7 Chain Restaurants With The Absolute Best Potato Skins

There are a lot of creative ways to use kitchen scraps that you might otherwise throw away (like germinating seeds, pickling watermelon rinds, and making stock from bones), and when it comes to potatoes, there are plenty of fun ways to use potato peels. The skin of the potato can arguably be the best part, especially if you're talking about that fan favorite appetizer, loaded potato skins.

The very best potato skins are crispy on the outside and creamy on the inside, delightfully cheesy, and when you add on the cool kick of fresh, ultra-cold sour cream, it's a total win. Yes, you can make them yourself, but there's no denying that it's exciting when you spot these on a restaurant's appetizer menu. But it's easy for potato skins to be less-than-great: They can be oily, greasy, impossible to bite through, and when the sour cream is warm or runny? No thanks.

We wanted to know which restaurant chains are doing potato skins right, so we headed out to see what customers had to say. In order to make it onto our list, chains needed to have potato skins on the regular menu, and we needed to see a lot of customers saying this was a go-to appetizer. We looked for potato skins lauded for having the consistently perfect combination of textures, the right amount of toppings (with bacon being a bonus, not a requirement), and as for sharability? You might want to get your own order at these chains.

TGI Fridays is perhaps the chain that needs no explanation or introduction to its long-standing relationship with fan favorite loaded potato skins. Sometimes, chain restaurants end up hitting on a side dish that customers love more than any of the mains on the menu, and that's the case with TGI Fridays and the always-popular potato skins. They're often cited as one of the most popular items on the menu, and it's easy to see why. Generally speaking, many customer reviews for TGI Fridays aren't great, but when it comes to the potato skins, things get a little more favorable.

And it kind of makes sense that this particular chain takes its potato skins seriously, as TGI Fridays is often said to have invented this wildly popular appetizer. Did they? That's actually up for debate, but we can say that they certainly helped make them popular.

We also have to add that TGI Fridays definitely gets extra points for allowing us all to enjoy its potato skins from the comfort of our own homes, with no need to wait for a delivery driver, answer the door, or change out of PJs. Fridays' store-bought appetizers are wildly popular, too, getting overwhelmingly favorable reviews from countless customers. Finally, we appreciate that they're also available in chip form, with flavors like cheddar and bacon, and jalapeño cheese.

If love for a chain's potato skin can be judged by the number of copycat recipes out there, then it's safe to say that Texas Roadhouse is serving up a major favorite. Some fans even claim that the best copycat recipes can't come close to what's served at the restaurant, but Redditors came to the rescue with their educated suggestion. The secret, they noted, was a dash of MSG in the seasoning. 

Texas Roadhouse does appetizers pretty well, and we'll admit that deciding what to order is tough. Rattlesnake Bites, anyone? The potato skins are a perfectly respectable choice, often lauded for the inclusion of crunchy bacon bits and cheese that tend to be evenly and appropriately distributed over the skins.

The potato skins have been a go-to for years, and we can all agree that nothing stays on the menu for so long without being a hit. Some customers who travel have headed to sites like Tripadvisor to confirm that Texas Roadhouse — and the potato skins — are a consistent win no matter where in the country you are, and there's a lot to be said for that. Pro tip: You can ask for some ranch dressing to go along with these, and you definitely should.

Anyone outside of New England might not be familiar with 99 Restaurants, which has locations in Massachusetts, Connecticut, Maine, New Hampshire, New York, Rhode Island, and Vermont. Those who are familiar with this place might wish it would expand nationwide, for one major reason: the potato skins. Honestly, there's more than one reason, as appetizers here also include a soft pretzel with melty cheese, and we would be on board with seeing that idea everywhere.

The potato skins here are a bit of an upgrade from what you might expect. We're talking about cheddar and Monterey Jack cheese, and as for the bacon, there are no bacon bits here. Applewood smoked bacon makes this a serious contender for the best of the best, and those in the know will agree — and they have. Back in 2022, the chain seemed to have some mysterious difficulties with its Maine-based potato supplier. The beloved potato skins disappeared, and there were (admittedly hilarious) videos of empty parking lots and heartbroken customers lamenting the loss.

Seriously, we get it: We have to take comfort in the little things sometimes, and potato skins are perfect comfort food. News outlets reported the skins were dropped from the menu after a fire at a potato supplier, and the pushback was so fierce that in 2023, it was announced that the skins were back on the menu. Servers were reportedly just as excited, as they were understandably tired of hearing the same complaint dozens of times a day. Win!

Black Angus Restaurant is also mixing things up from the traditional cheddar-and-bacon potato skins. Not that there's anything wrong with those, of course. Here, you're getting bacon and three types of cheeses — cheddar, pepper jack, and mozzarella. We all know how good melty mozzarella is on pizza. Add in the freshness of a sprinkle of chives, and even if you haven't had these particular potato skins, you can probably already guess why they're a favorite.

These check all the boxes: The cheese combo is a great upgrade, while reviews commend them for always being on-point, perfectly crispy, and let's talk about those toppings. If you've ever been wildly disappointed by an order of potato skins that comes out with what looks like a few pieces of cheese and a single bacon bit, we feel your pain. Fortunately, customers say that Black Angus loads up their skins the way nature intended. 

Customers who have headed to travel sites to sing the praises of these potato skins, noting that they're not only delicious, but that they're the perfect size for sharing. Positive reviews for these potato skins go back years, with other customers giving them a shout-out as being one element of an overall outstanding meal — and we can get on board with that.

Claim Jumper is another chain that gives its loaded potato skins an upgrade that we completely appreciate, and that's the chive dip. Sour cream is nice and all, but customers who say that this is a family favorite add that the dip is part of what keeps them coming back over the years. 

Some customers note that these can easily be given a stellar upgrade, with some advising that ordering the loaded potato skins with the addition of smoky chicken chunks is next-level. Claim Jumper's potato skins are another that you'll find a ton of copycat recipes for, so you might wonder if this is the kind of thing you want to go to a restaurant for. Interestingly, we found plenty of customers who say that yes, even though Claim Jumper serves the kind of food you might think you can make at home — or get literally anywhere else — the service, atmosphere, and food make it a worthy night out. 

The loaded potato skins get consistently called out as the thing that makes a trip to Claim Jumper something to look forward to, with some saying that the appetizers even put this restaurant head and shoulders above some of the more touristy places in Las Vegas. Who would have thought?

Bennigan's version of potato skins is more on the traditional side. There's cheddar, bacon, and green onions, with sour cream for dipping. Is there some sort of mysterious magic going on here to make them just a hearty, never-fail, never-disappointing appetizer? Maybe, because even though the ingredients listed on the menu are pretty straightforward, it's the kind of thing that has Reddit users requesting official recipes. 

One of the things we love about the potato skins here is that they're massive. Hearty-sized potatoes are topped with a helping of bacon that's more than generous, and it makes sense. Bennigan's is proud of its Irish theme, and potatoes are famously an important part of Irish cuisine.

Recent reviews from customers who wonder if Bennigan's in 2025 lives up to the Bennigan's of the 1990s confirm that yes, it does — and that includes the fact that the potato skins are just as tasty as ever. The Monte Cristo is, too, and when you pair them up? No regrets.

There are a lot of classic dishes that many people might not realize were invented in the United States. We're talking about General Tso's chicken, chimichangas, crab rangoon, and even German chocolate cake. How far those dishes have spread is a whole other conversation, but thanks to Hard Rock Cafe's international reach, loaded potato skins have spread all over the world. They're a staple on menus stateside and internationally, and trust us when we say there's a shocking number of Hard Rock Cafe locations. 

One of the worst things that can happen with potato skins is that the cheese is going to get greasy, oily, or otherwise funky. The Hard Rock Cafe eliminates the potential for problems by using a homemade cheese sauce, and that might just be the pro tip you need to make your own homemade skins outstanding.

There's something cool about the idea that customers in places like Bangkok, New York City, and Johannesburg all report that you can head to the Hard Rock and share an international experience of enjoying the chain's potato skins. Is it the secret to bringing the world together? We're not sure, but we'd love to find out.

In order to make it onto our list of chain restaurants that are putting out the best potato skins, we started by narrowing things down to the chains that had potato skins on their regular menu. From there, we looked at customer reviews going back years to get an idea of just how consistently this has been a favorite appetizer. We also looked for chains that were doing something a little different with their ingredients, offering upgrades, multiple types of cheeses, and giving weight to requests for copycat recipes to make this pretty simple dish at home... in exactly the same way restaurants do.