Loaded Baked Potato Casserole Recipe is a super creamy casserole made with tender mashed potatoes, loads of cheddar cheese, and delicious crispy bacon.
Loaded Baked Potato Recipe
This side dish is worth the time to make it with sour cream, green onion topping, and can easily be loaded with more of your favorite potato toppings – talk about a comfort food! Twice baked potatoes are so aptly named because they are cooked twice – leaving them savory, soft, and creamy.
They key to this baked potato casserole is to simply pre-prep your potatoes before adding flavorful ingredients like butter, sour cream, seasoning and loads of cheese, and then piling high with the good stuff- bacon! I love a regular loaded baked potato, but this mashed potato casserole is so filling that its a meal in and of itself!
- 2 tablespoons butter
- 1/2 cup sour cream
- 1/4 cup whole whipping cream
- 2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1/2 teaspoon pepper
- 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese for topping
- 1/2 lb. bacon, cooked and cut up (topping)
RELATED CASSEROLE DISHES: Cauliflower Au Gratin Casserole, Zucchini Tomato Casserole, Apple Cinnamon Bread Pudding, Broccoli and Ham Casserole, Blueberry French Toast Casserole, Cinnamon Roll French Toast Casserole, Sausage Hash Brown Breakfast Casserole
RELATED POTATO SIDE DISHES: Crispy Herb Roasted Potatoes, Smashed Red Potatoes in Oven, Sweet Potatoes in the Oven, Pressure Cooker Red Potatoes, Crock Pot Sweet Potato Casserole, Ninja Foodi Sweet Potatoes, Mashed Medley
Prep Baked Potatoes in Microwave
Before getting started, you need to prep the potatoes so they are already soft and scoop-able. You can boil, instant pot, oven bake or microwave -whatever you are most comfortable with.
Personally, I wash/scrub potatoes, cut them in half, and poke holes in the skin with a fork.
Place on a microwave safe plate. I microwave for 5 minutes and then flip over and continue to microwave for an additional five minutes or until soft.
My dad has this trick where he pokes holes in them and puts them in a zip lock baggie, leaving just the edge open. He does 1-2 potatoes at a time for about 8 minutes, until you can run a knife into them. Again, they get really hot so no matter how you prep your potatoes, make sure you be careful.
Loaded Mashed Potato Casserole
Preheat oven to 400 degrees and spray a 2-1/2 quart casserole dish with nonstick cooking spray and set aside.
Please note you may need a LARGER casserole dish if your potatoes are larger. Just adjust the pan size to fit your inner potato flesh.
Prep your potatoes so they are soft (see note on potatoes). No need to peel skins off for loaded mashed potato casserole.
Scoop the insides out of the potato and place into a large mixing bowl.
Discard the potato skins.
Add butter, sour cream, whipping cream, shredded cheese and spices. Mix all casserole ingredients well.
Spoon prepped potato casserole into prepared baking casserole dish.
Sprinkle top of potato casserole with remaining shredded cheese *you can be extra generous if you want* and top with cooked, crispy bacon.
NOTE ABOUT BACON: When it comes to using bacon as as topping, it can get frustrating to get the right crisp. I now use my Ninja Foodi to Air Fry bacon in about 10 minutes, which allows me to really use a lot of extra bacon without having to stand over a hot splattering skillet.
If you have never made bacon that way, I recommend it!!!
Bake loaded potato casserole for 10-15 minutes or until heated through and bubbly around the edges.
- Loaded Twice Baked Potato Casserole is scoopable and ready for YOUR favorite toppings!
Simple Casserole Variations
Feel free to add a layer of seasoned beef on the bottom of this loaded baked potato casserole to not only add some protein, but turn this ultimate side dish into a main dish (think loaded baked potato Shepard’s pie!)
Make sure you come back and tell me any changes you made!
Common Casserole Recipe Questions
Can loaded baked potato casserole be made ahead of time? I have not actually prepped twice baked potato casserole ahead of time, but judging by ingredients, I am pretty sure you could prep and cover this recipe for next day baking. One note with food prep ahead of time is that once a recipe is placed in the fridge, it gets super cold. This means the casserole needs to come up to room temp OR might add on extra time in the oven to go from super cold to cooked.
Can left over mashed potatoes be used in this potato casserole? Absolutely! This is a great recipe to use leftover holiday mashed potatoes and renew life to them by creating a casserole. Delicious!
Why is the recipe “twice baked”? The potatoes are cooked twice – once in the microwave, once in the oven.
Your changes and feedback are always welcome and we love if you leave comments on your own alterations so we can try them as well.
Loaded Baked Potato Casserole
Ingredients
- 2.5 lbs baked potatoes
- 2 tablespoons butter
- 1/2 cup sour cream
- 1/4 cup whole whipping cream
- 2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1/2 teaspoon pepper
Topping
- 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese for topping
- 1/2 lb bacon cooked and cut up (topping)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400 and spray a casserole dish with nonstick cooking spray and set aside.
- Before getting started on your casserole assembly, you need to soften your potatoes. You can use the microwave (info listed in article), pressure cooker or oven bake. Your potatoes need to be soft enough to scoop out insides.
- Scoop the insides out of the potato and place into a mixing bowl.
- Discard potato skins.
- Add butter, sour cream, whole whipping cream, 2 cups of cheese and spices.
- Mix all casserole well.
- Spoon twice baked potato mixture into prepared dish.
- Sprinkle top of casserole with remaining cheese and top with lots of bacon.
- Bake casserole for 10-15 minutes or until heated through and bubbly around the edges.
Video
Notes
NOTE ABOUT SIZE OF CASSEROLE DISH: When I first made this dish, I used a 2.5 quarter but this can vary due to the size of potatoes. Just eyeball your potatoes and put in a dish that is the right size- in the video you can see my potatoes were large, so its more of a casserole dish.
- Can you prep Loaded Baked Potato Casserole Ahead of Time? Yes! You can make your loaded baked potato casserole ahead of time and put in the fridge, sealed up well with foil, until time to bake. Please note that cooking times may vary when you are coming straight from a super cold fridge and you may need additional cooking time to warm.
- Can you crock pot Twice Baked Potato Casserole? You can! Just assemble all your ingredients in the crock pot and warm on low for 2 hours or until warm. Add layer of extra cheese and melt before serving. Because potatoes do so well in a crock pot, this recipe makes an amazing hearty and comfort dish for a party, holiday, or to feed a crowd.
- Can you use Instant Potatoes for Twice Baked Potato Casserole? Yes, you can. I do not know the exact measurements to make this translation but will be updating in the future.
- Can you substitute milk for whole whipping cream? Yes.
Nutrition
Nutritional information is an estimate and provided to you as a courtesy. You should calculate the nutritional information with the actual ingredients used in your recipe using your preferred nutrition calculator.
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