes and only make them a couple of times a year. I think I will watch for potatoes to go on sale and make up an entire bag for the freezer. Now that I have finally cleaned out the freezer, I have room for them!
As far as the question of who to have for dinner, I have thought about this since Christy and I talked about it. It would be so hard to narrow it down to one person. I have always been interested in how other people live and their thoughts and views on life. I know that you can always learn from others if you just keep an open mind.
I always try to look at both sides and reason out how I feel for myself.
I know that Dolly and Mrs. Duggar would be fascinating! I admire both of them. They seem like very intelligent and interesting people. I have also thought about Mrs. Bush because she is the ultimate southern lady. She is always gracious and gets her point across in a very polite manner. Never pushy. I think I would like to sit down with Diane Sawyer also. She must have some great stories to tell about her life and the people she has met along the way. Even though she makes lots of money, she still seems to remember her southern roots. We met her once coming out of the White House and even though she was in a hurry to catch a plane, she still posed for a picture with my husband and his friend. She was very friendly. I am going to think long and hard today and try to nail down one person. I’ll get back with you tomorrow with my answer. I look forward to reading all of your answers also. Janice (Mama)
I have thought over hundreds of choice of who to have dinner with and finally settled on Dolly Parton. She came from a large family in a small town with little money but still treasures those memories as some of the best of her life. She still takes care of others from her community and state. Through her book program children of Tennessee receive books each month along with a bookcase to keep them in to promote reading. Lots of adults in the Smoky Mountains are employed by Dollywood to demonstrate the lost crafts that our ancestors used in everyday life to just get by. Dolly has made a huge success of herself but still gives back to those who gave to her along the way. I think if you research her life you will be inspired to model some of the ideas that she uses everyday in her life. She is one shrude businesswoman and also an amazing lady!
If I could have dinner with anyone living, I would choose Rush Limbaugh. You see, I have always been a “ditto head” and believe that Rush is one of the smartest men alive (next to me). Rush has his own view of everything and most of the time, 99.4%, he is right on with his analogy of the world affairs. It would be so gratifying to sit down to a meal of Turkey and dressing (Turkey that I cooked) and all the trimmings that Janice and Christy prepaired to go along with sweet potato casserole and home made cakes and pies.
I am so proud of my three grown kids and very happy that Christy is doing so well with this web site.
Thanks to all of the followers that she has. The way she posts is just the way that she is in real life. I have the advantage over most of you though, I get to eat some of the things that she posts on her blog when she gets through making them.
Enjoy life to it’s fullest.
Bill Davis (Daddy)