Mini Potato Skins with Sour Cream, Bacon, and Chives

These Mini Potato Skins with Sour Cream, Bacon, and Chives are the perfect way to indulge your taste buds. They are ideal for parties and can be served as a side dish or appetizer.

Potato skins are a family favourite. They are so versatile and the possibilities are endless.

There are so many topping options. You can keep it simple or go completely crazy with toppings.

I chose to keep things simple. My mini potato skins are topped with sour cream, chopped bacon, and finely chopped fresh chives.

These bite-sized appetizer recipe are perfect as side dish for dinner any day of the week, or served on special occasions.

They also make great appetizers for parties. Personally, I love serving them for game day gatherings.

Game day food is all about portability. So, bite size food is perfect for football parties. Cute food and football make the perfect team.

You are going to want to shove about a million of these in your face. Honestly, they are so addictive.

I highly recommend double batching the recipe. Trust me!

Ingredients:

• Baby Potatoes - I wanted to make a mini version of potato skins so I used baby potatoes. You can substitute normal size potatoes if you like.
• Olive Oil - Any kind of olive oil will work in this recipe. I tend to use extra virgin olive oil but use what you have. You can also substitute other kinds of oil, like avocado oil, Grapeseed oil, or canola oil.
• Bacon - I cooked some slices of bacon while making the recipe. You can buy precooked bacon these days so use that if you want to cut down on time and steps. Bacon bits will also work but personally I love fresh bacon for this particular recipe.
• Butter - For these potato skins, I used unsalted butter. You can use salted butter and just omit the salt if you like.
• Cheese - Any kind of cheese will work as long as it's a good melting cheese. I used a Tex-Mex blend but you can use cheddar cheese, mozzarella cheese or any kind of blend you like. Shred your own, or buy shredded cheese to save time and effort.
• Spices - This recipe only uses salt and black pepper. If you want a spicier potato skin you can get creative with other spices. Red pepper flakes are great on potato skins, as well smoked paprika, cayenne powder, garlic powder or onion powder. I'm also a huge fan of Aleppo pepper on almost anything.
• Sour Cream - Light or regular sour cream will work for potato skins. If you're not a fan of sour cream you can substitute plain yogurt or Greek yogurt.
• Herbs - I chopped up fresh chives very finely to sprinkle over top. Chives basically taste like mild onions with a slight garlic flavour to them. Green onions are a good alternative if you don't like chives. Chopped cilantro or parsley could also be used as a garnish.

How to Make Mini Potato Skins:

1. To begin, preheat oven to 425 degrees F.
2. Line a rimmed cookie sheet with parchment paper. Set aside.
   In a medium size bowl combine clean potatoes and 1 tablespoon olive oil. Mix until potatoes are coated with oil. Transfer to cookie sheet.
3. Place cookie sheet in oven and bake for 20 to 25 minutes. Potatoes should be soft in the middle but still holding together well. Test the potatoes by pricking them with a fork. If the fork slides in and out easily the potatoes are done.
4. Remove potatoes from oven and allow to cool before handling them. You can place them in a bowl in the fridge for 10 to 15 minutes to speed up the process.
5. Cook the bacon while the potatoes are cooking or cooling. Once the bacon is crisp allow it to drain on a paper towel to soak up any excess grease. Chop finely. Set aside.
6. Grab a medium size bowl for the potato filling. Keep nearby.
7. Once the potatoes are cool cut each one in half lengthwise. Use a spoon to scoop out the inside of each potato into the bowl, allowing ¼ inch base on each potato. Place all the potatoes cut side up on a parchment lined cookie sheet.
8. Grab the bowl of potatoes, use a fork to mash them up by hand. Add butter, cheese, salt, and pepper. Mix until smooth. Using a spoon transfer filling to the cut potatoes you set aside on the cookie sheet. Spoon evenly into each potato.
9. Drizzle the potatoes with remaining 2 tablespoons of olive oil.
10. Place the cookie sheet back in the preheated 425 degree F oven and bake for about 8 to 10 minutes, or until potatoes are golden brown.
11. Transfer potatoes to a platter. Add a big dollop of sour cream to each potato skin. Toss chopped bacon on each potato skin then sprinkle chives over top.
12. Serve or store for later.

Storing Potato Skins:

• Leftover potato skins can be stores in an airtight container in the refrigerator for 1 to 2 days.
• I would recommend not adding the toppings if you know you will be storing them ahead of time for a party or event. In that case, add the toppings just before serving
• That said, if you made these for dinner and have leftovers with the toppings already on them, you can store them with the toppings on for the same time frame. Or you can scrape the toppings off to store them.

How to Reheat Mini Potato Skins:

Side Note: These are actually really good when eaten cold as a quick snack.

Oven Method:

• Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.
• Scrape sour cream off and toppings off the potato skins. Place skins on a baking sheet. Bake for 5 to 8 minutes, or until potatoes are heated through.
• Remove from the oven and transfer to a plate. Add fresh toppings and serve.

Stovetop Method:

• Place a skillet on the stovetop over medium heat and add about 1 tablespoon of olive oil, or other cooking oil. Scrape toppings off the potato skins then place them inside the skillet. Cook for about 5 to 7 minutes, or until heated through. You can drizzle the hot oil over top as the cook by tipping the skillet to the side and using a tablespoon to scoop up the oil and then drizzle it over the top of the potato skins as they cook.
• Remove from heat and use a spatula or tongs to transfer the potato skins to a plate. Add fresh toppings and serve.

Air Fryer Method:

Side Note: Air fryers are amazing for reheating leftovers. We use ours constantly for reheating as it's quick, easy and doesn't require heating up the oven, or the whole house.

• Scrape the toppings off of the potato skins. Place them in the air fryer basket in a single layer. Turn air fryer on and use the air fry, bake or reheat setting. Set the timer to 3 minutes and turn on the air fryer. Each air fryer is different so adjust the time if needed. Hit start.
• Carefully remove the potato skins with tongs and place them on a plate. Add fresh toppings and serve.

Microwave Method:

This is my least favourite way to reheat potatoes. They just end up losing the crispness and the texture isn't great.

• That said, if you want to reheat the leftover potato skins in the microwave go for it. Scrape the toppings off first, then place the potato skins on a microwave safe plate. Pop that in the microwave and cook for about a minute. If not heated through you can place them back in for another 30 to 60 seconds.
• Remove from the microwave. Then, add fresh toppings and serve.

More Tasty Side Dishes:

• Smoked Bacon Macaroni and Cheese
• Thai Cucumber Salad
• Slow Cooker Garlic Mashed Potatoes
• Balsamic Roasted Baby Carrots 
• Bow Tie Pasta Salad 
• Lemon Roasted Fingerling Potatoes

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5 from 57 votes

Mini Potato Skins with Sour Cream, Bacon, and Chives

These Mini Potato Skins with Sour Cream, Bacon, and Chives are the perfect way to indulge your taste buds. They are ideal for parties and can be served as a side dish or appetizer. 

Course Appetizers, Side Dish

Cuisine American

Keyword mini potato skins

Prep Time 10 minutes minutes

Cook Time 35 minutes minutes

Total Time 45 minutes minutes

Servings 6

Calories 390kcal

Author Kim Beaulieu

Equipment

• Large Rimmed Pan
• Glass Mixing Bowl

Ingredients

• 1 ½ pounds baby potatoes
• 3 tablespoons olive oil divided
• 8 slices cooked bacon
• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 1 ½ cups shredded Tex-Mex cheese or any melting cheese
• 1 teaspoon salt
• ½ teaspoon black pepper
• ¾ cup sour cream
• ¼ bunch chives chopped

US Customary - Metric

Instructions

Step 1:

• Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.
• Line a rimmed cookie sheet with parchment paper. Set aside.
• In a medium size bowl combine clean potatoes and 1 tablespoon olive oil. Mix until potatoes are coated with oil. Transfer to cookie sheet.
• Place cookie sheet in oven and bake for 20 to 25 minutes. Potatoes should be soft in the middle but still holding together well. Test the potatoes by pricking them with a fork. If the fork slides in and out easily the potatoes are done.
• Remove potatoes from oven and allow to cool before handling them. You can place them in a bowl in the fridge for 10 to 15 minutes to speed up the process.

Step 2:

• Cook the bacon while the potatoes are cooking or cooling. Once the bacon is crisp allow it to drain on a paper towel to soak up any excess grease. Chop finely. Set aside.

Step 3:

• Grab a medium size bowl for the potato filling. Keep nearby.
• Once the potatoes are cool cut each one in half lengthwise. Use a spoon to scoop out the inside of each potato into the bowl, allowing ¼ inch base on each potato. Place all the potatoes cut side up on a parchment lined cookie sheet.
• Grab the bowl of potatoes, use a fork to mash them up by hand. Add butter, cheese, salt, and pepper. Mix until smooth. Using a spoon transfer filling to the cut potatoes you set aside on the cookie sheet. Spoon evenly into each potato.
• Drizzle the potatoes with remaining 2 tablespoons of olive oil.
• Place the cookie sheet back in the preheated 425 degree F oven and bake for about 8 to 10 minutes, or until potatoes are golden brown.

Step 4:

• Transfer potatoes to a platter. Add a big dollop of sour cream to each potato skin. Toss chopped bacon on each potato skin. Sprinkle chives on each potato skin.

Step 5:

• Devour each potato skin! Ha!
• Serve or store for later.

Notes

Yields about 36 mini potato skins. 

Serving size is based on 6 mini potato skins per person. 

Nutrition

Calories: 390kcal | Carbohydrates: 22g | Protein: 13g | Fat: 28g | Saturated Fat: 12g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 2g | Monounsaturated Fat: 11g | Trans Fat: 0.2g | Cholesterol: 64mg | Sodium: 753mg | Potassium: 594mg | Fiber: 3g | Sugar: 2g | Vitamin A: 495IU | Vitamin C: 23mg | Calcium: 231mg | Iron: 1mg

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