Name: How to Make Baked Potatoes
Prep time: 5 min
Cook time: 45 min
Total time: 50 min
Yield: 4
Ingredients: 4 whole baking potatoes (russet, idaho); 1 teaspoon avocado oil; 1 tablespoon seasoning mix ((not included in nutrition))

Learn how to make baked potatoes for a perfect baked potato every time. Plus seasoning mix recipes to make them extra delicious!

How to Bake a Potato

Learn how to make baked potatoes right at home, no need to head to a fancy restaurant.

How to make an Air Fryer Baked Potato

An air fryer baked potato is our favorite way to make potatoes. It gets the entire potato cooked inside out. The skin is nice and crispy, while the inside is nice and fluffy. Air fryers use air to “fry” the food at a high heat. There’s no oil involved at all in air frying. You will be extremely impressed with an air fryer after just one use.

Oven Baked Potatoes

Preheat your oven to 450F.
Wash your potatoes and then pierce a few times with a fork.
Season your potatoes as desired.
Lay the potatoes on a baking sheet.
Put the baking sheet on the center oven rack and roast for 45-60 minutes.
Once the potatoes are fork tender remove from the oven and serve.

If you’re strapped for time you can also cut the potatoes in half and place the cut side down.

Using a full size oven can take a long time! A longer cooking time means a hotter kitchen. We prefer to make them in the air fryer over using the kitchen oven. Another great option is baking in a convection oven – the countertop style.

TIP: We don’t wrap our potatoes in foil. If you do use tinfoil to bake the potatoes make sure you remove the foil after baking. Keeping the tin foil on while cooling or storing for later you’re at risk for botulism.

Our oven baked taters come close to air fried, but not as crispy.

Instant Pot Baked Potatoes

Here’s a great recipe + picture tutorial for making Instant Pot Potatoes from A Mind”Full” Mom. She breaks down all the steps and guides you through the entire process of making Instant Pot Baked Potatoes. Instant Pots make freak you out, but she makes it seem so much easier. Keep in mind the potatoes will not be crispy with this method.

Microwave Baked Potato

Wash your potatoes and then pierce a few times with a fork.
Put the desired amount of potatoes onto a plate
Cook potatoes about 4-5 minutes per potato
Turn potatoes and cook another 4-5 minutes per potato.
When the potatoes are fork tender remove from the microwave and serve.

This is the last way we’d recommend on how to cook potatoes. Cooking any food in a microwave (or any food for that matter) will result in a loss of nutrients.

Cooking food in a microwave, in general, you may have overcooked food, with a lack of flavor, and undesired texture. It can be soft and sometimes overcooked in some spots.

How to Bake Sweet Potatoes

Sweet potatoes can be cooked just like regular potatoes, but just add a few more minutes if they’re larger. How long to bake a sweet potato depends on the size of the sweet potato and the cooking method.

Fun toppings for sweet potatoes are usually marshmallows and brown sugar. We love eating a sweet potato just as we would a regular baked potato.

How to make Baked Potatoes

Seasoned baked potatoes beat a plain or just salted potato any day. You want to bake the flavor right into the skin. This gives it so much more flavor, adults love and so do kids!

Here are 5 of our favorite potato seasoning combinations.

thyme, paprika, oregano, garlic powder, pepper (salt is optional)
parsley, garlic, salt
rosemary, garlic, salt olive oil
parsley, fresh cracked pepper, garlic, salt
seasoned salt, pepper

Mix the seasonings into a bowl to combine. Once the seasonings are mixed you can get ready to season. We like to use a little avocado oil on the potato before applying the seasoning.