Loaded Baked Potato Casserole

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)

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. Love potato side dishes? Browse all of our Best Potato Recipes →