Taco Bell Cheesy Fiesta Potatoes

Let’s learn how to make Taco Bell’s Cheesy Fiesta Potatoes at home and even better! The potatoes have an amazing crunch to them all around, super fluffy on the inside, and seasoned to perfection with all the classic taco spices. Let’s not forget the creamy cheesy goodness on top from the nacho cheese and sour cream!

What Are Cheesy Fiesta Potatoes

Cheesy Fiesta Potatoes are a very popular menu item at Taco Bell and even though it’s vegetarian, it’s loved amongst all! The potatoes are soft and fluffy with a delicious seasoning and then it’s topped with ooey gooey nacho cheese and creamy sour cream for the perfect combination. Taco Bell even tried to remove them from the menu but it caused so much of an uproar that they brought them right back shortly.

Whether you live far away from a Taco Bell or just want a larger portion, now you can make these addicting potatoes at home and dare I say, even better.

How to Make the Potatoes

The process for making the potatoes is a little bit of work but I promise it’s all worth it. It’s the only way I make potatoes now to achieve the ultimate crisp.

Start out by boiling potatoes that have been peeled and cut into chunks. The secret is to add some baking soda along with salt in the boiling water. The baking soda helps break down the surface of the potatoes to create this coating that will crisp up beautifully when roasted. Just boil for about 10 minutes. They will still be hard but should appear boiled on the outside.

In a small bowl, we’ll combine ghee with light olive oil or vegetable oil and all our spices. Ghee is essential in this recipe as butter will burn in the oven.

After boiling, coat the potatoes in the marinade and transfer to a baking tray. Make sure not to line the baking tray otherwise the potatoes won’t crisp up properly.

It’ll take about 40 to 45 minutes in the oven. After 20 minutes, flip the potatoes around and after that, shake them around every 10 minutes until the time is up.

Once they’re out of the oven, transfer to a plate or bowl and top it off with nacho cheese and sour cream just like Taco Bell. I also love to add pickled jalapeños and hot sauce.

For the nacho cheese, you can buy it from the store and my favorite is the Juanitas brand. Or you can make it at home too using this Taco Bell Copycat Nacho Cheese recipe.

Tips & Notes

• Russet potatoes work best for this recipe but you can also use Yukon Gold or red potatoes. Just cut into appropriate sizes depending which potatoes you use and weigh it out to match the measurements in this recipe since Russet potatoes are a lot larger than others.
• Make sure to use extra light olive oil – NOT extra virgin olive oil! The smoke point of extra virgin is too low and it will burn in the oven. If you don’t have light olive oil, just swap it for vegetable oil. Butter is similar so we want to avoid it and use ghee instead.
• For more fluffy potatoes, cut them into bigger pieces. For more crispy potatoes, cut them smaller so there’s more surface area to roast. It just depends on your taste.
• DO NOT line your baking tray with parchment paper. The potatoes will not crisp up properly if you do this!

If you tried this recipe and loved it, drop by down below and let me know how you liked it with a rating and comment! Feel free to also leave a question there about this recipe and I’ll get right back to it.

To see more recipes and behind the scenes, follow along on Instagram! I’m also now on Pinterest pinning away so stop by and see what’s up.