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Perfectly tender and packed with flavor Cheesy Bacon Ranch Potatoes. All of the flavors combined with cheese and bacon to create these perfectly tender and delicious potatoes.

Potatoes are a favorite year round side dish! Try these Parmesan Garlic Roasted Potatoes, Crispy Potatoes with Pesto and Parmesan or Parmesan Garlic Potato Foil Packets for more delicious ways to enjoy potatoes.

Slow cooker cheesy potatoes in a white bowl.

Cheesy Bacon Ranch Potatoes

This was my first time cooking potatoes in a slow cooker. They reminded me of tin foil dinner potatoes. Perfectly tender and packed with flavor. I can’t even describe how amazing these turned out! A delicious side for any meal! Easy clean up and tender delicious potatoes that are packed with flavor.

All of the flavors combined with cheese and bacon to create these delicious potatoes. While cooking in the slow cooker, they create the best aroma in your house all day. And when it is time for dinner, you just scoop them up and they really make the perfect side!

Cheesy Potato Ingredients

These cheesy bacon ranch potatoes are always a hit. Slow cooked all day to be the most delicious and flavorful potatoes that you will want to have as side to every meal!

  • Potatoes: Red or yellow small potatoes work the best.
  • Onion: Thinly sliced to cook quickly.
  • Bacon: The more the better but I do recommend around 1 pound of bacon.
  • Cheddar Cheese: Shredded and ready to add over top of the raw potatoes.
  • Dry Ranch Seasoning Packet: A simple packet is perfect for sprinkling over top.
  • Butter: Melt the butter to get a crispy outside with a buttery flavor.
  • Green Onions: Garnish over top when ready to serve.

How to Make Slow Cooker Potatoes

Let the slow cooker do the work! Make this into a complete meal with Creamy Garlic Steak Bites with Mushrooms or Juicy Grilled Garlic Turkey Burgers.

  1. Sauté Bacon: Cook the bacon until it is just done but not too crisp. I lined a cookie sheet with foil and baked it at 350 degrees for 16 minutes while I was prepping everything.
  2. Prepare Slow Cooker: Line your slow cooker with aluminum foil. Leave enough to over hang so that you can wrap the potatoes on the top once in the slow cooker.
  3. Layer Potatoes: Spray the inside of the foil with cooking spray and layer half of the potatoes along the bottom. Next layer with half of the bacon, green onions, onion, ranch packet and top with cheese. Repeat the layers and top with cheese reserving 1/2 cup.
  4. Cook on Low: Cover the potatoes with remaining foil. This helps them to steam and cook perfectly. Cook on low for 4-6 hours in your slow cooker. Once finished, top with remaining 1/2 cup cheese and let melt on the top.

Photos of the process of making slow cooker cheesy bacon ranch potatoes.

Tips to Making the Best Slow Cooker Ranch Potatoes

These potatoes are spot on and so simple to make! It is a quick and easy side dish that takes little effort for big flavor.

  • Bacon: Cook the bacon in a skillet on medium-high heat before adding them into the slow cooker. This will give them a crispy and tender flavor. Add in butter or oil for more flavoring.
  • Foil: It is best to use foil in and around the slow cooker. This will help for easy clean up but also for cooking the potatoes evenly.
  • Spray: Make sure to spray the foil before layering the bacon ranch potatoes and cheese. This will prevent the cheese from sticking to the edges.
  • Cutting: When cutting and slicing the potatoes, onions and bacon, cut them evenly and the same size to ensure they all cook at the same level.

Up close photo of the cheesy ranch bacon potatoes in a slow cooker with foil.

 

More Quick and Easy Potato Recipes

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Slow Cooker Cheesy Bacon Ranch Potatoes

4.20 from 5 votes
By: Alyssa Rivers
A delicious side for any meal! Easy clean up and tender delicious potatoes that are packed with flavor!
Prep Time: 20 minutes
Cook Time: 4 hours
Total Time: 4 hours 20 minutes
Servings: 8 Servings

Ingredients 

Instructions 

  • Cook the bacon until it is just done but not too crisp. I lined a cookie sheet with foil and baked it at 350 degrees for 16 minutes while I was prepping everything.
  • Line your slow cooker with aluminum foil. Leave enough to over hang so that you can wrap the potatoes on the top once in the slow cooker.
  • Spray the inside of the foil with cooking spray and layer half of the potatoes along the bottom. Next layer with half of the bacon, green onions, onion, ranch packet and top with cheese. Repeat the layers and top with cheese reserving 1/2 cup. Pour melted butter over top.
  • Cover the potatoes with remaining foil. This helps them to steam and cook perfectly. Cook on low for 4-6 hours in your slow cooker. Once finished, top with remaining 1/2 cup cheese and let melt on the top.
  • Garnish with fresh green onions if desired.

Video

Notes

Updated on October 5, 2020
Originally Posted on September 3, 2013

Nutrition

Calories: 305kcalCarbohydrates: 5gProtein: 13gFat: 26gSaturated Fat: 13gCholesterol: 63mgSodium: 696mgPotassium: 135mgFiber: 1gSugar: 1gVitamin A: 514IUVitamin C: 3mgCalcium: 265mgIron: 1mg

Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.

Additional Info

Course: Side Dish
Cuisine: American
Tried this recipe?Mention @alyssa_therecipecritic or tag #therecipecritic!

 

About Alyssa Rivers

Alyssa Rivers is the author of 'The Tried and True Cookbook', a professional food photographer and experienced recipe-developer. Having a passion for cooking, her tried and true recipes have been featured on Good Morning America, Today Food, Buzzfeed and more.

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172 Comments

  1. This looks delicious? Do you know how long I would bake this in the oven for and if I would need to alter anything?

    1. I was wondering the same thing because I would like to make a small batch and don’t have a smaller slow cooker. I just looked up a potato foil packet recipe. 400 degrees for 30-40 minutes (depending on size of potatoes) in sealed foil packet. Open up and broil before serving to brown.

  2. This sounds wonderful and am going to try this and also do my own variations on it. Didn’t realise I could use my slow cooker for doing potato’s like this. Do you have a page I can join to see what other delicious recipes I can try.
    Many thanks.

  3. Made these for Easter dinner. They were absolutely delicious. The potatoes were a little on the firm side, but that did not stop my family from devouring them. Next time, I’ll start on high for the first few hours and then turn down to low and maybe open the foil for the last 1/2 hour for some crisp, but otherwise, I wouldn’t change a thing! Thanks a bunch!

  4. Seems like not enough potatoes. It would make 4 sides with 4 potatoes, less if people are big eaters, and each serving would contain as much as 1/4 lb of bacon and over 1/2 c of cheese! Seems like the potato would be swimming in cheese

  5. Looking forward to trying this, it looks and sounds delicious.
    Can you please edit the recipe and put in the stuff you forgot in the instructions?
    It would make, making the recipe so much easier.
    We should not have to read the comments to get all of the recipe.

    When to add the butter?
    Cook on Low or High?
    Do you cook the potatoes whole?
    Do you peel the potatoes?
    T = Tablespoon

  6. They taste great but I cooked them for almost six hours, maybe the aluminum foil was not tight because the potatoes on the top were very hard, the ones in the bottom not so bad. Thank you for the recipe.

  7. I just made this and wanted to say a few things about it. Mine looked nothing like the crispy cheesy ones in the picture. After cooking for 6.5 hrs on low my potatoes were cooked but just barely. I had quartered and then sliced the potatoes about 1/4 to 1/2 inch thickness. There was an inch or two of liquid in the bottom of the foil and with all that liquid there was no way anything was going to brown and get crispy. The cheese was melted but still in little lumps everywhere. It wasn’t a very attractive looking dish. It tasted okay and I think it could have been really good if somehow it had browned. Perhaps if I had not covered the potatoes with foil but had instead just used the lid, it might have evaporated enough liquid to start to brown. I do think the foil liner is needed for ease of cleaning the slow cooker especially if it had browned. I wondered about the ranch dressing since I’m not a ranch fan but it was fine. The potatoes don’t taste like ranch dressing. Instead of butter, I used some of the bacon grease. Next time I will make sure I let the liquid evaporate and cook it longer.

    1. Maybe take out of slow cooking using the foil and place on a cookie sheet and broil for a few minutes to melt the cheese and get it nice and crispy.

  8. I have tried it for tonight, used outback spice, then looked up dry ranch seasoning recipe, so added some parsley, did not have dill, so will be interesting to see how it goes