Vegan Twice Baked Potatoes (air fryer and oven instructions)

These fluffy twice baked potatoes are crispy potato skins filled with a light and airy potato, chives, and bacon interior that are roasted to perfection. This vegan, gluten-free recipe will wow even the most skeptical muggle. They make a great side dish for holidays or special occasions, but they’re also fabulous for meal prep for busy weeknights.

This recipe makes 4 servings of twice baked potatoes.

Table of Contents

(click the links below to skip to the section you’re looking for)

• Vegan Twice Baked Potato Recipe
• Frequently Asked Questions
• Ingredient Substitutions

Ingredients for Cheesy Vegan Twice Baked Potatoes

(jump to the substitutions section to see ingredient details and suggestions for substitutions)

• 2 large russet potatoes
• ½ teaspoon avocado oil
• ⅓ cup (2.5oz/75g) plain vegan yogurt
• 3 tablespoons (45mL) non-dairy milk
• 2 tablespoons (20g) vegan butter or margarine
• 2 tablespoons (12g) nutritional yeast
• ½ teaspoon (1g) garlic powder
• ½ teaspoon (2g) onion powder
• ½ teaspoon (4g) salt
• 2 ounces (60g) vegan cheese (any variety works)
• 3 strips of vegan bacon (optional)
• 2-3 chopped chives (optional)
• 1 sliced jalapeño (optional)
• black pepper (optional)

Cheesy Vegan Twice Baked Potatoes Directions

Prep time: 15 minutes | bake time: 52 minutes

How To Make Twice Baked Potatoes in the Air Fryer

Wash both potatoes well since you’re eating the skin. If the potato has any little sprouts coming out of it, just remove those and compost them or throw them away.

Poke holes all over the potato. You can use a fork or the tip of a knife or a toothpick or whatever you have handy.

Rub the outsides of the potatoes with oil like you’re putting sunblock on before going to the beach. I use safflower oil because it can withstand high heats without creating transfats.

Place the oiled potatoes in the air fryer basket and set the air fryer temperature to 350º and the timer to 20 minutes.

Bake the potatoes in the air fryer for 20 minutes at 350º.

Remove the basket when the air fryer stops and the timer beeps.

Flip the potatoes over using tongs

Air fry the potatoes for another 20 minutes at 350º. If you’re adding vegan bacon to your recipe, toss 3 strips of vegan bacon into the air fryer, along with the potatoes for 5-7 minutes.

Start the filling while the potatoes bake. Combine the filling ingredients in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment: ⅓ cup (2.5oz/75g) plain vegan yogurt, 3 tablespoons (45mL) non-dairy milk, 2 tablespoons (20g) vegan butter or margarine (if you avoid soy, buy the soy-free earth balance), 2 tablespoons (12g) nutritional yeast (if you don’t have this, you can omit it), ½ teaspoon (1g) garlic powder, ½ teaspoon (2g) onion powder, ½ teaspoon (4g) pink sea salt (I use pink sea salt because it has trace minerals in it, but you can use any salt you have), 2 ounces (60g) vegan cheese (I used Miyoko’s savory scallion flavored cashew cream cheese for these, but I’ve used pretty much every vegan cheese you can think of in this recipe, and they all turn out delicious), 2-3 chopped chives (optional), 1 sliced jalapeño (optional), and black pepper (optional).

Poke the potatoes with a toothpick or a fork and see how easily it slides in. This will tell you if they’re done. If it doesn’t slide in easily, they may need more time. It’s hard to quote an exact time for this step since potatoes come in different sizes and the larger ones take longer to bake all the way through. My two potatoes were different sizes: one of them was done after 40 minutes in the air fryer, so I took that one out, and cooked the other one for an additional 5 minutes. Checking them every 5 minutes is a good way to make sure they don’t overbake during this final stage.

Cool the potatoes for at least 15 minutes after you take them out of the air fryer so you can hold them without hurting your little paws.

Chop the vegan bacon while the potatoes are cooling. Add it to the bowl of filling ingredients.

Slice the potatoes in half, lengthwise. I used a serrated knife.

Scoop the potato out with a spoon. Leave a little bit (like an eighth of an inch or 3mm) of potato near the skin to prevent any rips or tears on the potato skin.

Add the scooped baked potato to the mixing bowl with the other filling ingredients.

Whisk starting on low speed and working your way higher to medium speed (and even to high speed, as long as you have a towel or a shield protecting your kitchen from potato splatters). Keep whisking until the filling is completely smooth. If you don’t have a stand mixer, you can use a handheld electric mixer or even just a potato masher and a spoon to do it the old fashioned (aka manual labor) way. I stopped my mixer and scraped down the sides with a silicone spatula before turning it on again to make sure I got it all.

Fill the empty russet potato skins with the potato filling you just made.

Save any garnishes (additional vegan bacon, chopped chives, etc.) to sprinkle on after they cook and right before you serve them. Otherwise, the air fryer will try to play a game of ping pong with your garnishes (and because the basket is closed, you’ll never know who won the game and it will keep you up at night not knowing, and it’s best just to avoid that altogether). I used salt, pepper, chives, jalepeño slices, and vegan bacon pieces as my garnish. Vegan bacon bits also make a great garnish, but read the label. Only some bacon bits are vegan.

Air fry for 5 minutes at 350º.

Increase the temperature on the air fryer to 400º and set the timer to 2 more minutes to get your twice baked potatoes to crisp up and brown a little on the top. Keep an eye on them, so you don’t get any spots that burn.

How To Make Vegan Twice Baked Potatoes in the Oven

Preheat the oven to 375º.

Wash both potatoes well since you’re eating the skin. If the potato has any little sprouts coming out of it, just remove those and compost them or throw them away.

Poke holes all over the potato. You can use a fork or the tip of a knife or a toothpick or whatever you have handy.

Rub the outsides of the potatoes with oil like you’re putting sunblock on before going to the beach. I use safflower oil because it can withstand high heats without creating transfats.

Bake the potatoes in the oven for 30 minutes at 375º. Just setting them on a baking sheet and sticking that in the oven is easiest and keeps your oven cleaner. But if you don’t care about a dirty oven, you can also just set them right on the oven racks.

Flip the potatoes over using tongs or your hand if you’re wearing an oven mitt.

Bake the potatoes in the oven for another 30 minutes at 375º. If you’re adding vegan bacon to your recipe, add 3 strips of vegan bacon to the oven, along with the potatoes for 12-15 minutes.

Start the filling while the potatoes bake. Combine the filling ingredients in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment: ⅓ cup (2.5oz/75g) plain vegan yogurt, 3 tablespoons (45mL) non-dairy milk, 2 tablespoons (20g) vegan butter or margarine (if you avoid soy, buy the soy-free earth balance), 2 tablespoons (12g) nutritional yeast (if you don’t have this, you can omit it), ½ teaspoon (1g) garlic powder, ½ teaspoon (2g) onion powder, ½ teaspoon (4g) pink sea salt (I use pink sea salt because it has trace minerals in it, but you can use any salt you have), 2 ounces (60g) vegan cheese (I used Miyoko’s savory scallion flavored cashew cream cheese for these, but I’ve used pretty much every vegan cheese you can think of in this recipe, and they all turn out delicious), 2-3 chopped chives (optional), 1 sliced jalapeño (optional), and black pepper (optional).

Poke the potatoes with a toothpick or a fork and see how easily it slides in. This will tell you if they’re done. If it doesn’t slide in easily, they may need more time. It’s hard to quote an exact time for this step since potatoes come in different sizes and the larger ones take longer to bake all the way through. If your potatoes aren’t done after an hour, I would set your timer to 5-minute increments and keep checking them every 5 minutes to make sure they don’t overbake during this final stage.

Cool the potatoes for at least 15 minutes after you take them out of the oven, so you can hold them without hurting your little paws.

Slice the potatoes in half, lengthwise. I used a serrated knife.

Scoop the potato out with a spoon. Leave a little bit (like an eighth of an inch or 3mm) of potato near the skin to prevent any rips or tears on the potato skin.

Add the scooped baked potato to the mixing bowl with the other filling ingredients.

Whisk starting on low speed and working your way higher to medium speed (and even to high speed, as long as you have a towel or a shield protecting your kitchen from potato splatters). Keep whisking until the filling is completely smooth. If you don’t have a stand mixer, you can use a handheld electric mixer or even just a potato masher and a spoon to do it the old fashioned (aka manual labor) way. I stopped my mixer and scraped down the sides with a silicone spatula before turning it on again to make sure I got it all.

Fill the empty potato skins with the filling you just made.

Sprinkle garnishes on top before returning them to the oven. I used salt, pepper, chives, jalepeño slices, and vegan bacon pieces as my garnish.

Bake the stuffed baked potatoes for 15-20 more minutes at 375º, until they start to brown on top.

Broil the potatoes for 2-3 minutes at the end if they aren’t brown and crispy enough. Keep an eye on them, so you don’t get any spots that burn.

How To Make Your Twice Baked Potatoes Into Hearts

If you like cute food like I do or you’re making these twice-baked potatoes for a special occasion, here’s how to make them into heart shapes, like mine.

Set all 4 twice-baked potatoes on a cutting board.

Cut them diagonally, so that 2 are cut diagonally to the left and 2 are cut diagonally to the right.

Match up the halves of each potato with the halves from the potatoes that were cut the opposite direction.

Serve all 4 heart-shaped twice-baked potatoes.

If you make this twice baked potato recipe, snap a pic, post to instagram, and tag me @vegandollhouse. I love to see your creations! You can also message me through instagram or email me if you have any questions about the recipe.

Frequently Asked Questions About Vegan Twice Bked Potatoes

Can I add other ingredients to the filling?

Absolutely! Vegan cheese, vegan bacon, chives, and jalapeño are just suggestions. I’ve added broccoli, mushrooms, and spinach before, and they always turn out great. The only downside (if you could even call it a downside) is that you may end up with leftover filling that won’t fit back into the skins, but you can bake the leftover filling in any oven safe dish when you do your second bake. If you’re adding any of these ingredients, just cook them in the oven or air fryer before adding to the filling.

What kind of vegan cheese should I use?

I’ve used a lot of different kinds of vegan cheese in this recipe. You can use homemade vegan cheese, vegan cream cheese, soft vegan cheese, or vegan grated or shredded cheese.

What do you serve twice baked potatoes with?

I like twice baked potatoes with all kinds of things.

• vegan chicken nuggets
• these radish skewers
• this buffalo chicken salad
• chili

Can I make these twice-baked potatoes in advance?

Definitely! I’m a huge fan of making things in advance to alleviate stress on busier days. These are a perfect recipe to meal prep on days off work and then reheat on busy weeknights or for lunches. Do all of the steps up until the second bake, and instead of baking or air frying the second time, just pop them into a tupperware and leave them in the fridge for up to 5 days. Then when you bake or air fry them the second time, just add 5-10 minutes to the cooking times above since you’re starting with them being cold.

How do I reheat leftover twice baked potatoes?

• Oven or toaster oven: Put the potatoes either directly on the oven or toaster oven rack or set them on an oven safe dish. Bake at 350º for 20 minutes.
• Air fryer: Put the potatoes directly into the air fryer basket, and air fry them at 350º for 10-15 minutes.
• Microwave: Put the twice-baked potato in a bowl and cover it with a kitchen towel and a paper towel. Microwave for 2-3 minutes.

Can I freeze twice baked potatoes?

Sure. Like above, just prepare them right up until the second bake, but instead of the second bake, place them into freezer ziplock bags and freeze them for up to 3 months. Remove them from the freezer the night before you want to make them. When you’re ready to make them, add 5-10 minutes to the cooking times above since you’re starting with them being cold. If you forget to thaw them out in advance, you can still reheat them in the air fryer. Just leave them in for closer to 20 minutes if the twice baked potatoes are frozen when you put them in.

Can I double or triple this recipe for bringing to a potluck or family gathering?

Yep, these make a great side dish for holidays, potlucks, or dinner parties. You can double, triple, or even quadruple this recipe, but if you do, you should use the oven instructions instead of the air fryer.

Can I use a different kind of potato for this recipe?

I’m not gonna boss you around and tell you what to do (unless you want me to, teehee), but you’re increasing the difficulty level of this recipe quite a bit by using any other kind of potato. And while the flavor will probably be just as good, the consistency will suffer, because russet potatoes are the starchiest potato. And starchiness equates to creaminess. Trust me, I’ve been tempted to use purple potatoes so the twice baked potatoes would be prettier, but save the pretty potatoes for a potato salad recipe.

That being said, I’ve had people tell me that they’ve made this twice baked potato recipe using sweet potatoes, and they loved them. If you do try to convert this into a twice-baked sweet potato recipe, just remember that sweet potatoes often cook faster than regular potatoes, so you may need to adjust your cooking time.

Ingredient Substitutions for Vegan Twice Baked Potatoes

• Vegan Yogurt: You can replace the plain vegan yogurt with vegan sour cream if you prefer that. I use yogurt because it’s cheaper and healthier, but they taste very similar, so this is an easy substitution.
• Spices: If you want your twice baked potatoes to have that orange color that dairy cheese gives them, add a little turmeric to the filling
• Nondairy Milk: If you don’t have any plant milk, you can replace the 3 tablespoons (45mL) non-dairy milk with additional plain vegan yogurt.
• Oil: I prefer avocado, olive, safflower, sunflower, or coconut oil. If all you have is vegetable or canola oil, those are fine too.

For other potato-based vegan recipes, check out my deviled potatoes and my mashed potatoes.

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