How to cook the ultimate jacket potato

Crispy jacket potatoes loaded with any number of toppings make an easy meal. Photo / Getty Images

Ask anyone to name their favourite comfort food and you can bet that a fluffy baked potato will be right up there. Crispy jackets loaded with any number of toppings are back in favour, and not just as a hassle-free midweek supper but as an increasingly popular desk lunch too, and it’s easy to see why. Affordable, simple to prepare, healthy and built for customising, a baked spud ticks all the right boxes. Here’s how to get the best results.

Three steps to brilliant baked potatoes

1. Choose the right potato

For the fluffiest centre, you need to begin with the right potato. I usually plump for large (200g-250g) Maris Pipers or King Edwards, which are easy to find and offer a wonderful, soft interior and crispy skin when baked well. I’m also keen to try the new Nemo potato, which is said to cook more quickly than traditional types. (Agria is a popular baking potato in New Zealand).

If, however, your options are limited or you’re not sure what varieties you’re picking from, any white all-rounder is generally a safer bet than a red-skinned spud, which has a higher chance of having a firm, waxy flesh rather than the floury, airy texture that defines a great jacket.

2. Prepare the skin

Having once had to clean up after a poorly-prepared potato exploded during baking and glued starchy globules of mash to every surface and crevice of my oven, I’m now always careful to prick the skins well. Using a fork, pierce the tuber in several places, rolling it to ensure that there’s an escape route for built-up steam on every side.

While some cooks recommend oiling the skin, I’m not a fan as I find that it results in a slightly chewy shell rather than the crunchy crust that I’m after. For the crispiest skin, wash the potatoes, prick evenly and sprinkle generously with flaky sea salt while still damp.

Savoury stuffed baked potatoes. Photo / NZ Herald

3. Bake directly on the shelf

Preheat the oven to 220C/200C fan/gas mark 7. Place the pricked and salted potatoes directly on the oven rack so that the air can circulate. Cook for at least an hour, turning two to three times until the skin is crunchy all over and the potato gives when lightly squeezed. Using a sharp knife, split the potato down the centre, or opt for a currently more-fashionable cross in the top; season with salt and fork-in a knob of butter, then fill as you fancy.

Seven baked potato dos and don’ts

1. If you’re cooking more than one potato, do make sure that they’re roughly the same size. This might sound obvious but just grabbing a few mixed spuds out of a bag and expecting them all to be ready at the same time is a surprisingly common mistake.
2. Don’t wrap the potatoes in foil unless you’re cooking them on a bonfire – it traps moisture, which makes for a soft and unappealing skin.
3. Don’t microwave your jacket potatoes if you can avoid doing so – the texture is never quite the same. But if you’re really in a hurry, you can save a few minutes by cooking them half-and-half. First, microwave the potatoes for 8-10 minutes while the oven is heating up, then bake for at least 20-30 minutes so that the skins can crisp.
4. Don’t overcrowd the oven as it will reduce the oven temperature and impede even air circulation. If you’re baking multiple potatoes, give them some space on the rack.
5. While many frozen vegetables are well worth stocking up on, I don’t recommend buying frozen baked potatoes – they’re expensive, not as nice and not that much quicker to cook anyway.
6. Do check for doneness: hold the potato with a tea towel and squeeze lightly (it should feel soft). Don’t take it out of the oven if you suspect even a little firmness in the centre.
7. Do bake an extra potato or two while you’ve got the oven on and use them for other meals. For example, try chopping up leftover jackets, skin and all, and frying into a hash, or scoop out the centres, mix with cheesy fillings and bake again.