The foil is your downfall.

450 degrees for 45 min to an hour depending on the size of the potato.

Boring. Try these ideas instead.

Fondant taters. Nom nom nom

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Scrub and dry the potatoes and rub the skin of each with olive oil or butter (even bacon grease will work) and a little salt. Pierce the skin of each potato with a fork in three or four places.

Place the potatoes in the oven, and roast for 45 minutes to an hour until they offer no resistance when poked with a sharp knife.

Remove the potatoes from the oven, slice them open down the middle, pop them open and add butter and any other toppings you like.

Follow Alton Brown’s directions and they’ll be perfect.

Do you have an air fryer? They come out perfect every time.
Poke all over with a fork. Coat in a small amount of oil and salt. Cook. Enjoy.


How do you know how long to keep them in there?

I do them for 45 min: 30 min to start, flip them over, another 15.

Anonymous wrote:I have great childhood memories of baked potatoes. Mashed with butter and salt and pepper with a crispy skin. The baked potatoes I make for myself are awful. I don’t know how it is possible to mess it up. I put a few cuts for steam in russets, wrap them in tin foil, and bake them for an hour plus. They always stay lumpy in parts. They aren’t fork tender. And they don’t taste very good. The skins also aren’t crispy. What am I doing wrong?

An hour plus at what temp?

Anonymous wrote:Do you have an air fryer? They come out perfect every time.
Poke all over with a fork. Coat in a small amount of oil and salt. Cook. Enjoy.

How do you know how long to keep them in there?

Thanks all! I am going to try them without foil and measuring the internal temp.

It’s really easy - just measure the internal temperature with an instant read thermometer. Should aim for around 210 degrees with oven around 350-400. no need to wrap. you can lightly coat with oil and salt.

Do you have an air fryer? They come out perfect every time.
Poke all over with a fork. Coat in a small amount of oil and salt. Cook. Enjoy.

Anonymous wrote:I have great childhood memories of baked potatoes. Mashed with butter and salt and pepper with a crispy skin. The baked potatoes I make for myself are awful. I don’t know how it is possible to mess it up. I put a few cuts for steam in russets, wrap them in tin foil, and bake them for an hour plus. They always stay lumpy in parts. They aren’t fork tender. And they don’t taste very good. The skins also aren’t crispy. What am I doing wrong?

This were you go wrong. For oven or gas grill baking, don’t wrap them in foil. They basically steam and end up closer to boiled than baked. I just throw them as is. Some recipes advise to cost with oil & salt.

We wrap in foil only when we camp and throw them straight into the hot coals.

I rub them all over with butter before placing them in the oven. I don't poke them. Let them bake longer than you think they should.

More often than not, I'll zap them a couple of minutes in the microwave to give them a jump start. That helps ensure they're cooked in the middle.

Don't wrap them in foil. Just poke 'em and throw them in the oven. The longer the better.

We once went to a movie, forgetting that we had potatoes in the oven. They were superb!

I “bake” them in the microwave on the potato setting. I get these loose potatoes from Wegmans, scrub and dry them, rub generously with oil, poke holes all over with a fork and then stick them in. They come out perfectly.

I have great childhood memories of baked potatoes. Mashed with butter and salt and pepper with a crispy skin. The baked potatoes I make for myself are awful. I don’t know how it is possible to mess it up. I put a few cuts for steam in russets, wrap them in tin foil, and bake them for an hour plus. They always stay lumpy in parts. They aren’t fork tender. And they don’t taste very good. The skins also aren’t crispy. What am I doing wrong?