Aldi Loaded Potato Skins Vs TGI Fridays: Which Is Better?

Welcome to Dupe Detective, a column where I'll be reviewing a name brand food product's competitor product to find out how well it compares to, or even beats, the original.

While TGI Fridays claims to have invented potato skins, that story is perhaps more legend than fact. Whether or not the dish's chain restaurant origins are true, however, it's inarguable that the twice-baked, loaded potato skin is inextricably linked to TGI Fridays. Even if TGI Fridays is one of the 11 restaurants with the largest menu selections, potato skins are still among the dishes that define the chain. They're so iconic, in fact, that the company packages and sells a frozen version for at-home preparation in the freezer aisle of most major grocery stores.

Competing directly with TGI Fridays' prepackaged version of its signature appetizer is Aldi, which offers a box of loaded potato skins under its Appetitos brand. Sharing that label is Appetitos Breaded Cheese Curds, a frozen Aldi appetizer customers should never pass up. So, Aldi has a solid track record when it comes to appetizers. Nevertheless, competing with one of the most iconic apps in fast casual dining — albeit in frozen form — may well be a tall order. Ahead are my thoughts after trying both the TGI Fridays product and its Aldi dupe, before my pick for which brand makes the tastiest potato skins overall.

The actual potato component was my favorite thing about my Aldi potato skins. As intended, the outer layer of each potato half was light and crispy, whereas its inner filling was soft and mushy. Flavor-wise, I found they foregrounded a natural potato character without an excess of salt. That said, a quality potato isn't enough to carry a dish, and subpar toppings ended up bringing down Aldi's product pretty significantly.

From the combined cheese and bacon on top of each potato skin, I only ever tasted the slightest bit of bacon smokiness. Texturally, the bacon bits added some crunch, but a sparse quantity meant that was an insignificant factor overall. Missing entirely was cheesiness. When I tried the cheese on its own, it tasted like a natural cheddar — while that might sound good in theory, the impact of that more natural style of cheddar was negligible. 

Compounding the issue was the fact the potato halves Aldi used were thicker on average than the potatoes from TGI Fridays, and the greater potato mass subsumed more flavor. On the Aldi potato skins box is a ramekin of sour cream, and I think that could elevate the dish somewhat. That said, with the cheese and bacon contributing so little, I can't imagine the experience would differ all that much from a plain baked potato with sour cream. Plus, an ultra deluxe twice-baked potato recipe, containing many of the same ingredients, wouldn't even need a condiment for dipping.

The potato component of my TGI Fridays potato skins was on the softer side, lacking the pronounced textural contrast between crispy and mushy that I enjoyed so much in Aldi's version. I also got less of a natural potato flavor, which made me think the quality of TGI Fridays' potatoes was lower overall. But inverting my experience with the Aldi potato skins, it was the cheese and bacon on top that drove my experience with TGI Fridays' product.

First of all, the TGI Fridays cheese felt more processed, albeit not to the extent it would fall into the territory of cheese that's not really cheese. It was equal parts gooey and rich, full of sharp cheddar flavor. Its overall impact was still on the milder end, given the difficulty of cutting through the flavor of solid potato, but it was noticeable all the same. Plus, less dense potato halves helped the cheddar shine. Meanwhile, the bacon contributed about the same level of flavor as the bacon on my Aldi potato skins. However, their flavor was part of a tastier whole, as opposed to becoming almost completely subsumed by thick potato.

Aldi has a solid track record when it comes to dupes that are better than their name-brand equivalents. For example, Aldi's Choceur Milk Chocolate Peanut Butter Cups beat Reese's when I tried both products. In this potato skin head-to-head, I even found the quality of Aldi's potatoes superior to that of TGI Fridays. Nevertheless, I enjoyed the TGI Fridays potato skins more overall than their Aldi dupe.

Because the quality of Aldi's potatoes was high and the flavor of their toppings so negligible, I was wishing for the sour cream pictured on their box. That might have helped the Aldi product shine, but TGI Fridays' potato skins didn't need sour cream, so the theoretical aide of an outside condiment was a moot point. 

Thanks to a better ratio of potato-to-topping and a more flavorful cheese, I felt that my TGI Fridays potato skins actually tasted like loaded potatoes, and not nearly plain twice-baked potatoes with the slightest dash of added flavor. Supporting my findings, I ended up tasting some bits of fallen cheese and bacon straight from the baking sheet — in isolation, the TGI Fridays topping tasted quite a bit better, largely thanks to a richer cheddar. That rich topping, in conjunction with lighter potato halves, resulted in superior loaded potato skins.

At my local Aldi located in Las Vegas-adjacent Henderson, Nevada, a box of three Loaded Potato Skins costs $2.89. At a nearby Smith's, which is a store under the Kroger umbrella, a box of six TGI Fridays Loaded Potato Skins costs $7.99. Per unit, then, Aldi's potato skins are cheaper.

Nutritionally, one Aldi potato skin totals 220 calories, 17 grams of fat, 4.5 grams of which is saturated fat, 15 milligrams of cholesterol, 220 milligrams of sodium, 11 grams of carbs, 1 gram of fiber, 1 gram of sugar, and 5 grams of protein. Meanwhile, a TGI Fridays potato skin equals 190 calories, 12 grams of fat, 5 grams of which is saturated fat, 25 milligrams of cholesterol, 260 milligrams of sodium, 13 grams of carbs, 1 gram of sugar, and 1 gram of protein. Altogether, it's probably fair to say the Aldi product is nutritionally preferable, but it's by such a slim margin, and nobody is eating potato skins for the nutritional component. 

I picked up my box of Aldi Loaded Potato Skins from a store located near my home in the suburbs of Las Vegas, before purchasing the TGI Fridays product at a nearby Smith's. I tried them a few days later, so they both sat in my freezer for more than enough time to start at the same baseline level of frozen-ness.

Since both products call for the same cooking temperature, I baked the contents of each box in their entirety at the same time — I kept the TGI Fridays potato skins in the oven for the 22 minutes recommended by the cooking instructions, whereas I took my Aldi potato skins out of the oven a minute later, landing in the middle of the recommended 20-25 minutes. 

After letting them both sit for a few minutes, I started by eating an Aldi potato skin in its entirety, noting down my observations about the experience as I went. Then I did the same with TGI Fridays. After that, I alternated bites of an additional potato skin by each brand so I could compare them more directly. I also tried their components in isolation at that point. My assessments are based entirely on this experience, and not any past thoughts I may have had on the featured brands or products.