Easy Air Fryer Potato Skins

Find how to make classic American Air Fryer Potato Skins from scratch at home. They are packed full of fried bacon, cheddar cheese, and onions, and topped with sour cream. Or you can fill these up with your favorite toppings. Serve them as a party appetizer or as a quick snack.

I’m more than sure that you are going to love these loaded potato skins. They are very easy and quick to make and the best part is that you can use your leftovers to make the topping for those.

I love them especially in the air fryer because it takes less time to make them and I don’t need to heat up the entire kitchen.

First of all, you will need to wash well the potatoes and bake them. You can bake them even in the microwave if you’re looking for a quicker variant, however, I still recommend baking them in the air fryer for a better result.

Once the potatoes are baked, you need to cut them in halves and scoop out the insides. Now just add your favorite fillings and top on them the cheddar or parmesan cheese near chopped spring onion.

These versatile potato skins in the air fryer made from scratch can be easily used as a party appetizer or as a snack for your friends and family members.

🥔 What Potatoes to Use?

Pick whatever potatoes you like. All of them will work great for this recipe. Usually, I’m using russet potatoes, but you can use also Yukon gold or red potatoes.

A general recommendation: If you want to serve them as a main dish, then pick larger potatoes. If you need to serve them as snacks, then I would recommend going with smaller ones. They will look better on the table.

Quick Note: If you’re going with smaller potatoes, then you will need to reduce also the cooking time because they will cook faster.

🥰 Why You Will Love This Recipe?

• It is a good way to use the potatoes leftovers. Whether they are baked or boiled.
• You can adjust the fillings to make them to your taste.

How to Make the Potato Skins in Air Fryer?

1. Bake the potatoes in the air fryer for 30 minutes at 400°F / 200°C.
2. Cut the potatoes in halves and scoop out the core.
3. Mix the ingredients for the filling and fill the potatoes with the mixture.
4. Bake the potatoes potato skins for 5 minutes.
5. Serve them with sour cream.

Quick Note: For a more detailed recipe, I highly recommend reading the entire recipe to find the best tips and recommendations.

🏆 Tips for Success? How to Make It Better?

• If you want to use them as appetizers, use small potatoes to get a better appearance.
• Experiment with aromatic herbs.
• Use fried bacon or bacon crumbles instead of fresh bacon. Otherwise, you will have a lot of fat in the potatoes.
• Bake the potatoes in a single layer while using the air fryer.

🥘 Ingredients Needed for This Recipe?

All the ingredients and measurements can be found at the end of the recipe at the bottom of this post.

• Potatoes. Pick whatever potatoes you could find or have already in your kitchen.
• Cheese. I used Cheddar cheese but you can use also other types of hard cheeses as well.
• Bacon. Use fried bacon or bacon crumbles. Another good option is also to use leftover meat. Just finely chop it and use it in the filling.
• Green Onions.
• Optional, you can use sour cream for serving.

🍳 Variations

It is a basic recipe that you can vary depending on the ingredients you find in the fridge. That means that you can make your topping from the ingredients that you love.

If you want to go safe, you can add to the basic ingredients a few fried mushrooms.

🍽️ Serving Suggestions

You can serve them as an appetizer or as a snack near a glass of beer or red wine. Also, you can serve these potato skins as a main course near a salad.

👩‍🍳 Step-by-step Directions

Wondering how to prepare these delicious potato skins in the air fryer? The steps are actually very simple. Just follow them one by one.

First of all, wash the potatoes well. You can use a new kitchen sponge for that.

After that, we need to bake the potatoes. Put them in the air fryer basket and cook them for about 30 minutes at 400°F / 200°C.

Quick Note: The timing may differ based on the potato’s size and your air fryer model.

When the potatoes are baked, remove them from the air fryer basket and cut them in halves.

Next, using a spoon, remove the core from the potatoes.

Quick Note: Don’t make the potato walls too thin. Keep about ¼” on the edges. Otherwise, the walls of the potato may break when you will fill them.

Filling for the Potato Skins.

Take a large bowl and put in it the cheese, bacon, and green onions, and season everything with black pepper. But of course, you can use any other spices that you prefer.

Mix all ingredients well.

Fill the potatoes with the mixture obtained.

Quick Note: Don’t be afraid to put the filling in excess because the cheese will melt during baking and the topping will decrease in volume.

Put the potato halves back in the air fryer basket and cook them for about 5 minutes or until the cheese has melted.

Our easy and delicious potato skins in the air fryer are done and they are ready to be enjoyed! You can serve them both hot and cold.

Consider serving them with a creamy sauce such as sour cream, tzatziki, or dill sauce.

Optionally, you can decorate the potato skins with some finely chopped green onions for a more attractive result.

♻️ Make Ahead, Storage and Heating:

📋 Recipe Card: