Creamy cheese potatoes are one of our favorites!

This twice-baked potatoes recipe has fluffy mashed potatoes loaded with sour cream and bacon, all topped off with cheddar cheese.

Prep and bake or freeze for an easy anytime side.

Twice Baked Potatoes with cheese and bacon on top

These Are Our Fave Twice Baked Potatoes Because…

  • This twice-baked potato recipe is deliciously cheesy and cozy.
  • The filling combines mashed potatoes with add-ins like bacon, sour cream, and cheese.
  • Budget-friendly and perfect for large gatherings with large appetites!
  • Assemble up to two days ahead and bake, or prep ahead and bake from frozen!
potatoes , milk , sour cream , cheese , butter , garlic powder , bacon ,chives and salt and pepper with labels to make Twice Baked Potatoes

Ingredient Tips For Twice Baked Potatoes 

  • Potatoes: Russets or baking potatoes are the best potatoes for twice baked. The skins are sturdy, and the flesh is starchy, so the filling is nice and fluffy.
  • Dairy: Use full-fat sour cream and butter for the creamiest filling. Add just enough milk to make the mixture smooth.
  • Bacon: Bacon adds a salty, smoky flavor to twice-baked potatoes. You can also use real bacon bits or diced ham.
  • Cheese: I love sharp cheddar as it has lots of flavor but any variety of shredded cheese works.

How to Make Twice Baked Potatoes

  1. Cook potatoes in the oven or air fryer (recipe below).
  2. Cut each potato in half lengthwise. Scoop out the insides.
  3. Mash potatoes with remaining ingredients except cheddar and fill the potato skins.
  4. Bake until the cheese is melted.
plate of Twice Baked Potatoes with a fork

Prep Ahead, Freezing, and Storage

  • Prep Ahead: Twice-baked potatoes can be prepared up to 48 hours ahead of time. If the potatoes are cold from the fridge, add 5-7 minutes to the baking time.
  • How to Freeze: Prepare the potatoes as directed and place the filled potatoes on a baking sheet. Once frozen, transfer them to a freezer bag or airtight container.
  • To Bake From Frozen: Place the potatoes on a baking sheet and bake uncovered at 350°F for 35-40 minutes or until hot.

Did you enjoy this Twice Baked Potatoes Recipe? Be sure to leave a comment and rating below.

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plated Twice Baked Potatoes with cheese bacon and chives
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Twice Baked Potatoes

These creamy twice-baked spuds are the perfect side dish or lunch! Fluffy potatoes with bacon, cheddar cheese, and chives are baked until golden. 
Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook Time 1 hour 15 minutes
Total Time 1 hour 30 minutes
Servings 12 servings

Equipment

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Ingredients  

  • 6 small russet potatoes or baking potatoes
  • cup sour cream
  • ½ teaspoon garlic powder
  • ¼ cup salted butter
  • ½ cup warm milk or buttermilk, if needed
  • 1 tablespoon chopped fresh chives or green onions, additional for serving
  • 6 slices bacon cooked and crumbled, or 3 tablespoons bacon bits, additional for serving (optional)
  • 1 ½ cups shredded sharp cheddar cheese divided
  • ½ teaspoon salt or to taste
  • ¼ teaspoon black pepper or to taste

Instructions 

  • Preheat the oven to 375°F. Scrub the skin of the potatoes and poke them all over with a fork. Bake the potatoes in the oven for 50-60 minutes or until tender. Allow them to cool until they're cool enough to handle.
  • Slice each potato in half lengthwise. Scoop out the potato flesh leaving a ⅛-inch shell.
  • In a large bowl, combine the potatoes, sour cream, butter, garlic powder, salt, and pepper. Mash with a potato masher (or hand mixer) until smooth, adding warm milk as needed, to create a creamy fluffy texture. You may not need any or all of the milk.
  • Fold in chives, bacon, and ¾ cup cheddar cheese.
  • Spoon the potato mixture into each skin and sprinkle the remaining cheese on top.
  • Bake for 15-20 minutes or until heated through and cheese is melted.

Notes

  • Potatoes can also be baked in the air fryer or microwave.
  • Mash the potatoes while warm for the best consistency. Sour cream and butter may add just enough moisture; check the potatoes before adding extra liquid.
  • Be sure to leave at least to ¼-inch shell, so the skins don’t break or crack.
  • Option: bake one extra potato in case one of the skins breaks.  The shells can be filled more if you have extra filling.
  • To make filling easy, place the prepared filling in a freezer bag and snip off the corner. Squeeze it into the shells.
  • Prep Ahead: Twice-baked potatoes can be prepared up to 48 hours before baking. If the potatoes are cold, add 5-7 minutes to the baking time.
  • How to Freeze: Prepare the potatoes as directed and freeze them on a baking sheet. Once frozen, transfer the potatoes to a freezer bag or airtight container.
  • To Bake From Frozen: Place the frozen potatoes on a baking sheet and bake uncovered at 350°F for 35-40 minutes or until hot.
5 from 132 votes

Nutrition Information

Calories: 222 | Carbohydrates: 16g | Protein: 7g | Fat: 14g | Saturated Fat: 7g | Cholesterol: 36mg | Sodium: 214mg | Potassium: 412mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 1g | Vitamin A: 325IU | Vitamin C: 5mg | Calcium: 133mg | Iron: 0.9mg

Nutrition information provided is an estimate and will vary based on cooking methods and brands of ingredients used.

Course Side Dish
Cuisine American
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Twice Baked Potatoes on a sheet pan and plated with a title

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About the author

Holly Nilsson is the creator of Spend With Pennies, where she creates easy, comforting recipes made for real life. With a passion for nostalgic flavors and simplified techniques, Holly helps busy home cooks create delicious meals that always work. She is also the author of “Everyday Comfort,” which promises to inspire even more hearty, home-cooked meals.
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Comments

  1. Made according to instructions, minus the chives (didn’t have any). Baked the potatoes in the air fryer for the first time and that worked out great. Still had to heat the oven for the second bake, mu fryer isn’t large enough for that, but the taste was wonderful. Topped with extra bacon and sour cream. Will make these often.5 stars

  2. I haven’t tried this recipe yet but I will. As I strongly dislike sour cream can you recommend a substitute? Would cream cheese or more butter work?
    Thank you,
    Dorothy

    1. You can certainly make these without sour cream—cream cheese or more butter will work beautifully. You’ll want to create a fluffy and creamy consistency in the filling before adding it back to the potatoes. Let us know how it goes!

  3. Greetings from a 7°F Alberta, Canada morning!
    Can these be frozen AFTER baking, then reheated as needed? Many thanks!

    1. That’s a chilly morning! They can be frozen after baking however, since everything is already cooked, there is no benefit to baking before freezing so I usually just freeze after assembling.

  4. This is the recipe I’ve been using for years and I’m just getting ready to put two big russet potatoes (four half’s) in the oven tonight for dinner served with a barbecue chicken and a green salad. I do omit the garlic powder as I’m allergic to artificial seasonings so I always only use real fresh spices from my garden. I also used pork belly instead of bacon I find it gives a lot more flavour but that is just my tastes I’m sure not for everyone. It gives the potato a bit of a crunch which I find really delicious. I also keep the left over fat from the pork belly in a cup in the fridge for other meals. Enjoy everyone this recipe is one of the best, Enjoy. Cheers.5 stars

  5. This is the recipe I’ve been using for years and I’m just getting ready to put two big russet potatoes (four half’s) in the oven tonight for dinner served with a barbecue chicken and a green salad. I do omit the garlic powder as I’m allergic to artificial seasonings so I always only use real fresh spices from my garden. I also used pork belly instead of bacon I find it gives a lot more flavour but that is just my tastes I’m sure not for everyone. It gives the potato a bit of a crunch which I find really delicious. I also keep the left over fat from the pork belly in a cup in the fridge for other5 stars

  6. These look like fun! I would like to add a bit of cream cheese to the mix….how much would you suggest? and do I need to replace anything for it?

    1. Cream cheese is delicious in baked potatoes to add some richness! I’ve added 1/4 cup of spreadable cream cheese so I would start there. If you try it I would love to hear how it turns out Cynthia!

  7. Absolutely out of this world! I only had small potatoes and there was only two of us so I wasn’t sure. I halved the recipe and then didn’t get hardly any potatoes. It didn’t matter….I put what potatoes I could scrape out into the mixture and “smashed” them (I use the old hand held masher). I ended up with much more filling than I had potato skins to fill so I got a casserole dish out – put the skins in the bottom and basically poured the mix over everything. We thought we’d died and gone to heaven. Thanks so much for the recipe and the reviews. Otherwise, I would’ve never tried it. The only problem for me was trying to figure out the correct measurements for two.5 stars

  8. These were awesome! I prepared them in the Air Fryer. Absolutely perfect. The skin didn’t tear while I dug out the potato and the potato was fluffy and soft.5 stars

  9. OMG, the garlic and herb cream cheese was AWESOME in this recipe! It was sooooo good! Thanks for sharing :)5 stars

    1. You are so very welcome Christina! So happy to hear that you loved these twice baked potatoes so much! They are a favorite of mine for sure.

  10. I want to make these twice baked potatoes and freeze them for 30 men for our church’s men’s retreat. Do they need to be completely cooled before freezing? If so, do I cool them on my counter or do they need to be refrigerated to cool prior to freezing?

    Thanks5 stars

    1. Hi Lisa, yes they should be completely cooled before freezing. I would let them cool to room temperature on the counter then you can pop them into the fridge or freezer.

  11. When I baked the potatoes, it took more than one hour. Maybe my potatoes were too big Other than that, everything was so easy and the ingredients are simple!4 stars

    1. Hi Mary, we use small russet potatoes for this recipe. If using larger potatoes, it will definitely take longer to fully cook them.

  12. When I use my mix master to fluff the insides of Twice Baked Potatoes, the mixture rides up the beaters toward the top. How can I change that outcome?

    1. Sticky mixtures tend to do that. You can try beating at a lower speed or try using a hand mixer (as recommended) to have better control of that and the ability to lift the beaters up when it starts to rise and encourage it to go back down.

  13. Hi Holly, love your recipes! Twice baked potatoes you say I can make ahead what would the temp be, and for how long and should I take them out of refrig. Get to room temp. Before baking
    patsy

    1. If frozen, we recommend defrosting before cooking but if just removed from the fridge I would let them sit out while the oven preheats to allow them to warm up slightly before popping in the oven.

    1. Did you use small potatoes? Perhaps your potatoes were larger so needed additional cooking time. We do find that most baked potatoes are ready within an hour or so. Hope you enjoyed them as much as we do Jimmy!

  14. I have not tried this recipe, but I can tell I am really going to like them. How long will they last in the freezer.

  15. Morning Holly! These potatoes look dee-licious. I’m not very good with “salt to taste”. Could you suggest how much salt to use? Thanks, Ally in NJ

    1. I would start with a 1/4 teaspoon then taste the mixture before adding more. It’s easy to add more but hard to take it away!