Crispy Baked Potatoes
Learn the secrets to making the best Crispy Baked Potatoes in the oven! An easy make ahead dinner, these healthy crispy spuds are the perfect comfort foods.
Let’s clear one thing up right now – my father makes the world’s best baked potatoes. His involve about 300 spices and being slowly smoked on a BBQ in a tray of olive oil for an entire day. They’re delicious and perfection, but I don’t have time to make those.
So I make these – Crispy Baked Potatoes!
Are Baked Potatoes Better in Foil?
In a word – NOOOOOOO. The foil will steam the potato and cook it through, but it also prevents that crispy skin everyone loves so much! Ditch the foil wrapping and use this baking method instead.
Are Baked Potatoes Whole30 Compliant?
Yes! Whole30 added white potatoes onto the compliant list in 2014. Simply leave off the pat of butter (or use ghee) when serving and don’t top with cheese.
If you prefer sweet potatoes, check out these Air Fryer Sweet Potatoes for a fast and easy baked version.
Where Do You Get Compliant Bacon?
I’m blessed that we have a local butcher for buying organic meat, but we also have a monthly Butcher Box subscription. Butcher Box sources only organic and free-range meat for their customers and ships them to your home once a month. And yes, they have Whole30 compliant bacon!
Related: Air Fryer Bacon and How to Bake Bacon
How to Make Crispy Baked Potatoes – Step by Step
- Preheat your oven to 375 degrees.
- Scrub the outside of your potatoes, and dry off with a clean kitchen towel. Poke 7-10 holes in the skin of the potato using a fork.
- In a bowl, add your olive oil, salt, and garlic.
- Put two spuds in the bowl and swirl it around until the entire potato is covered in the oil/salt/garlic mixture. Move to a plate. Repeat with other spuds.
- Put a piece of foil or a baking sheeting on the bottom rack of your oven. Place the potatoes directly on the rack above the foil/baking sheet.
- Bake for 60-90 minutes depending on how many spuds you have. Four potatoes will need 60 minutes, and any more than that will need 90 ish. The potatoes are ready when a sharp knife pierces easily into the skin.
Recipe Notes for Crispy Baked Potatoes
- The dripping olive oil on the foil/baking sheet will smell “hot” in your kitchen, and there may be some sizzling. That is all perfectly normal.
- The kosher salt flavors the potato while baking and helps create the crispiest skin ever! But please brush all the excess salt off of the potato prior to serving. No one needs that much sodium in their diet! Unless of course you’re making baked potatoes for a deer. Then by all means, proceed.
- No kosher salt? You can use table salt but reduce to 1.5 tsp.
- Make these baked potatoes an easy weeknight meal by baking them during your weekly meal prep. Store in a lidded container in the fridge, and microwave for 60 seconds to reheat. No microwave? Reheat in a toaster/convection oven.
Variations on Crispy Baked Potatoes
- This process also works amazingly well with sweet potatoes, but the baking time usually needs to be increased by 10 minutes.
- Feel free to experiment with flavors and seasonings. I love cracked lemon pepper and chopped rosemary mixed in with the olive oil. The possibilities are only limited by your imagination.
What Can You Put in a Baked Potato?
I believe the better question is “what CAN’T you put in a baked potato”? A baked potato is a blank slate for your favorite toppings.
- butter
- cheese
- bacon
- broccoli
- green onions
- chili (Butternut Squash Chili is another way to get more vegetables in your life)
- sour cream
- spinach – fresh or frozen
These are basically a fabulous medium to get more bacon into my mouth.
Crispy Baked Potatoes WEIGHT WATCHERS POINTS
One serving of Crispy Baked Potatoes has 1 WW Freestyle SmartPoints.
Making this recipe or others?
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Discover the secret to the crispiest skin and flakiest spuds with this recipe for the World's Second Best Baked Potatoes.
- 4 russet potatoes
- 2 tsp olive oil
- 2 cloves garlic chopped
- 1 tbsp kosher salt
Preheat your oven to 375 degrees.
Scrub the outside of your potatoes, and dry off with a clean kitchen towel. Poke 7-10 holes in the skin of the potato using a fork.
In a bowl, add your olive oil, salt, and garlic.
Put two spuds in the bowl and swirl it around until the entire potato is covered in the oil/salt/garlic mixture. Move to a plate. Repeat with other spuds.
Put a piece of foil or a baking sheeting on the bottom rack of your oven. Place the potatoes directly on the rack above the foil/baking sheet.
Bake for 60-90 minutes depending on how many spuds you have. Four potatoes will need 60 minutes, and any more than that will need 90 ish. The potatoes are ready when a sharp knife pierces easily into the skin.
The dripping olive oil on the foil/baking sheet will smell "hot" in your kitchen, and there may be some sizzling. That is all perfectly normal.
The kosher salt flavors the potato while baking and helps create the crispiest skin ever! But please brush all the excess salt off of the potato prior to serving. No one needs that much sodium in their diet!
No kosher salt? You can use table salt but reduce to 1.5 tsp.
Make these baked potatoes an easy weeknight meal by baking them during your weekly meal prep. Store in a lidded container in the fridge, and microwave for 60 seconds to reheat. No microwave? Reheat in a toaster/convection oven.
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This post was originally published in July 2012. It has been retested, updated with reader feedback, the recipe was made printable, and new photos were included.
So, as I was walking out the door last week, I told Emma (my twelve year old) she should make baked potatoes to go with the chili-stew thing cooking in the crockpot. I told her to look for the recipe on your site. She found the recipe, she made them all by herself (while home alone!), and they were AWESOME! She is now the official baked potato chef in our house. Thanks!
Woot, WTG Emma! I know they’re not flowers or pretty wildlife, but I feel like I should have seen a photo of said potatoes on her IG page… 🙂
So glad they worked out well and were a good pairing for the “chili-stew thing”.
One of my all time favorites, this dish is easy to make and goes a long way. I will prepare myself and eat at breakfast or as a snack for morning tea.
This is pretty much how I prepare my baked potatoes, nothing better than that crispy skin, your dad´s version sound amazing, but yeah very time consuming, but I´m sure so worth it! great post 🙂
Crispy skin is the best!!
This is almost exactly the way I do mine! Down to the swirling 🙂
Crispy baked potato skin is a very great joy.
The art is in the swirl, right?
Thank you so much! I can’t wait to make these for our book club. The tip to make it th night before really helped too.
Mmm, these look really good. I have an abundance of potatoes from our veggie share, so I may have to add these to the menu this week. Maybe while I cook the leg of lamb?
Cannot wait to try these??? I LOVE baked taters!
Thanks for sharing your recipe!
JL
Let me know how you like them!
I love baked potatoes, especially when they’re made by smart cookies like you who know better than to wrap them in foil. That crunchy skin is SO yummy!
It’s almost like bonus bacon! ;-D