Best Loaded Potato Skins | Delicious and Healthy
The Best Loaded Potato Skins are both delicious and a healthier version, made with better ingredients and are a great way to enjoy your favorite snack. Baked, not fried!
To kick off the whole “healthy eating” party I am having on this blog, I decided that posting a favorite recipe with healthier/less fat alternative ingredients would be a good way to start.
Potato skins are still loaded with carbs, but with a few tweaks you can make a few changes to make them a little bit better.
My goal is to show you that you can still eat favorites, but change how you eat them.
I want to show you how to control your portions and choose healthier/lower fat ingredients.
The Secret to the Best Potato Skins: Bake them, Don’t Fry them!
Your goal is to bake the potatoes at a high enough heat so that the skins get crispy enough to hold all of your delicious toppings.
This should help a lot!
What are the best potatoes for Potato Skins?
While I think this is the sort of thing that could be debated, I honestly find that Russet Potatoes are the best in terms of size, and the way they bake up.
Russet potatoes have a tougher skin which makes them the perfect candidate for holding their shape and all those toppings.
Other potatoes will taste just as delicious but as an example, yukon gold potatoes have a much softer skin which means you run the risk of tearing the skin while scooping.
Tips for baking potato skins:
- Poke holes in the potatoes through the skins to allow venting and to avoid explosions.
- If we were making these a little more traditionally, I’d tell you to rub oil on the skins all over in a very thin layer, and sprinkle them with a dash of salt. In this recipe, to cut some calories and fat, we are using cooking spray – I usually opt for olive oil cooking spray.
- To check for doneness, use a toothpick or a skewer. Insert into the potato and if it slides in and out with no issues, your potato is more than likely done.
Best toppings for the best loaded potato skins:
- cheeses, but think outside the box and try gouda, or feta or bleu cheese
- green onions, but even chopped regular onion is delicious
- sour cream, but try plain greek yogurt for a healthier tasty twist (plus they taste so similar!)
- chili, spicy, mild… whatever… if you’ve never tried it – TRY IT! It makes a whole meal!
- broccoli and cheese – this is my son’s favorite combo
- buffalo chicken with drizzled ranch
And I could keep going but there’s some jumping off points. These will help you make the best loaded potato skins.
Delicious and Healthy Loaded Potato Skins Recipe
Baked – not Fried. But equally as awesome!! (if not better!) Trust me! They are so good!
If you try them, let me know what you think. If you do something differently, please share.’
If you can think of other ways to prepare them, and keep them nice and healthy or at least healthier, please let me know!
Extra note: For the record, normal Fried Potato Skins are about 40 grams of fat. If you make them the way this recipe suggests – you will be sitting at roughly about 7 grams of fat. Pretty awesome! (oh and calories are cut by about 300!)
We love pairing these loaded potato skins with this Sour Cream and Onion Dip!
How do you make the Best Loaded Potato Skins?
Delicious and Healthy Loaded Potato Skins
Ingredients
- 2 med. russet potatoes scrubbed clean
- salt pepper and/or seasonings of your choice
- 1 1/2 c. shredded reduced fat cheese of your choice shred it yourself, it’s better!!
- 1/4 c. bacon torn into small pieces
- 1/4 c. reduced fat sour cream or plain greek yogurt
- 2 Tbs. chopped fresh chives
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 475 degrees.
- Scrub your potatoes until clean and allow to dry somewhat. Prick the surface of the potatoes with a fork several times all around. Place on a plate in the microwave and cook on high for about 10-12 minutes or until completely cooked all the way through.
- Allow the potatoes to cool until you can handle them.
- Line a baking sheet with foil.
- Cut each potato in half lengthwise. Using a spoon, scoop out most of the flesh of the potato. (save for homemade mashed potatoes!) Be sure and leave some potato lining the shell of the potato skin.
- Set the potato skins onto the baking sheet. Spray them all over (inside and the outside) with nonstick cooking spray. Season them (inside and outside) with salt and pepper, or other seasoning. Bake the potato skins for about 10 minutes until they are golden brown and beginning to get crisp.
- Remove from oven. Fill the skins with cheese (divide among the skins). Sprinkle the bacon over the top. Place the pan back into the oven for approximately 8 minutes or until the cheese is bubbly. (watch this so the cheese doesn’t burn).
- Serve with a nice dollop of sour cream or plain greek yogurt on the top and sprinkled with chives.
For more fun skinnier versions of some classic things, try these:
Skinny Baked Beignets
Skinny Chicken Cordon Bleu Pasta
Skinny Avocado Egg Salad Wraps
These look delicious Nicole. I’d love it if you would share these at my Saturday Spotlight linky party. 🙂
http://angelshomestead.com/saturday-spotlight-2-features/
Try Non-Fat Greek yogurt instead of Sour Cream. Tastes almost the same and gives you some additional protein. Can’t wait to try this one out tonight.
Thanks!
Can the potatoes be boiled instead of the microwave?
Can’t see what harm that would actually do. As long as you boiled them down to be soft enough, but didn’t boil them enough to fall apart which can happen easily.
Let me know how they turn out!
These skins were really great. Saved from Sunday night’s baked potatoes, I substituted white cheddar cheese, choppen uncured pork, creme fraiche and green onions from the garden. Made a quick weeknight dinner with salad and fresh fruit. I would certainly serve these as appetizers on game days. Thanks for the post.