Jacket potatoes are promised to taste the “best ever” with a two-second step before they go in the oven. Serious Eats said that though jacket potatoes are “a wonder to behold”, they are also “bland as bland as bland can be”. Luckily, this is a problem that can be tackled.
The site’s main piece of advice is to avoid the potato exploding while it’s in the oven. Puncture the potato in several spots with a knife, as there is a small risk that an unvented potato will explode due to steam being unable to escape. Also, be sure not to wrap potatoes when cooking. This will steam the potato and soften the skin rather than crisping it. Cooking it at 175C to 190C will soften it without it developing a tough layer under the skin.
Serious Eats recommends oiling the potatoes before cooking and placing them in the oven on a rack to ensure all sides of the potato skin crisp up.
Once they’re done, allow them to rest for a few minutes. Then cut them from end to end and scoop out the inside of the potato into a bowl. Roughly mash it and add butter and seasonings.
Then spoon the potato back into the skins and add your toppings. You can even twice-bake the potato if you want to crisp up the top of the mash.
One person said: “Wow! Best baked potato I’ve ever had!” Another said: “Oil helped crisp the skins and resting allowed them to cool a bit before scooping all the flesh out to mix it with the butter. They turned out great for me.”
According to BBC Good Food, the best jacket potato fillings include chickpea curry, whipped feta and sumac, piri piri prawns, green pesto and tuna, and mushroom.
Jamie Oliver recommends cooking jacket potatoes at 200C for an hour and cutting them open straight away so the potato doesn’t get soggy and heavy from steam.
