The Perfect foolproof Baked Potato is all about the texture. Crispy on the outside and soft and fluffy on the inside. Top it with your favorite topping and voila! An easy and healthy weeknight dinner everyone will love.
Prep Time5 minutesmins
Cook Time1 hourhr
Total Time3 hourshrs58 minutesmins
Keyword: Baked Potato
Servings: 4potatoes
Author: Stephanie
Ingredients
Baking potatoes around 300g eachI recommend russets but King Edward, Desiree, Maris Piper, Wilja, Golden Wonder and Cara are all good varieties here.
Olive oil
Sea salt
Aluminium FoilNot 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).
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 center 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.