Loaded Potato Skins with Seasoned Venison and Cheese
Whether you need to use up leftover ground venison from last season or want to celebrate a newly filled freezer, these Loaded Potato Skins with Seasoned Venison and Cheese hit the mark. They’re the perfect wild game twist on a classic camp or game-day snack—crispy potato shells packed with savory venison, smoky bacon, and gooey melted cheese. Whether you’re cooking up a batch at deer camp, tailgating before the season opener, or just feeding hungry hunters at home, these hearty bites are guaranteed to disappear fast. Easy to make and loaded with flavor, this recipe turns your venison into the ultimate comfort food snack.
Ingredients
● 6 medium russet potatoes
● 2 Tbsp olive oil
● Salt and black pepper, to taste
For the Venison Filling:
● 1 lb ground venison
● ½ small onion, finely diced
● 1 tsp Worcestershire sauce
● 1 tsp garlic powder
● 1 tsp smoked paprika
● ½ tsp chili powder (optional)
● Salt and pepper, to taste
For the Toppings:
● 1 ½ cups shredded sharp cheddar cheese (or a mix of cheddar and Monterey Jack)
● 4 slices bacon, cooked and crumbled
● ½ cup sour cream
● ¼ cup chopped green onions
Instructions
Step 1: Bake the Potatoes
1. Preheat the oven to 400°F.
2. Scrub the potatoes clean, pierce them a few times with a fork, rub with olive oil, and sprinkle with salt.
3. Bake either directly on the rack or on a baking sheet for about 50–60 minutes, until fork-tender.
4. Once they’re finished, let them cool slightly, then slice each potato in half lengthwise. Scoop out most of the insides, leaving about ¼ inch of potato flesh to hold the filling.
Step 2: Season and Cook the Venison
1. In a skillet, cook bacon slices until crisp, flipping halfway. Remove from the skillet and set aside for later.
2. In the same skillet (with bacon grease), add diced onion and sauté until softened.
3. Stir in ground venison, breaking it apart as it cooks.
4. Season with Worcestershire, garlic powder, smoked paprika, chili powder, salt, and pepper.
5. Cook until browned, then remove from heat and set aside.
Step 3: Crisp the Potato Skins
1. Brush the hollowed potato skins with a little olive oil and sprinkle lightly with salt.
2. Place skin-side down on a baking sheet and bake for 10–15 minutes, until the edges are crispy and golden brown.
Step 4: Assemble and Bake
1. Fill each potato skin with a spoonful of seasoned venison.
2. Top with shredded cheese and crumbled bacon.
3. Return to the oven and bake for 10 minutes, or until the cheese is melted and bubbling.
Step 5: Serve
● Finish with a dollop of sour cream, a sprinkle of green onions, and serve immediately while they’re hot and melty!
Welcome back to Wild Kitchen. Today we are making venison loaded potato skins. This recipe features crispy potato shells packed with savory venison, smoky bacon, and gooey melted cheese. Our first step for this recipe is going to be baking the potatoes. We’ll need six rusted potatoes. And to get them prepped for the oven, we’ll need to scrub them clean, pierce them a few times with a fork, then we’ll rub them with a drizzle of olive oil and sprinkle them with salt. Then our potatoes are ready for the oven and we can bake them either directly on the rack or on a baking sheet like I did. They’ll cook for 50 to 60 minutes at 400° until they’re fork tender. Then once they’re finished, we’ll let them cool slightly. And then we’re going to slice each potato in half lengthwise. We’ll scoop out most of the insides, leaving about a 4 in of potato flesh to hold the filling. We’ll repeat this process with all of our potato halves until we’ve scooped out the filling from all of them. And rather than waste all of our potato filling, I personally like to just set it aside in a bowl and then make mashed potatoes out of it for another meal later. As we scoop out the potato filling, we can place the potato skins skin side down on a parchment paper lined baking sheet. I’m just reusing the same baking sheet and parchment paper that I used to bake the potatoes. Then we’ll need to get out some high quality olive oil and a brush. We’ll start brushing a small amount of the olive oil on the potato portion of our skins. And then we can just sprinkle them lightly with some salt. After that, we’re ready to pop them back into our oven. This time, we’re just going to crisp them up, so we’ll only need to bake them for about 10 to 15 minutes. After that, the edges should be crispy and golden brown. This recipe calls for cooked bacon as a topping. So, I like to do that first and then use the bacon grease to cook the ground venison filling because that bacon grease is going to add some extra flavor. So, we’ll just cook four bacon slices on both sides over mediumigh heat. until it’s brown and crisp. Then we’ll remove it from the pan and leave the grease. To that grease, we’ll add in one half of an onion that we finally diced. We’ll only need to let it cook for just a few minutes until it’s softened and slightly browned. After it is, it’ll look just like this. Then we can add in one lb of ground venison. We’re going to crumble it as it cooks, and we’re just going to need to cook it until it’s browned, just like this. Then we’ll add in our seasonings. We’ll need 1 teaspoon of wishes sauce, 1 teaspoon of garlic powder, 1 teaspoon smoked paprika, a/ teaspoon of chili powder, and salt and black pepper to taste. Then we can mix it using our spatula until everything’s well combined. Now, with our venison filling, we’re ready to fill our hollowed potato skins with a couple spoonfuls of our seasoned venison. Once we’ve filled all the skins, we can top the venison with a handful of shredded cheddar cheese using about 1 and 1/2 cups total. I like to use shredded cheddar, but you can do cheddar and Monterey Jack combination. Then, with the bacon we cooked earlier, we can crumble it up and place it on top of the cheese. We’ll return our potato skin to the oven and just bake for 10 minutes until the cheese is melted and bubbly. Once they’re done, they’ll look like this. And all we’ll have left to do is top with our garnishes. I like to just top them with a dollop of sour cream and then some chopped green onions. And we are ready to serve to our guests. Whether you’re cooking up a batch at deer camp, tailgating, or just feeding some hungry hunters at home, these are guaranteed to disappear fast. Enjoy.
Dining and Cooking