How to Make a Perfect Baked Potato
How to make a perfect baked potato, including a clever time-saving trick! This method gives a super fluffy middle, and a crispy skin – utterly perfect!
I know some of you reading this will have made hundreds of baked potatoes in your lives, and will already be completely happy with you potato technique. If that’s the case, congratulations! And feel free to skip this one.
But judging by the popularity of my ‘how to make perfect roast potatoes‘ post (which is somehow one of the most popular posts on this blog!), I also know that you might be quite new to cooking for yourself.
Or, maybe you’ve just never ventured into the world of baked potatoes before (you’re going to love it). Or maybe you’re just nosey and you want to see how I make mine. In which case, hello fellow nosey person! Read on.
In the UK, we call baked potatoes ‘jacket potatoes’ because they’re soft and fluffy in the middle, with a crispy jacket surrounding them.
It’s one of the more adorable food terms we have, and possibly the one that makes most sense (it certainly beats ‘toad in the hole‘, anyway).
I really do think that baked potatoes are underrated – they’re not exactly haute cuisine, but they make a brilliant easy dinner, either served alongside something else, or on their own with some kind of topping. My personal favourite is butter and cheddar cheese – when something is so perfect, why complicate it?
I feel I should add a little disclaimer here (I know you guys are all lovely, but you’d be surprised how many people enjoy complaining on the Internet) – this is just one way to make a baked potato.
If you use a different method, great! But personally I think my way of making a baked potato is the perfect way to get a fluffy middle and a crispy skin. Yum.
So, without further ado…
How to make a perfect baked potato
1. Choose the right potato
In the UK, bags of potatoes often tell you what they’re best for – great for mashing, roasting, baking, etc. If you’re not lucky enough to have things spelled out for you quite this clearly, try Maris Pipers, King Edwards, Yukon Golds, or Rooster potatoes.
You can find out lots more about different potato varieties here!
Choose quite a large potato for optimum baked potato-ness, and remove any eyes or sprouts.
2. Wash thoroughly and prick with a fork
Piercing the potato’s skin with a fork will stop it from splitting when it cooks. You don’t need to pierce it deeply – just a few times all over is fine.
3. Cook in the microwave until the centre is almost soft
Part-cooking in the microwave is my baked potato’s dirty little secret. You can just put your raw potato straight into the oven if you like, but they can take ages to bake – sometimes a good hour or more – and ain’t nobody got time for that.
Plus, I’ve found that pre-cooking them in the microwave helps to give a really soft and fluffy middle, without ending up with a really hard and thick skin.
Cook the potato in the microwave for around 6-10 minutes (depending on the size of your potato), or until the centre is almost entirely soft (poke it with a fork or sharp knife to test it). Turn the potato over halfway to ensure even cooking. When it’s ready, the skin should be just starting to wrinkle.
4. Lightly drizzle with oil
I never used to oil my jacket potatoes, but it makes such a difference to getting a super crispy skin, and will make your baked potato taste amazing too. Just drizzle over a tiny amount of oil, and rub it all over the skin of the potato. You can also add a little sprinkle of salt at this stage too.
5. Bake!
Finally, you can actually bake your baked potato. Since the potato is already mostly cooked, you can bake it for as long as you like really – anything from ten minutes to half an hour – to get the skin to your desired crispiness.
And then it’s just time to cut it open and stuff! In my opinion, a dollop of butter is a must. Just watch it melt…
And then it’s just time to add your toppings! As you can probably tell from the abundance of cheese recipes on this site, I’m partial to a bit of grated cheddar (and potentially a little heavy handed with it too…), but the options are endless.
Baked beans, sweetcorn, and coleslaw are some of my favourites – feel free to leave your ideas in the comments!
So there you have it – how to make a perfect baked potato, Becca-style. What’s your favourite technique?
How to make a perfect baked potato
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Print Pin CommentIngredients
- 1 large potato
- 1/2 tsp oil
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 190°C (Gas Mark 5 / 375°F).
- Thoroughly wash the potato, and remove any eyes or sprouts. Prick a few times all over with a fork.
- Place on a microwave-safe plate, and cook in the microwave for around 6-10 minutes (depending on the size of the potato), until the centre is almost entirely cooked and the skin is just starting to wrinkle. Turn over halfway through cooking.
- Drizzle the potato lightly with oil, and rub it all over the skin.
- Bake the potato until the skin has reached your desired level of crispiness – anywhere from 10 to 30 minutes.
Video
Nutrition
Nutritional information is approximate, and will depend on your exact ingredients. Please calculate your own nutritional values if you require accuracy for health reasons.
I have never tried microwaving my potatoes before baking. Clever! And I love the idea of drizzling olive oil…. Crispy skin….YUMMM! These are great tips.
Great post! I often microwave my potatoes before baking – but I really like the oil that you add before baking. Delicious and a welcome treat on a cold night. Thanks!
I always scratch my head when I see which recipes are the most popular on my site too…they’re always the ones completely out of left field! But…as a fellow baked potato lover…I’m quite excited to try this method out and judging by its popularity, I bet it’ll be a winner!
There’s really nothing better than a crispy skinned baked (jacket) potato! I love your method of pre-cooking in the microwave…brilliant in its simplicity!
I never tried microwaving and then baking. I must try it. I would salt them after oiling. My favorite steak house does that and they are sooooo yummy.
Love baked potatoes even though I dont have them often. When I do, a delicious variation is a mexican potatoe. No butter but some shredded cheese melted on top then I add some of the fresh salsa(in the states I get it in the produce aisle) and sour cream. It is delicious and can be a meal it is so filling!
That sounds AMAZING :D
Oh wow that’s a great idea to microwave first and then finish off in the oven. This has made me fancy a jacket with cheese sooo much! yum.
You get the best of both worlds – a crispy skin, but it doesn’t take hours! :)
Love your way of doing a jacket potato, I follow the Nigel Slater method and put some sea salt onto a baking tray, place the potato on the salt and bake for 1 & 1/2 hours at 200 degrees for super crisp skin! You can’t beat strong cheddar but I also love it with sour cream & chives!
Ooh I’ve never tried a salt baked potato! Can you reuse the salt over and over so as not to waste it?
I’ll have to try your part-cooking first method! My favourite part of making baked potatoes is piercing them with a fork. I do it with completely unnecessary gusto. It’s like I can get any pent up anger or voodoo-doll fantasy out! Or is it just me…
Haha now that I’ve read your comment, I feel I’ve been pricking potatoes wrongly all this time. I’ll definitely go a bit crazier next time ;)
I do mine pretty much like you but also rub in salt with the oil and I do a cross on the top and the bottom of the tattie rather than prick. Going to try pricking next time!
I bet the cross functions in much the same way!