How to Make the Perfect Baked Potato

While you can make a baked potato in the microwave, slow cooker, air fryer, or Instant Pot, for the best results I prefer to use my oven. I’ll admit, air fryer baked potatoes are almost perfect thanks to the gadget’s hot, dry air. They’re acceptable if I’m only making one or two potatoes. But the air fryer doesn’t get quite as hot as my oven, and if I try to bake more than two spuds at a time, crowding keeps the skins from crisping up. As for the slow cooker and Instant Pot, the lack of dry heat is a dealbreaker. Neither one creates potato skins I want to eat, and nothing is sadder than a hollowed-out potato skin slumped on a plate. I will use a microwave, but only as a timesaver when I’m in a rush — and I’ll always finish the process in the oven to crisp the skin. But even if it looks similar to a potato that’s 100% oven-baked, the inside of a microwave hybrid spud will be a little less creamy, a little less fluffy than the ideal. It’s worth it to go all-in on the oven.

To get the best results, I bake my potatoes directly on the oven rack. They go in naked, since a foil wrapper would trap the steam. That leaves the potato skins limp and the insides gummy. And I never use a baking sheet. The metal in the sheet pan conducts heat, which almost guarantees a bitter scorched spot on the bottom of each potato.

But I don’t just bake naked spuds and call it a day. The potatoes go in plain, but towards the end of the baking time, I pull them out and brush each one with a little olive oil, then sprinkle with salt. The oil keeps the skins crisp without becoming leathery, and it helps the seasoning adhere. Back into the oven they go for another 10 minutes, and they come out spectacular. 

The best potato for baking

The first step towards baked potato perfection: Use the right type of potato, one that’s starchy and has a nice, sturdy skin. Usually, that means russet potatoes, also known as Idaho potatoes. Yukon gold will work, and I can definitely appreciate baked sweet potatoes, but neither of them will produce the fluffy inside/crispy outside we’re looking for.

When choosing your russets, avoid two things: greenish-tinged flesh beneath the skin and the small protrusions known as eyes. That green tint means the tubers have been exposed to light and produced chlorophyll, which in itself isn’t a bad thing — but it can signal an increase in a compound called solanine, which tastes bitter and can be harmful in large amounts. The potato itself is still good, but you’ll need to peel the skin and all the green parts. Save what’s left for mashing.

As for the eyes, they’re actually sprouts! Potato farmers plant “seed potatoes,” whole or in chunks, to grow a new crop. In small quantities those eyes are probably safe to eat, but not exactly pleasant. If your potato has just one or two, trim them out with a paring knife and proceed. More than that, though, and your spud will have so many holes in it, it won’t have much eye appeal. Save that potato, too, for another use.