Crispy Potato Bites Appetizer

These Crispy Potato Bites are a simple potato appetizer to make for parties, game day, or even an after-school snack. They are fully loaded, made with thin slices of oven-baked potatoes topped with melted cheese, ranch dressing dip, homemade bacon bits, and green onions. 

With just a few ingredients and minimal prep time, you can whip up a batch of these addictive bites in no time. And if you’re looking for more potato appetizer recipes, try our loaded potato skins, parmesan potatoes, smashed potatoes, loaded tochos or sweet potato fries.

Crispy Potato Bites with Bacon and Cheese

If you follow this blog at all, you know that we are potato lovers!  It’s impossible to choose a favorite potato side dish or appetizer (ahem… 33 of the Best Potato Recipes), but these crispy potato bites may come close. There is minimal prep, but maximum comfort food deliciousness.  

Really all you need to do is slice, season, and bake a few potatoes until golden and crispy, then top with your favorite potato toppings.  We’ve provided you with a yummy ranch and cream cheese dip to use, but these would also taste great served up with a side bowl of BLT Dip, Frank’s Chicken Dip or Pepper Jack Queso.

The Best Potatoes for Potato Bites

We love to use russet potatoes to make potato bites.  Their thicker skin helps them hold up to the long baking process, while remaining creamy on the inside.  

Some other varieties that also taste and work great are Yukon gold, red potatoes, and even sweet potatoes. The main thing is that you want to make sure that your slices are all roughly the same size and thickness so that they cook evenly.

Key Ingredients

• Bacon – you can use any type of bacon that you like.  Make sure and save the bacon grease to brush onto the potatoes!
• Russet Potatoes – these are what we usually use to make crispy potato bites, however you can easily substitute red potatoes, Yukon gold potatoes, or sweet potatoes.
• Cheddar Cheese – you can buy this pre-shredded or else shred yourself.
• Cream Cheese – you want your cream cheese to be room temperature so that it will mix well with the sour cream.
• Sour Cream – either full fat or lite will work.
• Ranch Dressing Mix – you can find this in the salad dressing aisle at the grocery store.  It usually comes in little packets.
• Green Onions – these should be sliced thin.

How to Make Crispy Potato Bites

1. Make bacon bits.  Cut bacon into ½” pieces. Heat a frying pan over medium heat and add the bacon. Saute the bacon bits for 5-8 minutes, or until the bacon is sizzling and crispy. Use a slotted spoon and transfer the bacon bits to a paper towel lined plate to cool.  Save the bacon grease!
2. Prep potatoes.  Wash potatoes and cut 1/8″ thick slices to make potato rounds.  Line baking sheets with parchment paper and lay the sliced potato rounds in a single layer on the baking sheets.  Brush potatoes with melted bacon grease (or cooking oil) on both sides, then season with garlic salt.
3. Bake.  Bake in a preheated 400 degree oven for about 45 minutes (flipped halfway through) or until potato rounds are lightly golden brown and cooked through.  Remove baking sheets from the oven and add shredded cheddar cheese over the tops of each potato round. Return to the oven and bake again for about 10 minutes, or until the cheese is melted.  Once the cheese has melted, pull the trays from the oven and let them cool.
4. Make ranch dip.  Meanwhile, in a small bowl, combine the room temperature cream cheese, sour cream and ranch seasoning powder.
5. Serve.  Once the potatoes have cooled for at least 15 minutes, add a small teaspoon of ranch cream to the top of each potato bite, then top with sliced green onions and bacon bits and serve immediately.  Enjoy!

Easy Recipe Variations

• Fresh herbs and olive oil.  A mix of fresh herbs, like oregano, thyme and rosemary tastes amazing.
• Parmesan cheese.  Top with a mixture of sea salt and pepper, paprika and garlic powder then sprinkle with grated Parmesan cheese just before baking.
• Sweet potatoes with pecans and maple.  Use sweet potatoes instead of russets, season with cinnamon, salt, pepper and brush with melted butter and maple syrup.  Serve with sprinkled toasted pecans and sour cream.

Frequently Asked Questions

More Potato Recipes

• Breakfast Hashbrowns
• Potato Skins
• Baked Potato
• Au Gratin Potatoes
• Red Skin Potatoes
• Fingerling Potatoes
• Cheesy Potatoes Casserole
• Red Skin Mashed Potatoes
• Cheesy Hashbrowns in Crockpot
• Cheesy Roasted Potatoes
• Sweet Mashed Potatoes
• Scalloped Potaoes
• More Potato Recipes
• More Appetizers

These simple Crispy Potato Bites involve minimal prep and maximum deliciousness.  They are a super simple, fully loaded appetizer topped with cheddar cheese, ranch dipping sauce, bacon bits and green onions.