Best and Easiest Baked Potato Recipe

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Today, I thought we could go back to the basics and review a simple skill that every good home cook should master, how to bake a potato.

I know what you’re thinking, why all the fuss about a baked potato? Well, let me start by saying if you’ve ever enjoyed a good supper club/restaurant-style baked potato, you know what I’m talking about. Those baked potatoes with skins that are irresistibly golden, and crispy with a satisfying hint of crunchy salt in each bite. The insides are perfectly light, fluffy, and steamy, ready to enjoy with a melty pad of butter, a dash of fresh chives, or maybe loaded up with all of your favorite toppings. If you’ve had that, then you know what the fuss is about. If not, trust me when I say it’s worth the extra time needed to make the potato.

This is one of the first things I learned how to cook from my father. They’re not hard to do, just takes a little planning due to time. Trust me when I say, try this once and you’ll find yourself appreciating the difference between a good baked potato and a great baked potato. There’s not much better than a piping hot baked potato on a chilly day, so preheat that oven already!

How to Bake the Best Potato

Tips and Tricks for the Perfect Baked Potato

Russet potatoes are the classic choice and for good reason too. Russets are high in starch and low in moisture, which makes them nice and fluffy after baking. Their thick skin crisps up well, and a bonus for you, they’re relatively easy to find.

Choose medium-sized potatoes, each around the same size (about one-half pound) so they’re all done at the same time. Large potatoes will take longer to cook through. I have gone rogue on this and had one or two that were larger, and it turned out fine cooking-wise, but I can’t guarantee that result will happen for everyone.

Prick your potatoes with a fork. This quite frankly is up to you. I’m not there in your kitchen and I’m not going to tell you that it will 100% explode if you don’t. Quite frankly… I rarely poke mine with a fork and have never had an issue. I have actually had potatoes explode when I have poked a hole (I will note… this was in the microwave).

According to an article on Food52, Brennan Smith, a faculty member of the School of Food Science at the University of Idaho says “It pokes holes in the skin, which allows steam to escape. Otherwise, they could explode—it doesn’t happen all the time, but it happens every once in a while. The potato is full of water it’s trying to turn to steam or water vapor. The skin acts like a pressure vessel. If you don’t let the steam escape, it builds up the pressure—if it gets to a certain point of pressure from the water trying to become water vapor, it can pop the skin.”

So with that being said… you do you. If you do choose to poke holes in your potatoes, don’t have to aggressively stab the potato. Pricks about 1/4-inch deep will do just fine.

Do not wrap your potatoes in aluminum foil. Foil traps moisture, which produces a soggy potato skin. We want the excess moisture to escape from the potato during baking. That way, we’ll get crispy outsides and condensed potato flavor on the insides.

Bake at a relatively high temperature (450 degrees Fahrenheit). This guarantees crisp skin. I have cooked them at 350 degrees Fahrenheit with good results, but Don’t cook any lower than that. and fair warning, the lower the temp, the longer it takes.

You’ll know the potatoes are cooked through when you can slide a skewer or fork into the center of the potato with little to no resistance. It’s a reliable indicator that your potatoes have reached an internal temperature of 205 degrees Fahrenheit (you can also use an instant-read thermometer if you prefer). Baking time to reach this point is typically 45 to 60 minutes depending on the size of the potatoes and the temperature you chose to use.

For the best baked potato make sure to lightly cover them all over with a high-heat cooking oil you prefer. (I would recommend avocado oil or regular olive oil-not extra-virgin, I’m personally not against the tried-and-true, and very affordable vegetable oil), then sprinkle them with coarse Kosher salt, to add a bit of flavor and crunch to the potato skins.

Why not butter? Because of the fact that I don’t take the potatoes out other than to quickly rotate them and am cooking them at a very high temp, the butter could burn. So I don’t recommend using it except to add to the potato to enjoy at the end. Just me on this.

Of course, you can make baked potatoes with any type of potatoes. I strongly suggest Russets, as explained above, but this method also yields wonderfully with sweet potatoes and golden potatoes

Recommended Kitchen Tools

• Veggie Brush Potatoes are dirty and running cold water on them doesn’t do much at all to get the dirt off.
• Baking sheet with a wall and Silicon Mat It’s important that the pan has a wall or your potatoes are going to fall off your pan. The Silicon Mat helps prevent the potatoes from sticking. You could use parchment paper, but I have actually had it stick to the paper, even with me rotating them.

4 Fun Baked Potato Ideas

Get creative with your potato toppings! You could even make it a meal! Here are a few delicious ideas:

• Southwestern Baked Potato: Add black beans, fresh or pickled jalapeño, cilantro, green onions, salsa, and guacamole.
• Broccoli Cheddar Baked Potato: Add steamed broccoli, cheddar cheese, sour cream, and chives.
• Buffalo Chicken Baked Potato: Add shredded chicken tossed in buffalo sauce, ranch dressing, or blue cheese crumbles.
• The Wisco-Style Baked Potato: Fried Cheese Curds, Ranch Dressing, and Chopped Crisp Bacon

Baked Potato Serving Suggestions

If you are serving classic baked potatoes as a side dish, try rounding out your meal with any of these:

• Oven-Baked Beer-Batter Fish
• Beer Battered Fried Fish
• Pork Wonton Burgers

ENJOY and Share!

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