Homemade Air Fryer Potato Skins

Potato skins are a classic American appetizer that can easily be made at home. Make these homemade potato skins in your air fryer or oven.

PIN FOR LATER

Potato skins are one of my favorite foods that I don’t eat often enough. Like a lot of foods, you can make potato skins as healthy as you want them to be. This version is a classic version but the recipe  can be tweaked to your liking. Whole30? Omit the cheese. Hard-core paleo? Use sweet potatoes instead of potatoes. Unfortunately there isn’t a low-carb option since the star of this recipe is potatoes.

What Are Potato skins?

Potato skins are an American appetizer. They’re made from potatoes that have been cooked, halved, hollowed out, & then stuffed with cheese, cooked bacon bits, and green onions and cooked again. Made popular by the restaurant TGI Fridays, potato skins are commonly found on casual dining restaurants menus across the country.

Type Of Potatoes To Use

Potato skins are best made with russet (Idaho) potatoes. While I’m sure you can use a different potato I have not tried.

Baking The Potatoes

You can use your preferred way to bake the potatoes whether it be in the oven for an hour or the microwave for 10 minutes. I used my air fryer to bake my potatoes.

Air Fryer –  Preheat air fryer to 380 degrees. Pierce the potatoes a few times over with a fork or knife. Rub the potatoes lightly with oil or spray them with cooking spray & bake for approximately 35-40 minutes or until the potatoes are tender.

Oven – Preheat oven to 400. Pierce the potatoes a few times over with a fork or knife. Rub the potatoes lightly with oil & bake for approximately 60 minutes or until the potatoes are cooked.

Microwave – Pierce the potatoes a few times over with a fork or knife. Rub the potatoes lightly with oil and cook approximately 5 minutes per potato.

What Is An Air Fryer?

What is an air fryer exactly? The name air fryer is a little bit confusing, because when you cook food in your air fryer you aren’t actually frying it. An air fryer cooks your food by circulating hot air around the food at a very high-speed, cooking the food and producing a crispy ‘fried’ layer. This is called convection so your air fryer is actually a small countertop convection oven. An air fryer can help you cook your food faster while still getting a nice baked or fried texture on the outside, all with a very small amount of oil. Air fryers come in a variety of different sizes and styles. What you see here in the pics is a 5.8-quart air fryer that easily fit 4 medium.

The Add-Ins

This is a traditional potato skins recipe so I added cheese, cooked bacon, and green onions. Sky is the limit with potato skins toppings. Sour cream, or even cooked meat can be added.

Freeze For Later

If you want to prep these potato skins for later use you can make the potato shells ahead of time and freeze them. Lay the cooked & hollowed out potato shells flat on a baking sheet  &  freeze them. Once frozen, transfer them to a freezer storage bag. These will last in your freezer for approximately 3 months. The best part is that you can bake the potatoes straight from frozen!

Make These In The Oven

Don’t have an air fryer? No problem these potato skins can also be made in the oven.

1. Preheat oven to 450°F. Rub olive oil inside the potato shell or spray with cooking spray. Add a pinch of salt to each potato.
2. Place the potatoes on a baking sheet, hollowed out side up. Bake 5 minutes or until the edges start to crisp. Remove potatoes from the oven.
3. Fill potatoes evenly with bacon, cheese, and green onions. Return the potatoes to the oven for approximately 5-7 minutes or until cheese is melted.

Other air fryer appetizer recipes you might enjoy:

Air Fryer Shrimp (Low-Carb, Paleo, Whole30)

Air Fryer Marinated Chicken Wings (Low-Carb, Paleo, Whole30)

Air Fryer French Fries (Paleo, Whole30)

Air Fryer Hawaiian Style Garlic Shrimp (Low-Carb, Paleo, Whole30)

PIN FOR LATER

I used a 5.8-quart air fryer for this recipe.

Air Fryer Potato Skins (Baked)

5 Stars 4 Stars 3 Stars 2 Stars 1 Star

5 from 4 reviews

Pin Recipe

Print Recipe

• Total Time: n/a
• Yield: 8 potato skins 1x

Ingredients

Scale 1x2x3x

• 4 medium size russet potatoes, baked
• 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
• Pinch salt & pepper
• 1/2 cup cheddar cheese
• 4 pieces of bacon, cooked & crumbled
• 1 green onion, sliced

Optional garnish:  1/2 cup sour cream

Cook Mode Prevent your screen from going dark

Instructions

1. Make sure the potatoes are cooked & cooled.
2. Cut each potato lengthwise. Using a small spoon, scoop out the flesh leaving 1/4″ left in the shell.
3. Preheat air fryer to 350°. Rub the inside the potato shells with olive oil or spray with cooking spray. Add a pinch of salt to each potato.
4. Place the potatoes in the air fryer pan, hollowed out side up. Cook 5 minutes or until the edges start to crisp.
5. Fill potatoes evenly with bacon, cheese, and green onions.
6. Cook for 5 – 7 minutes or until the cheese is melted.

• Author: Fit SlowCooker Queen
• Prep Time: 10 minutes
• Cook Time: n/a

Nutrition

• Serving Size:
• Calories: 225
• Sugar: 0.9 g
• Sodium: 206.1 mg
• Fat: 12.9 g
• Saturated Fat: 5.3 g
• Carbohydrates: 20.1 g
• Fiber: 1.4 g
• Protein: 7.9 g
• Cholesterol: 25.6 mg

This post contains affiliate links which means if you click on one of the product links, I might receive compensation. For more about my disclosure policy see here: https://fitslowcookerqueen.com/about/disclosure-policy/.