How to Bake the Perfect Potato

Submitted by Rita1652

"Ahhhh...Golden, crispy brown skins and soft, flaky, tasty potato-goodness inside. You can take this recipe and top it with your favorite choices of sour cream, butter, herbs, salt and pepper.... Or make twice baked potatoes or potatoes skins.. When baking a large amount of potatoes at one time, choose potatoes with uniform shapes and sizes; they'll cook more evenly and get done at the same time. Or remove as they are cooked."

 

• Ready In: 1hr 25mins
• Ingredients: 3
• Serves: 2

ingredients

• 2 russet baking potatoes, without a greenish cast and blemishes
• olive oil
• kosher salt

directions

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
2. Wash and dry off as many potatoes as you plan to serve, and count on each person eating 1-2 halves.
3. Pierce potatoes using a fork work your way around each potato stabbing deeply into it's flesh. 3-4 stabs should do it depending on the size of the potatoes you are using. This allows steam to escape during the cooking process.
4. Rub potatoes with oil to lightly coat.
5. Sprinkle with salt if desired.
6. Bake 1 to 1 1/2 hours depending on size on the middle rack in oven.
7. The skin will be puffed up, golden-brown and crispy, and the potato should squish easily and be very soft on the inside.

Reviews

[annabeack]

I baked potatoes with some steak last night for my husband's early Father's Day dinner and W.O.W.! My potatoes were huge so they could have gone a teensy bit longer than an hour and a half but they were still so soft and creamy. The skin was fantastic as well! My 2 year old ate most of the skin vs. the potato! Such a great method! I used to think that 400F for an hour would cook a mean potato, but it only dried out the potato. This created such a mass of starchy goodness! I will DEFINITELY use this again!

 

[sweetz917]

This is a perfect way to bake potatoes, and mine came out with a wonderful creamy texture. I do flip the potatoes half way through cooking. I sometimes add grinded peppercorns to the skins in addition to salt.

 

[nemokitty]

This worked perfect for me. I used to bake mine at 425 but I like this temperature better -- it cooks more thoroughly. I never put olive oil on tater before but I will from now on. Thanks for this one!

 

[iewe7726]

This turned out really well! Mine were closer to an hour and a half, but then again, they were larger potatoes. Thanks for sharing!

 

[CookingONTheSide]

Just like the recipe name, this is the perfect baked potato. Very simple and delicious. Thanks for sharing! Made for Photo Tag.