It might be the case that you are in the market for a delicious game day appetizer in the upcoming weeks so I thought I’d give you one! These Buffalo Chicken Potato Skins are the perfect meld of two of my favorite appetizers.
While they might take a bit longer to make than most of my recipes, the big chunk of time is completely hands off and you can do other things (like watch basketball) while the potatoes bake.
If you are a buffalo chicken fan though, these are an excellent delivery device for the classic dip!
How to make good potato skins
Good potato skins, in opinion, start with Russet potatoes. They have a thicker skin and once scrubbed and baked, end up being wonderfully crispy and the perfect delivery vehicle for a loaded dip like this.
The downside is to get that wonderful crispy skin, you need to bake the potatoes. I like to bake them in a 400˚F oven for at least an hour, but 75 minutes is probably better.
Rub the potatoes with a little olive oil and season with salt. Don’t forget to clean them really well since you will be eating the skins! Lucky you!
After you bake the potatoes, let the cool so they are easier to handle and then cut them in half and scoop out all the potato flesh. Leave a little so the skins aren’t too thin.
Can you microwave baked potatoes?
You can microwave baked potatoes… see my tutorial on that on Simply Recipes if you would like to try it. You don’t get that super crispy skin though if you microwave them so I would recommend adding a little extra baking time later in the recipe if you go this route!
What to do with leftover potatoes
Don’t throw out that potato flesh from the potatoes! You can obviously use it to make mashed potatoes or if you want to get fancy you can make a potato dip or even gnocchi out of the potatoes!
Making the buffalo chicken filling
At some point while your potatoes are baking, make the buffalo chicken filling. This is very easy and I like to use chicken thighs for it, but you could use any chicken or even a shredded rotisserie chicken.
Cook the chicken in butter and shred it well and then stir in your sauce. Done deal!
Finishing the potato skins
Okay. Let’s assemble these beauties! First, to make the skins, cut each potato half in half again. So you should get four skins out of each potato. If you have fat potatoes you could go for thirds so you get six per potato.
Before you stuff these, brush them with some oil or butter and bake them a second time at 400˚F for about 10 minutes to crisp them up a bit. They should be crispy enough to pick up at this point.
Now it’s time to finish the buffalo chicken potato skins. I like to do a small layer of cheese, a few spoonfuls of chicken mixture, and more cheese!
Bake these for another 10 minutes or so until they are bubbling and crispy around the edges.
For toppings, I like to top mine with scallions or chives and blue cheese dressing!
Substitutions and ideas
Lots of substitutions and ideas for these!
- Instead of blue cheese dressing, add crumbled blue cheese to the top.
- Use a rotisserie chicken for easy shredding.
- For a vegetarian version, try crumbled tofu mixed with the hot sauce.
These will absolutely disappear from your table! I promise! They are definitely worth the work and aren’t actually that hard!
Buffalo Chicken Potato Skins
Ingredients
- 4 medium Russet potatoes, baked
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 pound chicken thighs, boneless skinless
- 2 tablespoons butter
- ⅔ cup Franks Hot Sauce, or your favorite
- 1 cup shredded cheese
- Chives, garnish
- Blue cheese dressing, garnish
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400˚F. Drizzle potatoes with olive oil and season with salt. Bake potatoes for 60-75 minutes until very tender and crispy on the outside. Remove and let cool slightly.
- Meanwhile, making the chicken filling. Add butter to a medium pot over medium heat. Once melted, add chicken and shred apart as it cooks.
- When chicken is cooked, add hot sauce and continue to cook over low heat until sauce is soaked into shredded chicken. Remove and let cool slightly.
- When potatoes are cool, cut in half and carefully hollow out the potatoes, leaving some potato so the skins aren't too thin. Cut each half in half again, so each potato yields four skins.
- Brush potato skins with a little olive oil or butter (or spray them with avocado oil) and return to oven to crisp up for 10 minutes.
- Remove potato skins and top with a sprinkle of cheese, a few tablespoons of buffalo chicken filling, and more cheese. Return to the oven for a final 10 minute bake.
- Serve potato skins while warm, garnished with chives and blue cheese dressing.
