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Want to know how to make the perfect foolproof baked potatoes every time? Here is the secret to serving up the best oven baked potatoes with a crispy, golden skin and a fluffy, tender potato inside. Baked potatoes are all about texture.
How to Make the Perfect Foolproof Oven Baked Potato
Often when our family goes out to dinner we go out to our local pub, I always get a baked potato with my meal.
And it’s not because it’s healthier than the fries. It’s because I flippin’ love them.
This tiny pub in the middle of rural nowhere serves up the best baked potatoes. Giant golden spuds with scrubbed, crispy skin and a seriously fluffy potato inside. Not too dry, never glassy. Just perfect. Every single time.
For a long time I just couldn’t get right at home. I thought they has some special chef trick that I still hadn’t mastered.
Well, as it turns out there is a little trick and I had missed the memo.
There is an art to getting your baked potato perfect every time. It’s not the hit and miss kinda thing I thought it was. Well it used to be, for me anyway.
I would go through the steps of cooking my spuds and sometimes my potatoes turned out OK, and sometimes not. The sometimes not was the problem. It’s extremely disappointing to open up your potato to find it glassy and hard with a sweaty, leathery skin. No thank you.
Baked Potatoes For Kids
A perfect bake takes your rustic spud and turns it into the highlight of your dish and most kids I’ve come across love them!
Being a good source of fiber with a little protein means potatoes keep the kids fuller for longer so less snacking, and you can add whatever other flavor to them your kids like. I’ve added some suggestions below.
What my own kids don’t love is an undercooked, badly cooked baked potato, I mean really, who does?! So get this baked potato learned and you’re always going to have a dinner that’s eaten. And loved. By everyone :)
More Kids Potato Recipes
- Cheesy mashed potato muffins
- Loaded crispy potato balls
- Bacon fried potatoes
- Healthy hash browns
- Spicy roasted red potatoes
- Mashed potatoes and leeks
So… What’s the Secret To The Perfect Potato?
OK. So the secret to making the perfect baked potato is to not try too hard. Yup. Forget about carefully wrapping that little spud in foil. Nope.
You need to treat it rough. Just pop it bare on your oven grill or oven rack. No baking sheet. Like you just don’t care.
That’s it. That’s how they get it so crispy on the outside and fluffy in the middle.
Baked Potato Prep
Prepping your station for baked potatoes is easy. You only need a couple essential items:
- Good baking potatoes around 300g each (I recommend russets but King Edward, Desiree, Maris Piper, Wilja, Golden Wonder and Cara are all good varieties here).
- Olive oil,
- Sea salt,
- Aluminium Foil (not for the reason you think)
- A regular ol’ fork
- Scrub your potatoes with a hard vegetable brush. These are one of those kitchen essentials that every home cook needs but doesn’t know it till they try it. It becomes a regular cooking tool real quick. A good kitchen brush is great for prepping carrots, potatoes and all other root vegetables. If you grow your own vegetables and want to get your potatoes looking all clean and new like the ones in the store (btw nobody likes a mouthful of dirt when biting into their meal), then you need one of these in your kitchen.
- Pat your potatoes dry with a paper towel or dish cloth.
- Line a oven tray with foil and place your potatoes on top. Sprinkle with olive oil and salt. Use your hands to rub the salt and oil all over your potatoes. Get them nicely covered. I use around 1/4 teaspoon salt and 1/2 teaspoon oil per potato.
- Prick each potato 6 – 8 times with a fork. This allows air to escape while cooking.
- Then … (and this is where the magic happens) … Place your potatoes directly on the middle rack of your oven. Not wrapped in foil. Not even on a baking tray. This helps them crisp all round.
- Pop that foil lined tray under on the bottom rack to catch any liquid escape from the baking potatoes.
- Bake for around 1 hour.
What To Eat With Baked Potatoes
Baked potatoes go with everything. We like to eat ours with a little butter and maybe some sour cream and chives or green onions on top. Or you could even sprinkle some bacon on the top. But what to eat with them? Here’s some of the things we have jackets as a side to:
- Chicken – Roast a chicken and have a baked potato as a side dish. Add some sticky broccoli and you’ve got a mini roast dinner!
- Alone – Make a batch of these baked beans and throw some cheddar cheese on top for a classic Jacket potato dinner. The simple things are sometimes the hardest to beat!
- Steak – One of our favorite things to have on steak is this mushroom sauce and handily it goes awesomely well with a baked potato!
- Black beans – Try adding one to the side of this black bean curry to mop up all the yummy sauce
- Chili Con Carne– A classic Clean eating chili con carne. An almost perfect dinner to have with a baked potato
How To Make Foolproof Baked Potatoes
Ingredients
- Baking potatoes around 300g each I recommend russets but King Edward, Desiree, Maris Piper, Wilja, Golden Wonder and Cara are all good varieties here.
- Olive oil
- Sea salt
- Aluminium Foil Not for the reason you think
- A regular ol’ fork
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350F / 180C
- Scrub your potatoes with a hard vegetable brush. These are one of those kitchen essentials that every home cook needs but doesn’t know it till they try it. It becomes a regular cooking tool real quick. A good kitchen brush is great for prepping carrots, potatoes and all other root vegetables. If you grow your own vegetables and want to get your potatoes looking all clean and new like the ones in the store (btw nobody likes a mouthful of dirt when biting into their meal), then you need one of these in your kitchen.
- Pat your potatoes dry with a paper towel or dish cloth.
- Line a oven tray with foil and place your potatoes on top. Sprinkle with olive oil and salt. Use your hands to rub the salt and oil all over your potatoes. Get them nicely covered. I use around 1/4 teaspoon salt and 1/2 teaspoon oil per potato.
- Prick each potato 6 – 8 times with a fork. This allows air to escape while cooking.
- Then … (and this is where the magic happens) … Place your potatoes directly on the middle rack of your oven. not wrapped in foil. Not even on a baking tray. This helps them crisp all round.
- Pop that foil lined tray under on the bottom rack to catch any liquid escape from the baking potatoes.
- Bake for around 1½ hour (see notes below) and remove from the oven
Notes
To test whether the potato is done press it; it should feel soft under the skin and ‘give’ a little. You can put a fine skewer right through to the centre if you want to be sure. But once you’ve made these a couple of times, you will be able to give the potato a little squeeze and you’ll know whether it’s done. It will feel a little like a crispy stress ball.To serve (like they do at restaurants) make a cross cut in the top with a sharp knife and firmly squeeze your potato so it opens at all four points. Season with salt and pepper and put a knob of cold butter or sour cream in the middle.
Foolproof Jacket Potato Recipe
Foolproof Baked Potatoes
Ingredients
- Baking potatoes around 300g each I recommend russets but King Edward, Desiree, Maris Piper, Wilja, Golden Wonder and Cara are all good varieties here.
- Olive oil
- Sea salt
- Aluminium Foil Not for the reason you think
- A regular ol’ fork
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350F / 180C
- Scrub your potatoes with a hard vegetable brush. These are one of those kitchen essentials that every home cook needs but doesn’t know it till they try it. It becomes a regular cooking tool real quick. A good kitchen brush is great for prepping carrots, potatoes and all other root vegetables. If you grow your own vegetables and want to get your potatoes looking all clean and new like the ones in the store (btw nobody likes a mouthful of dirt when biting into their meal), then you need one of these in your kitchen.
- Pat your potatoes dry with a paper towel or dish cloth.
- Line a oven tray with foil and place your potatoes on top. Sprinkle with olive oil and salt. Use your hands to rub the salt and oil all over your potatoes. Get them nicely covered. I use around ¼ teaspoon salt and ½ teaspoon oil per potato.
- Prick each potato 6 – 8 times with a fork. This allows air to escape while cooking.
- Then … (and this is where the magic happens) … Place your potatoes directly on the middle rack of your oven. not wrapped in foil. Not even on a baking tray. This helps them crisp all round.
- Pop that foil lined tray under on the bottom rack to catch any liquid escape from the baking potatoes.
- Bake for around 1½ hour (see notes below).
