Some dishes are made better when cooked with quirky ingredients and the help of an air fryer or microwave. However, classic meals like the humble jacket potato often don’t need to be improved. A BBC Food chef claims that the traditional method of oven-cooking is the best way to cook jacket potatoes.
Jo Pratt shared her “perfect baked potato” recipe: “We’ve got the perfect jacket potato recipe with a smoky, cheesy filling. Of course, you can opt for baked beans, but why?” Preparation takes less than 30 minutes, and cooking time is one hour, but you can leave the spuds to cook unattended.
The best part is you need just three ingredients. Olive oil and salt coat the outside of the potatoes to ensure “golden-brown and crisp” skin.
Jo’s method also calls for a smoky fish filling, but you can top it with whatever you want: tuna, beans and cheese, chilli con carne, coleslaw, or keep it simple with a sprinkling of cheese and some cracked black pepper.
Crispy jacket potatoes recipe
Ingredients
- Two fat, floury potatoes (Maris Piper, King Edward or Marfona)
- Olive oil
- Flaked sea salt
Optional filling
- Two smoked mackerel or trout fillets
- One tablespoon of chopped fresh parsley or chives
- Two handfuls of grated mature cheddar
- One teaspoon of hot horseradish sauce or English mustard
- Two large knobs of butter
- Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
Method
The oven must be piping hot for the spuds to cook properly, so start by preheating the oven to 200C/400F/Gas 6.
Wash your potatoes under running water, gently scrubbing any dirt from the skin with your hands.
Pat them dry with a clean tea towel, then prick the spuds several times with a fork.
Next, pour some olive oil into your hands and rub over the potatoes, then scatter over some sea salt to coat the skin. The flakes should stick to the oil.
Place the potatoes directly on the shelf in the oven—there’s no need for a tray—and bake for one hour and fifteen minutes to one hour and thirty minutes, depending on their size.
The spuds should be golden and crisp on the outside and move a little when squeezed if they are done cooking.
Serve the piping hot spuds split open with lots of salted butter, or try the fish filling.
Preheat the grill to medium-high. Using a fork, scoop out most of the fluffy flesh from each potato into a bowl.
In the same bowl, flake in the smoked mackerel and add the parsley or chives, three-quarters of the cheese, the horseradish or mustard, and butter.
Stir in the potato flesh until just combined, then season to taste with salt and freshly ground black pepper.
Spoon the filling back into the potato skins, place the spuds on a baking tray and scatter over the remaining cheese. Finally, grill the stuffed potatoes to melt the cheese until golden and bubbly.
