Potatoes make me happy! I am confident that are as many potato recipes as there are days in the year. One of my favorite potato recipes since childhood are Twice Baked Potatoes. They hit all the notes!

Twice Baked Potatoes are a fun and flavorful potato side dish recipe. A twice baked potato has a variety of add in options.

I think I fell in love with potatoes when I was 15, it was the summer I spent in Ireland with my Grammy (who would visit her friends and relatives over there often). Which by the way was the best summer!

Running amuck amidst the peaceful and unbelievable beauty of the farmlands of Ireland, meeting genuinely nice and wonderful people, tasting new foods and absorbing a new culture. It was so simple compared to my Philadelphia, PA life, yet so very perfect!

Potatoes in one form or another would show up there for breakfast, lunch, dinner and of course the many tea times during the day.

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The Irish sure know how to cook potatoes!

My favorite appearance of the potato however was the almost nightly potato fry which would happen around 10 pm. Incredibly delicious! And let me just say that the Irish know how to hang! Boy, do they go to bed late every night! I guess they don't want to miss a minute of life 🙂

One dish I love to make is twice baked potatoes. I can make them ahead and easily reheat them when ready. It's a dish folks love and it takes pressure off of me when hosting dinner.

Ingredients

Baking potatoes
Olive or avocado oil
Kosher salt
Butter
Bacon
Cheese
S&P
Optional add ins like scallions, chives, sour cream etc.

Baked potato that's been scooped out for making a twice baked potato.

Tips

First bake your potato / potatoes as you normally would (do not microwave). The way to a fluffy baked potato is oven roasting or air frying it. See notes section of recipe card for the perfect baked potato tips.
As soon as you can handle the potato slice the top off and carefully yet firmly scoop the inside of the potatoes into a mixing bowl. The quicker you open the potato, the fluffier the inside will be.
Use folded paper towels vs an oven mitt (too bulky IMO) for better control handling a hot potato.
Immediately mash your potatoes with a potato masher, a potato ricer or a fork. Get your butter in and work in some milk or cream and or sour cream and the rest of your chosen add-ins.
The key is to really flavor them up. You want every bite to be a punch of decadent flavor! No one should feel the need to season their potato.

Variations / Optional Add-ins

Additional ideas after you make your basic potato filling with butter, milk, salt and pepper:

Sour cream & chives
Blue Cheese and chives
Caramelized onions
Goat cheese (with or without onion)
Shallot, white cheddar, sour cream
Brown butter and wilted scallions (yummmmm)
Garlic confit
Horseradish
Whatever you dream up
Remember you can add as much or as little cheese, seasoning, butter, bacon etc. as your heart desires! These stuffed potatoes sure are a treat!
You can choose to serve a whole twice baked potato buy just cutting of a small amount of the top or if your potatoes are large, you can cut them in half. If you care cutting in half and making a large amount for a gathering bake an extra potato, scoop out all the innards so you have enough to really load each half up (and bonus you can eat the skin with a little butter as a snack!).

If you enjoy the combination of potatoes and bacon, try these Loaded Sheet Pan Potatoes.

Can I make Mini Twice Baked Potatoes?

Yes!! The kids go crazy for the tiny stuffed potatoes!
If I am making appetizer potatoes, I look for the smallest potatoes I can find. These days those small steamer bagged potatoes are great for this. Generally I plan on 2 for each guest, plus an extra 6-10 to make extra filling so I can load them up.
You need to have some patience for the small ones though, the scooping of all those tiny potatoes takes some time, lol!
And of course bake time will be much less. I would prepare them the same (described in the notes section of recipe card), however I would place a cooling rack over a baking sheet and scatter them all overtop to bake until tender (depending on size, around 30 minutes).

Twice Baked Potatoes are a fun and flavorful potato side dish recipe. Topped with bacon cheese and chives.

Can I make Twice Baked Potatoes ahead of time?

Yes, simple bake and stuff your potatoes and bake when ready. If they are cold from the fridge they will take a bit longer to rewarm completely through.
My personal opinion however is that these are best just after baking the potatoes and filling them with your chosen ingredients and then baking them a bit more to melt the cheese.

Storage

Store cooked and cooled twice baked potatoes on a sealed container, careful to not squish them. Personally, I place wrap or foil overtop to help the potato not dry out and place that in the container.
Reheat within 3 days.

How to reheat Twice Baked Potatoes

For best results, allow you potatoes to sit on counter for 30 minutes to take some of the chill off. Reheat in your oven at 375 degrees, on the middle rack (place on a cooling rack over a baking sheet) for 20-25 minutes. This will allow the skin to crisp up again a bit and keep the filling fluffy.
You can microwave for a few minutes, however in my opinion, microwaving can make it a little gummy.
If your potato seems dry (really depends what your add-ins were), add a pat of butter and swirl it through a bit with a fork when enjoying.

If you love potatoes as much as I do, the next time you peel them for mashed (or whatever), use the skins for making Air Fried Potato Crisps. Amazing snack and so easy (below).

Crispy Air Fryer Potato Skins Recipe shown in a bowl with cheese and chives

Potato Recipes to try

Recipe originally posted July 4, 2012. Updated October 28, 2024.

Twice Baked Potatoes

Colleen Kennedy

Twice Baked Potatoes are a potato lovers dream! SO many delicious options for add-ins when making a twice baked potato recipe.

Print Recipe Pin Recipe

Prep Time 10

Cook Time 1

Course Side Dish, Sides

Cuisine American

Servings servings

Calories 561 kcal

Ingredients

For Baked Potatoes

4 baking potatoes
avocado or olive oil or bacon grease or tallow
kosher salt

Filling for Twice Baked Potatoes

5 TBS butter (more or less)
½ cup milk (more or less)
S&P
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese (more or less, or another cheese)
1 cup cooked crumbled bacon (more or less)
½ cup scallions or chives (more or less
Optional Sour cream (in or on)

Instructions

Bake your potatoes as you normally would. My recommendation is in the notes section below.
The potatoes will be hot, so be careful. Working with one potato at a time, use a sharp knife to slice off the top ⅛ of the potato. You want to slice off the top to allow a large opening - almost the size of the potato itself. (See image of the potato shell in the post above)
Next take your knife and cut a perimeter around the potato - short of the edge. Then using a spoon begin scooping out the potato being careful to not crack the skin. You want to leave a small wall of potato, so you are not scraping down to the skin. Scrape any potato off of the top pice you cut as well, then discard that piece of skin. As you remove potato, place it (the filling) into a good sized bowl.
Once you are finished scooping out the potatoes, add butter, milk, (sorr cream if adding), salt and pepper and mash it well. *Add the milk slowly, you don't want runny potato filling, you want it a little on the thicker side. Once you are happy with your flavor and consistency. Add in some of the cheese and bacon. Fill the potatoes and top with some additional cheese and bacon.
*I don't go crazy with the cheese, just enough to give it some flavor. But the bacon is a different story...lol! Just sayin'! However you do whatever you like.
Pop the filled potatoes back in the oven at 375. Just long enough to melt the cheese OR if you assembled these ahead of time, longer until they have heated through. Enjoy!

Notes

I did the recipe card for 4 servings since I have a family of 4. You can certainly just make just one potato or a dozen. This recipe is super flexible. No real rules after you bake the potato, take it wherever you wish it to go flavor wise with the add-ins.

Calories are hard to calculate as potato sizes and add-ins will vary. Loose calculation.

To bake the perfect potato (check out my 1 minute TikTok video). Preheat oven to 425 F.

Prick your clean & dry potatoes a few times with a fork. Oil each potato with olive or avocado oil with your hands, just enough to coat the potato, then roll in or sprinkle on kosher salt over the outside of the potato. Place potato directly on the oven rack (with foil on the rack below to catch drips) and bake for 20 minutes. Lower oven to 400 and bake an additional 40 minutes (1 hour total).

Open soon after you remove from the oven (carefully as they will be hot) for fluffiest potatoes.

Nutrition

Serving: 4servingsCalories: 561kcalCarbohydrates: 41gProtein: 22gFat: 35gSaturated Fat: 18gPolyunsaturated Fat: 3gMonounsaturated Fat: 10gTrans Fat: 1gCholesterol: 98mgSodium: 794mgPotassium: 1116mgFiber: 3gSugar: 3gVitamin A: 1000IUVitamin C: 15mgCalcium: 277mgIron: 2mg

Keyword Twice Baked Potato, Twice Baked Potatoes

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