Baked Potatoes
Cooking Skills: Potatoes 1
Chapter 5 · Baked Potatoes
Skill goal
Bake a potato with a crisp skin and a light middle, and fill it.
Shopping list for this chapter
The basics
A baked potato is a lesson in doing less. Choose a large floury potato, dry it, prick it, and put it in a hot oven. What you are after is a dry, crisp skin and a light, fluffy middle.
| Choice | Result |
|---|---|
| Floury potato (Maris Piper, Russet, King Edward) | Fluffy, dry middle |
| Waxy potato | Firm, moist and dense; not ideal for baking |
| Dry and prick | Lets steam escape so it doesn't burst or steam the skin |
| Oil and salt | Crisper, tastier skin |
| On the shelf, no foil | Dry heat gives crisp skin; foil steams it soft |
| Open as soon as it's out | Releases steam so the middle stays fluffy |
- Size matters. Bake potatoes of the same size together.
- It's done when it feels soft when squeezed (with a glove or a cloth), and a skewer meets no resistance.
- Eat the skin. It's where much of the fibre is.
Try it
Level 1 · Start here
Jacket potato
Bake directly on the oven shelf, with no foil, for a skin you can crack. The potato is done when it gives under gentle pressure from an oven-gloved hand.
Ingredients (1 portion)
- 1 large baking potato (about 250 g), e.g. Maris Piper or Russet
- 1 tsp olive or sunflower oil
- 1 pinch coarse salt
- 10 g butter
- Heat the oven to 200°C fan (220°C conventional, gas 7).
- Scrub the potato and dry it well. Prick it all over with a fork (this lets steam escape). Rub with the oil and salt.
- Put it straight on the oven shelf (with a tray underneath to catch drips) and bake for 60 to 75 minutes, until the skin is crisp and the potato gives when squeezed.
- Cut a cross in the top, squeeze the sides to open it, and add the butter. Eat at once.
Faster
Microwave the pricked potato for 5 minutes first, then finish in the oven for 25 to 30 minutes for a crisp skin.
Level 2 · Rich
Twice-baked potatoes with cheese and spring onion
Bake the potatoes, scoop out the middle, mix it with flavourings and pile it back into the skins for a second bake, which crisps the top.
Ingredients (2 portions)
- 2 large baking potatoes
- 1 tsp oil
- 50 g mature Cheddar, grated
- 2 spring onions, sliced
- 2 tbsp milk or plain yoghurt
- 10 g butter
- 1 pinch salt and pepper
- Bake the potatoes as in the jacket potato recipe. Let them cool for 10 minutes until you can hold them.
- Cut each in half lengthways and scoop the flesh into a bowl, leaving a 1 cm wall of potato in the skin.
- Mash the flesh with the butter, milk, half the cheese, the spring onions and seasoning.
- Pile back into the skins, scatter the remaining cheese on top, and bake at 200°C fan (220°C conventional, gas 7) for 15 to 20 minutes, until golden and hot in the middle.
Level 1 · Fillings
Loaded jackets: beans and cheese, tuna and sweetcorn
A baked potato is a base for almost anything. Two quick, filling toppings; use one per potato.
Ingredients (1 portion)
- 1 large baking potato, baked
- 100 g baked beans
- 30 g Cheddar, grated
- 1 tin tuna in water (100 g drained), for the second filling
- 2 tbsp sweetcorn
- 1 tbsp plain yoghurt
- 1 pinch pepper
- Bake the potato (see the first recipe) and cut it open.
- Beans and cheese: heat the beans in a small pan or in the microwave until steaming hot. Pile on the potato and top with the cheese.
- Tuna and sweetcorn: drain the tuna and mix with the sweetcorn, yoghurt and pepper. Spoon onto the hot potato.
Lighter fillings
Cottage cheese, hummus, a spoon of plain yoghurt with chives, or chilli beans make lighter or vegetable-rich toppings.
Level 2 · Variation
Baked sweet potato with yoghurt and chilli
Sweet potatoes cook faster than ordinary potatoes and have a soft, sticky middle. The skin doesn't go as crisp.
Ingredients (1 portion)
- 1 medium sweet potato (about 250 g)
- 1 tsp oil
- 1 pinch salt
- 2 tbsp plain yoghurt
- 1 pinch chilli flakes or paprika
- 1 tbsp chopped coriander or parsley
- Heat the oven to 200°C fan (220°C conventional, gas 7). Prick the sweet potato, rub with oil and salt, and put it on a tray (it may leak sugary juice).
- Bake for 40 to 50 minutes, until soft right through.
- Split open and top with the yoghurt, chilli and herbs.
Experiments
Experiment
Pricked or not
Why prick?
- Bake two potatoes, one pricked all over and one left whole. Put the unpricked one on a tray with a sheet of foil underneath in case it bursts.
- Check them after an hour.
Look for: The pricked potato has a drier, fluffier middle. The unpricked one may split or burst in the oven, so stand back when you open the door.
Experiment
Oiled and salted or plain
Do the extras matter?
- Bake one potato plain and one rubbed with oil and salt.
- Compare the skins.
Look for: The oiled one is crisper and tastier. The plain one is drier and chewier, like a dry cracker.
Experiment
Foil or no foil
Does wrapping help?
- Bake one potato wrapped in foil and one unwrapped. Unwrap the foiled one as soon as it comes out.
- Compare the skins.
Look for: The foil one has a soft, steamed skin. The unwrapped one has a crisp one. Remove the foil as soon as it comes out of the oven (see the food safety box).
Experiment
Microwave start or oven only
Is the shortcut worth it?
- Bake one potato in the oven only, and another after 5 minutes in the microwave, finished in the oven for 30 minutes.
- Compare time and skin.
Look for: The microwave start saves 30 minutes. The skin is slightly less crisp than oven-only, but it's close.
Tasting notes
| What I tried | Method or amount | What I saw | What I thought | Will I do it again? |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jacket potato | ||||
| Twice-baked | ||||
| Beans and cheese | ||||
| Tuna and sweetcorn | ||||
| Sweet potato | ||||
| Pricked vs not | ||||
| Oiled vs plain | ||||
| Foil vs no foil | ||||
| Microwave start |
Troubleshooting
| Problem | Likely cause | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| Soggy skin | Foil, or a crowded oven | Bake on the shelf without foil |
| Hard in the middle | Too big, or oven too cool | Bake longer; or microwave start |
| Skin burnt | Oven too hot or too high | Lower the shelf; check from 50 minutes |
| Potato exploded | Not pricked | Prick all over, always |
| Gluey middle | Waxy potato | Use a floury variety |
| Twice-baked collapses | Walls too thin | Leave a 1 cm wall of potato |
Food safety: baked potatoes
Foil and baked potatoes: a cooked potato wrapped in foil and left to cool or keep warm at room temperature can let the bacterium that causes botulism grow, because foil shuts out air. Cases are rare but serious. Take the foil off as soon as the potato is baked, don't leave baked potatoes out for more than about 4 hours, and chill leftovers (unwrapped) in the fridge.Go for gold. When starchy foods such as potatoes are fried, roasted or baked at high temperatures they form a chemical called acrylamide, which the Food Standards Agency says could raise cancer risk. Its advice is to cook to a golden yellow, not dark brown, and to follow the packet instructions on bought chips and roasties. A balanced diet matters more than any single food, so this is a nudge about colour, not a reason to avoid potatoes. Don't eat a baked potato with a blackened, burnt skin.
Tuna and cheese fillings are ready to eat, but fillings with mayonnaise or yoghurt must go back in the fridge after the meal. Cooked potatoes: cool them quickly (spread out, within 1 to 2 hours), keep them covered in the fridge, and eat them within 2 days. Reheat until steaming hot all the way through, and only once. (This is the general chilled-leftovers advice relayed by local-authority food-safety pages; unlike rice, potatoes have no special rule of their own, but they are starchy, so they are treated with the same care.)
Checkpoint: can you do this now?
- I can bake a potato with a crisp skin and a fluffy middle.
- I know why I prick it and why I skip the foil.
- I can make twice-baked potatoes.
- I can make two quick fillings.
- I know the foil and botulism rule.
Next chapter
Cooking Skills: Potatoes 1, chapter 6 is Pan-Fried Potatoes: sauté potatoes, hash browns, rösti and Spanish potato tortilla.