Yes – you can have crispy loaded potato skins while keeping things Whole30 and Paleo! These crispy baked skins are loaded with roasted broccoli, caramelized onions, crisp bacon and topped with plenty of homemade ranch and scallions for tons of flavor with no dairy in sight. Great as an appetizer or side dish, kid approved, easy to make!
I’m about to make you guys very, very happy – trust me. Assuming you do in fact make these crispy Whole30 loaded potato skins, that is!
I had sort of a creativity block for, well, MONTHS on what to load into Whole30 potato skins to make them truly worthy of their own recipe on the blog.
The ranch was sort of a no-brainer since it’s one of my favorite sauces/dressings, AND it’s basically MADE for potatoes.
But other than ranch and crispy skins? I was sort of at a loss. Or maybe I was just being a potato skin perfectionist, but, I was really struggling with how to make up for the lack of…(dare I say?!)…melty cheese.
And sour cream. Honestly, it’s a lot to live up to – and I know – because it’s not like I was born paleo or anything. The memory of greasy potato skins covered in cheese, bacon, and sour cream isn’t all that far off in my mind.
But hey – I know we can do BETTER than that! And we are about to, right here, right now, with these skins. Just you wait and see!
Okay yes, we start out just like the traditional version with baked potatoes, cut in half lengthwise with all but a thin layer of the inside scooped out.
I made mashed potatoes with my leftovers, just saying! In any case, you’ll save it for another use.
Now, the filling is 3 separate things that come together oh-so-tasty! First, roasted broccoli. I roasted mine nice and crispy with a little salt, to get lots of flavor out of each bite. It’s my favorite way to cook broccoli, by far.
Next, we have caramelized onions. Not just simple sautéed onions, but slowly caramelized onions which equals (once again) maximum flavor. It takes me 25-30 minutes to get the onions perfectly cooked this way, but it’s WAY worth it in my opinion!
Of course, we won’t forget about the bacon. Sure, I guess you could go without it (hmm, then again maybe not) but I had to include it here, since potato skins are a FUN recipe, and, bacon is a way-fun food.
Plus, if you’re using sugar free bacon like I am here, it’s Paleo and Whole30 compliant as well, so, basically it just cooked and crumbled itself, and landed right on our potatoes. Oh, and that rendered bacon fat does a mighty nice job of crisping up the potato skins before filling them too – again – just saying!
Lastly, we have the ranch and lots of thinly sliced scallions to top everything off. They’re the perfect Whole30 potato skins, guys, that much I know is true!
To go really wild (WILD) you can drizzle on a little hot sauce (Franks Red Hot Original is compliant) and maybe even add some avocado. The sky is your limit! Well, the Whole30 sky, that is.
I know you guys are going to love these loaded potato skins – let’s get started!
Loaded Potato Skins {Whole30, Paleo}
Crispy Loaded Potato Skins {Whole30, Paleo}
These crispy baked skins are loaded with roasted broccoli, caramelized onions, crisp bacon and topped with plenty of homemade ranch and scallions for tons of flavor with no dairy in sight. Great as an appetizer or side dish, kid approved, easy to make!
Ingredients
For the Potato Skins:
- 4 small/med Russet potatoes mine were about 7.5 oz each
- Coconut oil and sea salt for baking the potatoes
- 6 slices nitrate free bacon sugar free for Whole30 cut into small pieces
- 8 oz fresh broccoli florets (about 3 cups) cut into small pieces
- Rendered bacon fat to roast broccoli
- 2 medium onions sliced thin
- 2 1/2 Tbsp ghee or coconut oil to caramelize onions
- Sprinkle of sea salt
- Ranch dressing for topping see below
- Thinly sliced green onion for garnish
For the Ranch:
- 1/2 cup homemade mayo or purchased Paleo mayo such as Primal Kitchen
- 3 Tbsp coconut cream
- 1/2 tsp garlic powder
- 1/2 tsp onion powder
- 2 tsp dried chives
- 1/4 tsp dried dill
- 1 1/2 tsp fresh lemon juice
- 1/8-1/4 tsp salt or to taste
Instructions
For the Ranch:
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Whisk all ingredients together until smooth, cover and refrigerate until ready to use. Store leftovers covered in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.
For the Potato Skins:
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Preheat your oven to 400 degrees F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
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Scrub your potatoes and dry well, then coat each one with a thin layer of coconut oil using your hands. Sprinkle each one with a bit of salt all around and bake in the preheated oven 60-70 minutes until soft on the inside and crisp outside.
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Meanwhile, caramelize the onions. Heat a medium-large nonstick skillet over medium low heat and add the ghee to melt. Add in onions and stir gently to coat in ghee, then sprinkle with sea salt.
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Onions will need 25-30 minutes to caramelize fully. Keep heat on med/low or low if they brown too quickly and stir every few minutes to ensure even cooking. Once a deep caramel color, remove from heat and set aside.
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While onions cook, heat a separate skillet over med/hi heat to cook the bacon. Stir occasionally for even browning and once crisp, remove with slotted spoon to drain on paper towel, set aside. Reserve bacon fat for broccoli and potato skins!
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Next, roast broccoli - arrange in a single layer on a parchment lined baking sheet, drizzle with bacon fat and stir to coat. Roast in the 400 degree oven (along with the potatoes if still baking) for 15 minutes or until soft/crisp/browning. Remove from oven and set aside.
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Once bacon, onions, and broccoli are done, combine them in a bowl before fillings skins.
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Once potatoes are done, allow them to sit until cool enough to handle, then cut each one in half all the way around lengthwise. Scoop out the inside of each potato, leaving a thin layer on the inside of the skin. Insides can be saved for another use.
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Using a pastry brush, coat inside of each potato skin with bacon fat (thin layer) and sprinkle with a bit of salt. Place face up on the same baking sheet and return to oven to bake 5 mins, then flip them (face down) and bake for another 5 minutes or until both sides are crisp.
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Remove from oven and turn on the broiler. Fill each potato skin with the broccoli, bacon, onion mixture, then place under the broiler for a minute or two to heat through and get them nice and crispy.
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Remove from heat, drizzle with ranch and top with scallions and any other desired toppings* - serve immediately!**
Recipe Notes
*For a spicy kick, hot sauce is great! Use Frank’s Red Hot Original for a Whole30 compliant option. **If you won’t be serving immediately, save the broiler step and ranch/scallion toppings for when you’re about to serve.
Nutrition
What I Used To Make My Crispy Loaded Potato Skins:
Want More Paleo and Whole30 Appetizer Recipes? Try One of These!
Tostones with Avocado Ranch Dip
Baked French Fries with Chipotle Ranch Dip
Crispy Baked Buffalo Chicken Wings with Ranch Dip
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Jacinta Keeble says
January 20, 2018 at 9:29 amOMG! These look so good!!!
Jo says
January 20, 2018 at 10:23 amThose look exceptionally tasty, and for me they would be SWYPO. I have a terrible relationship with potatoes and I could see my really overdoing it on something like this, they are a gateway to food failure for me in any form of. I’m still grappling with the notion that potatoes are considered whole 30. They were added after I learned about whole 30.
Of course the whole reason for W30 is to help us learn such things. For those that can eat those things and not go crazy…wow.
Kenna says
January 20, 2018 at 12:04 pmWe hate mayo or anything ranch… I know weird…lol
Any other ideas to top them with?
Made the Pork chops and apples – excellent but the Crispy Chicken and Mushrooms – were out of this world fabulous!
Michele says
January 26, 2018 at 3:48 pmAwesome! Instead of ranch I think my Whole30 BBQ sauce would be great, or just some hot sauce to keep it simple if you want some spice. The BBQ sauce recipe is in the post with the bacon wrapped meatballs 🙂
Albert Bevia says
January 21, 2018 at 5:33 pmThese stuffed potatoes look insane good! I can just imagine the flavor the caramelized onions add to this, such a creative idea! sometimes the best things in life take time, and you nailed it with this recipe.
Michele says
January 26, 2018 at 3:46 pmLove those caramelized onions! Hope you enjoy!
Paula Knodel says
January 22, 2018 at 2:26 pmHi Michelle. What are the nutritional counts for the Stuffed Potato Skins? I guess I don’t understand Whole30. I am doing low carb, so the carbs, fiber and sugar are of interest to me. I love your recipes!
Michelle says
January 30, 2018 at 11:25 pmCarb count for my diabetic hubby, please?
tara says
January 23, 2018 at 2:57 pmgiiiiiiiirlllllll i dont know where i have been but i see your new photo on the about me area and i love your hair ! it looks super cute short. maybe ive been under a rock but didnt realize you had cut it. looks awesome. came back to your blog for some whole30 recipes. im doing my first one (day 17 today) and am meh about it. i really dont feel any different to be honest. maybe a little less bloated ? but no tiger blood or anything else really. oddly lots of skin breakouts. i have celiac so already Gluten Free so maybe since i had already cut out a huge group of trigger foods i am having less awesome results ? i guess its possible some of my cravings are getting a little less. but i gotta be honest i miss cheese and wine. and regular ketchup and mayo ! i know i still have a ways to go so maybe there is still time. but thanks for all your recipes. i also gotta say even though im not a fan of the taste of paleo mayo your recipe for mayo is so much better consistency wise than the whole30 cookbook mayo. and these potato skins just might make a showing at my house for super bowl. which is my last day. i truly would like day 31 to begin at 10 AM with some wine :)~
Rhonda Heasley says
January 28, 2018 at 11:01 amMade these last night! FANTASTIC!! I was going to post a pic but we gobbled them up too fast!??
Michele says
January 31, 2018 at 2:39 pmYay! So happy to hear that!
Sara says
February 5, 2018 at 4:56 pmMade these for super bowl yesterday…they were INCREDIBLE!!!!!!! So So GOOD! I used Tessamae’s ranch and franks hot sauce. Thanks!
Michele says
February 6, 2018 at 9:57 amSounds awesome! I’ve never tried Tessamae’s ranch, need to get some!
Lisa says
February 3, 2019 at 10:36 pmMade these tonight for a fun Super Bowl family dinner. It was a big hit; everyone loved these skins and were surprised it was Whole30 compliant. It was a lot of work, though…and I didn’t even have to make the ranch because we already had the Whole Sisters Dump Ranch on hand. I look forward to trying yours another time.