To ask how to make a jacket potato?

[redpedal]

I'm 27 and have never cooked a jacket potato

I want to make one for tea, how do I get it really crispy but fluffy on the inside? Oven or air fryer? Foil or no foil? Microwave first or not?

So many questions! Please can somebody tell me how I can bake it to perfection?

Aldi do some gorgeous jacket potatoes golden something they are called and 79p for 4 just wash them, prick them all over and stick them in the oven for 90 mins. Lovely crispy skin and soft buttery potato inside. I haven't got any left so I can't take a pic of the packaging.

Tin foil and bang it in the oven for 1 hour 30 mins.

Don't ever just mircowave it unless you like squashy potatoes as I found out 😂

I am ashamed to say I haven't ever made jacket potatoes and I've only eaten them 2/3 times 😬

Ok so a pp recommends Maris piper but what about toppings? Do people always use butter?
My son is very fussy and doesn't like cheese. I'm thinking of using left over chilli for him
I like beans.. would coleslaw go well with beans and cheese 🤔

Thread a metal skewer through the spud and it heats up the inside and cooks it faster. I have a special rack that opens into a cross with prongs that you stab up to four spuds on and sit it in the oven. It makes them really fluffy too.

I spray fry light on mine after scrubbing and drying, and sprinkle a little salt over them and bake at 200 on the fan. After an hour I squeeze them to test. Usually they are done.

As they are standing up on the prongs they don't need turning either.

www.amazon.co.uk/KitchenCraft-Aluminium-Potato-Baker-Rack/dp/B0001IX382

It’s a no brainier to use a combination of microwave and air fryer, unless you like paying more for your fuel!

Really? Most threads the op could Google.. what's the point of chat forums then 🙄

There’s a whole thread on Mumsnet on fillings, of which there are many!

I'll probably cause some jacket potato lovers to recoil at this but I hate when the skin is crispy and prefer it soft so I just pierce all over then microwave for 4 minutes, turn then do 3-4 mins on the other side depending on the size of the potato and that's it done for me.

Then I drown it in butter and grated cheese so there's basically more cheese than potato.

God, I really want a jacket potato now!

I usually cook mine in the oven without microwaving first, unless I'm in a rush. I think they come out nicer that way. Don't have an air fryer but my friend does, and those are very nice too.

Vivaldi potatoes make lovely jackets in my experience.

Thank you! I'll take a look

This thread is making me feel like an absolute savage. I chuck mine in the microwave and don't bother with the oven because I prefer the skins soft. Clearly I'm defective.

Desiree make good jackets too. I always have lots of butter on, and I prefer cold toppings for the contrast, so tuna mayo and cheese, or Longley farm cottage cheese and pineapple with grated cheddar.

I think it really depends on the potatoes you have - some just don't go right regardless of how they're cooked! I like waxy potatoes better - starchy ones can go all watery and yuck!

I do the same! 🤣😁

I thought I was the only one. Glad I have some fellow soft-skin heathens with me now. I find crispy skins impossible to eat!

Oh my days , no crispy skin 😱

Do NOT poke holes in it...you take a sharp knife and score it all the way round .
Microwave for 8 to 10 mins depending on size.. bung in air fryer on 200 for 8 mins until skin crispy and brown.
Add Amy topping you want.
Enjoy.

I am about to appal you all.

I go for crispy skin, hoik out all the contents and mash up with butter and the fillings, but don't put it back in the skins. I make mini buttered skin sandwiches with a tiny bit of filling and eat them. separately. So good.

Blimey,2 hours,I'm electric, would cost a fortune. Pricked all over, wrapped in kitchen paper. 6 minutes in the microwave,15 in the oven on 180. I've just had one.Plenty of Cornish seasalted butter.The frozen ones are so expensive, compared to a big bag of spuds.

I don't make any holes or use any oil

Microwave for 7 minutes
Air fryer for 45 minutes

Beautiful

I have a Rayburn, i cover the potatoes in oil and sea salt, parcel them up in foil and pop them in the ash pan in the morning. the house smells of potatoes and they taste wonderful by teatime.

I had one for lunch and it was delicious! I have the Sainsbury’s loose baking potatoes, prick lots of holes in it, 8 mins in the microwave and then 20 mins in the air fryer at full whack.

Putting the oven on for 2hrs to cook a spud is madness in this day and age.

Whoever said they prefer a cold topping - totally agree. I had prawn mayo today 😋

Wash, dry and prick the potato, put in ovengas mark 7 for an hour and 10 - 20 minutes or do depending on size of potato. Turn half way through. Once done cut a cross on the top and pop it open to let the steam out and make it fluffy. Serve with butter and a topping of your choice.

I love a good jacket potatoe, a sandwhich shop near work does the most amazing ones using the jacket oven thing. Amazing skin with a fluffy inside. Have reproduced at home buying suitable massive potatoes from a farm shop, scrubbing and scoring them around the middle length ways (lovely mother in law did this rather than prick them). I microwave them for as long as needed to soften then then chuck them in the air fryer- rub skin with salt and a bit of olive oil first.

I score the skin in a cross, 5 minutes in the microwave, turn over another 3/4 minutes. Brush with oil and sprinkle with salt, put into preheated air fryer for 5 minutes on each side to crisp it up.