The Secret to the Best Ever Baked Potatoes

Jacket potatoes, also known as baked potatoes, and have been a popular staple of British cuisine for centuries. Potatoes have long been widely available and inexpensive, and they make the basis for an easy, filling, and delicious meal. Topped with whatever you like and served piping hot, crispy-skinned spuds are a dinner winner that’s stood the test of time.

For the best possible baked potatoes, make them the British way.

Choosing the Perfect Potato

The best potato variety I’ve found to use for jacket potatoes is the russet a.k.a. baking potato. When baked, they have the fluffiest interior and the crispiest skin. Yukon gold potatoes will work too, they just won’t crisp up as well and will be far moister on the inside.

In the U.K., they have varieties of potatoes that split the difference between starch and moisture content. The Maris Piper and King Edward potatoes are the ones most commonly used for jacket potatoes, and they’re somewhere between russets and Yukon golds. 

Since we don’t have a perfect analog here in the U.S., you can decide which attribute is more important to you—a moist interior or crispy skin. For me, crispy skin wins. After all, you can always butter up a russet potato to make it as moist as you please. 

When you’re buying potatoes, make sure they’re free of dark spots, gashes, wrinkles, or any tinge of green. For sure avoid potatoes that have begun to sprout. A good potato should feel very firm and heavy for its size. 

How To Bake a Perfect Jacket Potato

Here’s the thing about a good jacket potato—they really can’t be rushed. In my experience, it takes a minimum of 1 hour (and up to 2 hours) to produce a potato that has a fluffy interior and an appealingly crispy skin.

As far as the technique for baking potatoes go, it’s one of the easiest things you can do in the kitchen. Put the potatoes on a baking sheet (lined with foil for easy cleanup if you please), prick them all over with a fork, rub them with oil, salt, and pepper, and bake them in a hot oven for longer than you think you should. That’s really all there is to it. 

Things you don’t want to do:

• Cover the potatoes in foil: this will cause their skins to steam rather than crisp up.
• Bake your potatoes unseasoned: you’ll miss out on the best part, the salty/peppery skin is so good! 
• Underbake your potatoes: give them enough time to develop a crisp skin and super fluffy insides.

British-Inspired Potato Toppings

In Britain, people have been getting creative with their jacket potato toppings for quite a while, and popular combinations go far beyond the usual steakhouse favorites in the US. A couple of street vendors have become famous as of late: The Hot Potato Tram in Preston (a.k.a. Spud Bros), and Spud Man in Tamworth. Their menus provide plenty of inspiration if you’re looking for creative ways to top your spuds. Fan favorites include:

• Cheddar and Red Leicester cheese
• Baked beans (the British kind, in a not-too-sweet tomato sauce)
• Canned tuna (mixed with mayo and often corn kernels, too) 
• Coleslaw
• Chili con carne

A generous amount of butter is almost always drizzled or spread onto the fluffy baked potato before other toppings are added.

Preheat the oven to 400ºF.

Line a baking sheet or 9x13-inch baking dish with aluminum foil. Scrub your potatoes under running water, then pat them dry with paper towels.

Prepare the potatoes:

Prick the potatoes all over with a fork, then place them on the lined baking sheet. Drizzle a teaspoon of oil onto each potato, followed by 1/8 teaspoon of salt and a few grinds of pepper. Use your hands to rub the oil and seasonings into the potatoes until they’re evenly coated.

Bake the potatoes:

Bake the potatoes until their skins are very crisp and they’re fluffy on the inside and easily pierced through with a knife, 1 1/2 to 2 hours. Don’t be afraid to leave them in the oven for the full 2 hours, especially if they’re on the bigger side—they won’t burn, I promise!

Fluff the potatoes:

Transfer the potatoes to serving plates. Use a sharp knife to cut into a potato lengthwise, creating a slice that goes from end to end but not all the way through. Use a pair of tongs to squeeze the potato from its ends and sides, so that the insides of the potato are pushed up and fluffed up a bit. 

For a traditional look, cut a cross into the tops of the potatoes, then give them a little squish from the ends so that the insides of the potato break up and become fluffy.

Serve:

Add a large pat or two of butter to each potato, top with salt, pepper, and chives or green onions, and serve right away. 

Let leftover potatoes cool to room temperature then store in a lidded container, or wrapped individually in plastic wrap or aluminum foil, in the refrigerator for up to 4 days. 

To reheat, either microwave the potatoes for 2 to 3 minutes, or bake or air fry them at 350ºF for 20 to 30 minutes, until heated through. If you’ve wrapped the potatoes for storage, unwrap them before reheating. 

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