Recipe Overview
Why you’ll love it: This easy baked potato recipe will show you how to make baked potatoes with a crispy brown exterior and fluffy white interior. Enjoy perfectly baked potatoes as a filling main dish or versatile side dish.
How long it takes: just over an hour
Equipment you’ll need: oven
Servings: make as many as you want!
Crispy Outside, Fluffy Inside
Growing up, we’d have baked potato night at church with all the toppings: chili, ham, broccoli, cheese, sour cream, and many more. It was such a fun and delicious night!
There’s something very satisfying about a really good baked potato.
Not a sad, wrinkly one. Not one with a weird gummy middle. I’m talking crispy skin, fluffy inside, the kind you split open and immediately know it’s going to be good.
What makes mine special:
- An easy how-to guide. I will teach you how to make perfectly brown and crispy baked potatoes with a fluffy white interior. I have lots of tips and information below to help you out.
- Hands-off cooking. While baked potatoes aren’t a quick dinner idea, they are very easy to make and once they’re in the oven, it’s totally hands off time. Spend 5 minutes getting the potatoes ready, and pop them in the oven for awhile. Bonus: There won’t be any pans to wash.
- Versatile. Fluffy baked potatoes can be served as a side dish or main dish. While the potatoes are in the oven, you’ll have time to get the rest of dinner ready whether you’re making maple glazed baked salmon or breaded pork chops, or serving the baked potatoes with a selection of toppings and a salad.
- Toppings! Perfectly baked potatoes don’t really need much beyond melted butter and freshly cracked black pepper but they do adapt well to lots of different toppings, too. Keep reading for inspiration.
Looking for a quicker method?
If you need a faster baked potato recipe, try baking them in your air fryer if you have one. They turn out pretty much the same as oven baked potatoes but in only 40 minutes. You can also use a pressure cooker to “bake” potatoes. Try easy Instant Pot baked potatoes (especially if you prefer softer skins). Easy potato skins are another good option. They are actually thick slices of potato, loaded with all sorts of goodies, and cook more quickly than a whole baked potato.
How to Make Baked Potatoes
Wash, trim, and dry. Use a small scrub brush to thoroughly clean the potatoes. With a sharp paring knife, trim off any green spots, eyes, sprouts, or damaged skin. Dry each potato thoroughly with a paper towel or clean dish towel. A dry potato equals a crispy potato skin.
Poke the potatoes. Puncture the skin of the potato with a fork or the tip of your paring knife. There’s no need to go deeply, just puncture the skin in a few places so the steam can release. (Hint: Do the poking right before baking. If you do this step too far ahead of time, oxidization will occur and the flesh of the potato will turn an unappetizing gray where the skin is punctured.)
Cover the potatoes with a thin coat of oil and season. I like olive oil but another kind of oil is fine. (Don’t want to get your hands dirty? Spray the potatoes with olive oil spray.) Sprinkle the potatoes liberally with coarse salt and pepper.
Bake the potatoes. Arrange the potatoes on a foil lined baking sheet, sides not touching. Bake in a preheated oven for 45 to 60 minutes. The baking time will depend on the size of the potatoes. The potatoes are done when you can easily pierce them with a fork.
Serve your perfectly beautiful baked potatoes. Immediately make a slice in the top with a sharp knife. Squeeze the bottom (wear an oven mitt!) to open the top of the baked potato up a bit, or use a fork to spread it open.
Top with your favorite toppings! Keep reading for lots of great suggestions.
Helpful Tips
Choose the right potato. Any potato can be used for this baked potato recipe; however, russet potatoes are definitely the king of baking potatoes. Russet potatoes have thicker skins which turn into a nice crispy exterior, and starchy flesh, which yields a fluffy white interior.
Using foil. Should you wrap the potatoes or not? It depends on how you like the skin. I love the salty crispy brown skin of a potato baked without foil. Potatoes wrapped in foil will have soft skins because they steam as they bake and some folks prefer them that way.
Baking potatoes at a different oven temperature. This baked potato recipe is pretty flexible. You can usually bake potatoes at the same temperature as whatever else you have in the oven. The oven temperature can range anywhere between 300°F to 450°F, however, the optimal range is 375°F-425°F. Just remember that lower temperatures will increase baking time; higher temperatures will decrease baking time.
Not quite ready to serve the potatoes? If dinner’s not quite ready yet, don’t worry, baked potatoes will be fine if they spend extra time in the oven. Some people say the longer the better, up to two hours. You be the judge. Turn the oven temperature down a little if you’re worried they’re getting too done.
Serving Ideas
Dress baked potatoes up! Now that you know how to make baked potatoes, it’s time to dress them up. While baked potatoes are totally delicious with just a pat of butter melted inside, they really are a blank slate. Take a look at the toppings below for ideas.
Meatless main dish. Make baked potatoes the star of the meal, perfect for meatless Mondays, by adding substantial toppings, like vegetarian chili, shredded cheese, or beans.
Baked potato bar. Baked potatoes are a great idea if you’re serving a crowd, too. Simply bake a bunch of potatoes and set up a do-it-yourself baked potato bar with lots of toppings that guests can add as they like. Call it “Spud Night”!
Baked Potato Toppings
- Butter. Use a good quality butter or try homemade garlic butter, with fresh garlic and chopped parsley.
- Sour cream. This is another classic topping. Take it out of the refrigerator ahead of time so it can warm up to room temperature. You can use unflavored Greek yogurt, too.
- Mushrooms. Try these perfect sautéed mushrooms or take it up a notch with sautéed mushrooms with Marsala.
- Bacon. I always have cooked bacon in the freezer. I cook a whole package of bacon in the oven (see my baked bacon). Air fryer bacon is perfect for cooking small batches of bacon. Diced ham is another good option.
- Chili. Use your favorite chili recipe (perhaps you have some in your freezer!) or try my beef chili with beans. Queso chili would be pretty amazing, too!
- Pulled pork or chicken. Pulled pork piled on a baked potato is so good, and so is crockpot BBQ chicken! For a faster option, load garlic Parmesan chicken bites into your baked potato.
- Cheese. Use your favorite shredded cheese or make cheese sauce (or do both!). Homemade beer cheese is wonderful, too.
- Onions. Anything in the onion family goes, like chopped sweet onions, green onions, chives, pickled red onions, or caramelized onions.
- Avocado. Like bacon and caramelized onions, diced avocado makes everything better (or even better, guacamole!).
- Broccoli. Steamed broccoli is a perfect match with creamy cheese sauce.
- Salsa. I like to do a southwestern baked potato with taco meat, pinto beans, salsa, cheese, avocado, and heaps of chopped cilantro.
Refrigerate: If you have extra baked potatoes, they will keep well in your refrigerator for 4 to 5 days. Wrap them in plastic wrap or put them in a covered bowl. You can freeze baked potatoes, too, but the texture will change slightly.
Reheat. Baked potatoes can be microwaved to reheat but the skins won’t retain the crispness of a freshly baked potato. The best way is to reheat them in the oven or toaster oven (350°F for 15 minutes) or an air fryer (375°F for 5 to 7 minutes).
Free Meal Plan
Interested in a weekly meal plan that includes this recipe? Take a look at my Meal Plan #1 or Meal Plan #18. You’ll find a wholesome recipe for each weekday plus a categorized grocery list. Let me do the planning for you this week!
More Potato Recipes
Baked Potato Recipe
Ingredients
- 4 russet potatoes (about 8 ounces each)
- 1 teaspoon olive oil
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- coarse ground black pepper (to taste)
Instructions
- Place oven rack in the center of the oven and preheat the oven to 400ºF. Line a baking sheet with foil or parchment paper for easy clean up.
- Thoroughly scrub each potato; dry with a paper towel or clean dish towel. Pare off any eyes, sprouts, or bruises. Poke potatoes a few times lightly with a fork or the tip of a paring knife.4 russet potatoes
- Rub each potato with oil and sprinkle liberally with salt and pepper. Place on the prepared baking sheet, sides not touching each other.1 teaspoon olive oil, ½ teaspoon kosher salt, coarse ground black pepper
- Bake for 45 to 60 minutes or until fork tender. (When you poke the fork in, it should go in easily without a lot of resistance.) The baking time can vary, depending on the size and shape of your potatoes.
- Remove the baked potatoes from the oven. Using a sharp knife, immediately make a deep cut in the top of the potatoes. Using an oven mitt, gently squeeze the bottoms of the potatoes to open up the tops, or spread them apart with a couple of forks.
- Serve with desired toppings.
Notes
- Potatoes: You can use different varieties of potatoes but russet potatoes have the classic fluffy interiors. Look for potatoes that are uniformly sized so they bake evenly. Small potatoes will get done more quickly than large potatoes.
- Increase yield. Make as many potatoes as you like; just don’t overcrowd the baking sheet.
- Oven temperature: Potatoes can be baked at higher or lower oven temperatures, keeping in mind that cooking time will vary. This is helpful if you are baking other food in the oven. The length of baking time is flexible, too. It usually is okay if the potatoes bake a little longer.
- Storage/reheating: Leftover baked potatoes, wrapped well or covered, can be refrigerated for 4 to 5 days. You can freeze baked potatoes but the texture will change slightly. The best way to reheat baked potatoes is in the oven or toaster oven (350°F for 15 minutes) or an air fryer (375°F for 5 to 7 minutes). They can be microwaved but the skins won’t retain the crispness of a freshly baked potato.
- Toppings: Refer to the post above for lots of topping ideas!
Video
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Did You Make This?Share a comment and rating below! I love hearing what you think!
I grew up in potato country. I started picking them in the field in 1948-49. We were paid about $.05 a stub (70-80 lbs!). You drug a gunny sack between your legs, hooked to a board that that fit across just above your knees, and was hooked to a broad belt that had large hooks on the back of it so you could carry 50 or more extra gunny sacks with you. Made good money if you could pick fast and did not include dirt clods with the potatoes!
I just wanted to let you know that you left out one of the super, most delicious ways to use a baked potato! ALWAYS bake up extra potatoes, why waste the time when it is so easy to do when you’re already doing it anyway?
After the extra potatoes have cooled down, put them in a paper bag, close the top up and place them in the frig. Next morning, take them out and either slice them, or as I prefer, cut them into bite size pieces.
Fry up some slightly crisp bacon, don’t remove the grease, may need some more or olive oil, crumble up the bacon, set aside. Heat up the skillet, you want it hot enough to brown and crisp the potatoes as you fry them in the bacon grease. You can add diced onion to the potatoes as well. before the potatoes are completely browned and crisped on the outside and the onion is cooked, add the crumbled bacon back in. Serve with eggs, or your breakfast. Good any old time, but I especially like them for breakfast!
Also, if, and when, camping, either drag your fire to the side, or rake a bunch of coals to the side, dig a small hole for each potato you want to bake, drop a potato in, cover it with more coals, and bake as you would in the oven. May not take quite as long so kind of watch them. This way of cooking makes absolutely the best tasting potato skins you will ever eat! Just brush the coals off, they’re sanitary! Eat them the way we did, eat the insides out, slather lots of butter on the inside, salt and pepper if you want, and enjoy! My brother and I did this often when we were kids hiking the country around the Lava Beds in northern California. No butter then, just salt. That’s survival food!
DO NOT use the fire pits in camp grounds to do this, unless you dig out ALL the old pit remains and replace it with good, clean dirt! Too many people have the nasty habit of urinating on old camp fires!
Sounds delicious…can’t go wrong with bacon grease!
I love a baked potato!
Me too!