Loaded Twice Baked Potatoes (Freezer Friendly)
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.
~Abraham Lincoln. To submit your quote, click here.
Those look absolutely DELICIOUS!!! Thanks for this great idea. I LOVE your stories about your family.
I’m going to be making these this weekend, freeze some, eat some. We often have people over for dinner, planned or not. My hubby has tons of single male friends who just happen to come over when its dinner time. We never mind feeding anyone and I cook a ton too. I love having people around my table in addition to our family.
This recipe looks yummy, as all of Christy’s recipes usually do! I cannot wait to try it, as my hubby is a meat and taters man.
As for who to have a special dinner with, I would love to cook for my Grandfathers, both maternal and paternal. I would cook cornbread and buttermilk, with an onion to “chip” into it for my Grandaddy.. he passed away when I was very young, and I would love to just sit with him and let him see what kind of person I have grown up to be. I hope he would be proud. I would cook anything with corn in it for my maternal Grandfather (Pepaw) – he was a farmer from Iowa and could tell you anything to do with corn and soybeans and could name more kinds of pigs than I cared to know. He passed away last Easter and I miss him more than I can say. I didn’t get to see him much, but oh, my, how I looked up to him. These men were something special in my life that have left holes only they could ever fill.
J
I’d choose Santa as my dinner guest. Seriously.
😉
I’m going to cheat and pick 2 people – my nephews, Zach and Jacob. I had a falling out with their mother (my sister) and can’t see them anymore. 🙁
Oh please Denise-try to make amends with your sister and get those little boys back in your life as well. I don’t know the problem or even want to, but as I age I am more and more dead sure that your family is all you really have. Even if you were “right” in this falling out, please take the high road and try to make peace. I don’t think you will ever regret making the first move and I can guarantee you will regret in years to come that you didn’t. You don’t want to miss being a part of those little boys lives.
Olga, had a question about the bacon…do you cook it before adding or add it raw? I’ve always cooked mine but this is a good question…please reply. I’ve enjoyed your recipes tremendously along with my husband. But I have noticed on some of your recipes that sometimes you leave out a small detail and even the photos can’t always answer a question…the bacon is an example of that..alot of us that have cooked for years could probably figure it out but your getting a new calling of folks that may not be experienced at cooking and they may need that extra info. Thanks as alway for your wonderful recipes and ideas, your the greatest!
My one person pick would be Sam Champion @ Good Morning America, he loves and enjoys food, has a great personality and would be a joy to listen to his adventures!
Hello Sandy!
Hope you had a great weekend. I’ve answered Olga’s question as well as modified the recipe to show that the bacon is cooked ahead of time – not added raw.
I apologize for not answering sooner but have been spending the weekend with my kids, who are on fall break. I try to give reader’s questions priority but my kids will always have priority over Southern Plate, so sometimes it may take me a day or so to get to the questions – more if we’re on a family vacation (which I hope to have really soon! Weeee).
As far as my recipes, occasionally leaving out a small detail, that is the hazard of running a one woman show I’m afraid, and my readers are wonderful about pointing it out so that I can correct it. I dearly hate when this happens! I put several hours into each post in order to bring it to you and by the time I get it posted and ready to go I’ve usually been working with it for so long that I miss a small error here or there. I do hope that you’ll find these errors few and far between, and again just the hazard of this being a one woman show.
On the plus side, whenever you come to Southern Plate you can rest assured that I am bringing you a personal or family recipe that I truly enjoy. Rather than a website filled with recipes that have been submitted by people all over the globe (which is not a bad, just different), all of my recipes come personally from me, so its more like a recipe passed along through family and friends than one found on a site that was submitted by someone you’ll never meet and whose cooking you’ll never sample.
I will continue to be human though, as long as there is a kid in the next room anxiously waiting on me to get off the computer and play with them and me in front of the computer anxiously waiting to hit “send” to bring something to all of the readers that I hold so dear, but still antsy to go be a Mama to my babies while they are still babies. 🙂
I have a real gift for run on sentences, don’t I?
You know, I don’t know who Sam Champion is so I’m going to go look him up. I sure do wish I could arrange a banquet for all of us with all of these people. They all seem fascinating and I’m sure they’d be gracious and probably enjoy the experience as well! Reckon what on earth we’d serve though?
Gratefully,
Christy 🙂
Wow! This is a great idea. I never really thought about freezing loaded potatoes before when I’ve made them. Thanks for sharing this!
And, you know, I’d love to eat dinner with Queen Beatrice from the Netherlands. Maybe because my family has so many Dutch ties and I’ve always been curious about her.