How to bake potatoes in the oven?

As with all elemental things, though, the simplicity of a baked potato is deceptive. We’ve all had excellent baked potatoes and terrible baked potatoes. Happily, an excellent one is not any harder to make than a terrible one.

The right potato, the right temperature, and the right timing are key. There’s also some spirited jabbing with a fork involved. Get set to bake the best potatoes of your life!

Use russet potatoes for baking. They’re the big, tapered ones with dull brown skins. These are high-starch potatoes, and they work best for dry heat. That’s exactly the kind of heat your oven makes. It’s a match made in heaven!

High-moisture potatoes, like redskins or Yukon golds, are best for wet heat: steaming and boiling. They are lower in starch and remain dense after baking, which is not what you want in a baked potato.

Those giant russet potatoes marketed specifically for baking often weigh around an entire pound. This is a lot of potato. The ones that are the most realistic for serving as a side weigh 6 to 8 ounces.

If you want to split that baked potato open and load it up with substantial toppings (like broccoli or chili or pulled pork or salsa and guacamole and black beans...sigh), a 6 to 8 ounce potato might still be a good bet, because you’ll be adding to it to make a full meal.

In any case, the bigger the potato, the more time it takes to bake. Keep that in mind.

Do you want your potato to explode in the oven? No. More importantly, do you want it to taste great? Yes. Then jab it multiple times with a fork. Ten times per potato should do it. Potato-jabbing is cathartic. Enjoy yourself.

Much less dramatically, hole-poking gives you superior baked potatoes. According to the Idaho Potato Commission, potatoes are about 80 percent water. As your potatoes bake, some of that water converts to steam and exits through the tiny channels you poked in them. This moisture loss is a good thing. Outside of preventing explosions, it delivers lighter, fluffier baked potatoes.

Rubbing the potato with a little oil or grease before baking is, in my opinion, a good move. It makes the skin nice and crispy so you get a contrast between it and the steaming, starchy interior. The potatoes come out of the oven looking darker, shiny, and more appetizing than un-oiled ones.

Some sources say oiling the potato before baking seals in moisture, which is the opposite of what you want—you want the potato to vent off moisture. But we already poked it full of holes, remember?

I am all in favor of salting potato skins: salt makes potato skins taste great.

Salt will stick to a greased potato better than a dry potato, but some will still fall off. That’s just the name of the game.

That salt on the skin won’t season the interior of the potato one lick, so remember to salt it up good once it’s on your plate and split open.

Wrapping a potato in foil before baking will trap steam inside, resulting in dense, gluey flesh. Potatoes already have a perfectly fine wrapper: their skins. And you can eat them! So skip the foil before baking. It’s an extra step that makes not-as-good potatoes.

How long does it take to bake a potato? It depends. The short answer is: It’s not fast!

Expect baked potatoes to take anywhere from 35 to 55 minutes, or over an hour if you are using giant honking mega-potatoes. The baking time depends on the size of the potato.

Not too hot, not too cool. We like 400°F best.

Gauging a baked potato’s doneness can be tricky. Because they come in so many sizes, you’re best relying on how it looks, smells, and feels, rather than a timer (but still set a timer so you remember to check on them). Here are some tips:

If you are still feeling unsure, use an instant-read thermometer: their internal temperature should be between 208°F and 211°F. (In this magic temperature zone, starch granules in the potato have absorbed water, ruptured, and rendered the interior flesh fluffy and light.)

Get that hot potato on a plate and open it up. For a fluffy, craggy interior that’ll absorb toppings like butter, sour cream, or chili, don’t cut the potato open with a knife. Split it open with a fork. This gives you crumbly, flour-y flesh and more surface area.

Thousands of steakhouses across America bake potatoes well in advance of serving them. These potatoes are not as amazing as ones straight from the oven, but they are pretty good.

However, after being kept hot for more than an hour, baked potatoes will get very wrinkly skins, their interiors will collapse and become dense, and the flesh under the skin will turn brown. If you want great baked potatoes, don’t make them more than an hour in advance.

To keep fully baked potatoes hot, wrap them in foil (I know we were carping on foil earlier, but this is foil after the potato’s fully baked). It’s best to wear an oven mitt when you do this. Then pop the wrapped potato in one of the following options.

I often bake a few more potatoes than I need. They become building blocks for future meals: hash, gnocchi, loaded potato skins, twice baked potatoes, improvised baked potato soup.

Let leftover potatoes cool, then wrap them in foil and refrigerate them for up to 4 days. Baked potatoes do not freeze well.

A perfect baked potato is hard to beat. The outside is brown and crisp, coated in a crust of sea salt. Pierce the skin, and your fork gives way to a soft, fluffy interior. It might be hard to resist eating the whole thing straight out of the oven, but if you take the time to top it with a pat of butter or a dollop of (cashew) sour cream, you won’t be able to deny that it was worth the wait.

Reading this, you might be surprised to learn that until recently, I wasn’t a baked potato fan. I thought they were bland on their own. Whenever I had them at restaurants or at home as a kid, the toppings were always the main attraction. The potatoes themselves would be shriveled and soft, meager vessels for sour cream, cheddar cheese, and bacon.

But this salt-crusted baked potato recipe changed everything for me. In it, the potato becomes the main event. Don’t get me wrong, a little butter or sour cream goes a long way here, but the potatoes come out of the oven with perfectly crispy, flavorful skins and creamy, piping hot interiors that taste delicious as they are. Serve them as a hearty side dish, or load them up and call them dinner. You’ll love them either way!

I like to use russet potatoes here, as their skin really puffs up and becomes crisp in the oven. Along with the potatoes, you’ll just need olive oil and salt to make this baked potato recipe. Once you’ve assembled your ingredients, follow these easy steps:

First, preheat the oven to 425, and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

While the oven preheats, prep the potatoes. Scrub the potatoes well and pat them dry with a kitchen towel. Then, poke the potatoes with a fork a few times to create small holes across their surfaces.

Next, season the potatoes. Place them on the baking sheet and rub them all over with olive oil. Sprinkle them liberally with sea or kosher salt, and transfer them to the hot oven to bake.

Bake for 45 to 60 minutes, until the skins are crisp and puffy and you can easily pierce the potatoes with a fork. Use oven mitts to remove the hot baking sheet from the oven.

Finally, dig in! Allow the potatoes cool for a few minutes before slicing them open, fluffing up their insides, and topping them with your favorite fixings. I like cashew sour cream, tempeh bacon, chives, and salt and pepper!

You can’t go wrong by serving this oven baked potato recipe with a pat of butter, salt, and pepper, but a few well-chosen toppings can really take it to the next level. I love mine with cashew sour cream, tempeh bacon, and chives, but regular sour cream, “cheese sauce,” Greek yogurt, or cheddar cheese would also be delicious.

Enjoy this baked potato recipe as a meal on its own, or pair it with your favorite protein. It would also be yummy with a hearty salad like my Caesar salad, broccoli salad, or kale salad, or with roasted broccoli, cauliflower, or Brussels sprouts.

If you loved learning how to bake a potato, try one of these favorite potato recipes next!