These oven baked potatoes are perfectly cooked with a crispy outside and fluffy interiors. The perfect simple and inexpensive side dish that can be customized with any number of toppings, and pairs perfectly with chicken, beef and seafood.
I love serving potato side dishes to round out any meal! Some of my family’s favorites include crispy garlic butter smashed potatoes, funeral potatoes, creamy crock pot mashed potatoes, and these classic oven baked potatoes. In my opinion, this is the best baked potato recipe! I often serve these potatoes alongside baked chicken wings or London broil for a memorable dinner.
I always have a bag of potatoes in my pantry. They’re inexpensive, nutritious, and you can do so many things with them! I make oven baked potatoes on a weekly basis. There’s just 5 minutes of prep work involved, and everyone can add the toppings they like to make their own creations. This might be the most perfect baked potato that you ever eat!
Table of Contents
Baked Potato Ingredients
All you need for this recipe is raw potatoes, olive oil and salt. It couldn’t be easier!
How Do You Make Oven Baked Potatoes?
Start by scrubbing the potatoes, then prick them with a fork. Place the potatoes onto a baking sheet. Brush olive oil onto the potatoes, then add a generous sprinkle of salt. Bake the potatoes on the middle oven rack until you have crispy skin and the insides are tender, which takes about 45 minutes. Let the potatoes cool for a few minutes, then slice them down the center, pull the sides apart, and fluff the inside of the potato with a fork. Add the toppings of your choice, then serve and enjoy.
Tips For The Perfect Dish
- I typically choose Russet potatoes (Idaho potatoes) for this recipe, but you can use other types of potatoes such as red or Yukon gold varieties. This recipe is for Russet potatoes, which tend to be larger than other varieties. If you go with a smaller potato, such as a red potato, you’ll want to adjust the bake time accordingly.
- Choose potatoes that are similar in size so that they cook at the same rate. Otherwise you might find that some potatoes are soft and others hard at the end of the bake time.
- I find that oven baked potatoes are best when served immediately, as the skin can start to soften as they cool.
- Leftover potatoes will stay fresh in the refrigerator for up to 4 days in an airtight container. You can reheat the potatoes in the oven to crisp the skin back up. Another great option would be to dice up leftovers to make potato soup.
- Serve your potatoes alongside main course classics such as Instant Pot chicken thighs, Peruvian chicken, Instant Pot whole chicken, baked ham and beer can chicken.
Quick Tip
For easy cleanup, line a sheet pan with foil, then coat the foil with cooking spray.
Recipe FAQs
Baked potatoes are ready when the internal temperature is at least 210 degrees F. You can gauge this by using an electronic probe thermometer. I find that you don’t really need a thermometer for this recipe. If you’re not sure if the potatoes are ready, give them a gentle squeeze. A fully cooked potato will yield under the pressure.
I recommend using a fork or paring knife to poke holes in your potatoes before they go into the oven. The holes help release steam from the potatoes as they cook. If you don’t poke the potatoes first, there’s a small chance that they could explode in the oven, so it’s not worth taking the chance!
Do not wrap your potatoes in foil, as this will cause the potato to steam and the skin will stay soft.
You can in fact overbake a potato. If a potato overcooks, the skin could burn and become bitter, and the inside will be dry.
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Oven Baked Potato Toppings
The great thing about baked potatoes is that they are a neutral canvas for any number of toppings.
- Protein: Finish your potatoes with a sprinkle of bacon, diced ham, shredded pulled pork or BBQ chicken, ground beef or cooked sausage.
- Vegetables: Serve up some grilled broccoli, sauteed mushrooms, spinach or zucchini. Fresh diced tomatoes are also a great choice.
- Dairy: I often use sour cream, butter, shredded cheese, or a combination of the three! Choose a cheese that melts well such as cheddar cheese, Monterey Jack or mozzarella.
- Seasonings: Add some sauces or spices to amp up the flavor! Some good options include canned or homemade beef chili, ranch dressing, Chipotle guacamole, black pepper, hot sauce, Cajun seasoning, salsa or even taco spice.
- Herbs: Offer some sort of fresh herbs like chives, basil, parsley, dill or green onions.
This recipe may be simple, but it’s a must-know technique for every home cook!
More Ways To Enjoy Potatoes
Cheesy Potatoes
1 hr
Potato Pancakes
35 mins
Oven Roasted Potatoes
45 mins
German Potato Salad
40 mins
Scalloped Potatoes and Ham
1 hr 35 mins
Love This Recipe?
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Oven Baked Potatoes
Ingredients
- 4 Russet potatoes approximately 6-8 ounces each
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- kosher salt to taste
- toppings such as butter, sour cream, cheese and bacon
- cooking spray
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F. Coat a sheet pan with cooking spray.
- Scrub the potatoes under cold running water. Prick the potatoes all over with a fork or paring knife.
- Place the potatoes on the sheet pan. Brush the olive oil all over the potatoes, then season the potatoes generously with salt.
- Place the pan in the oven. Bake for 45-60 minutes or until skins are crisp and insides are tender.
- Let potatoes cool for 5 minutes. Cut a slit down the center of each potato and pull the sides back. Fluff the insides of the potatoes with a fork.
- Add toppings as desired, then serve.
Notes
- If you’re using larger or small potatoes than the size called for, you will need to adjust the baking time accordingly.
- Choose potatoes that are similar in size so that they cook at the same rate.
- For easy cleanup, line a sheet pan with foil, then coat the foil with cooking spray.
Baked potatoes are a staple at our house. We LOVED this recipe and I personally loved how easy it was! 10/10 recommend.
Loved the crispiness of the outsides while middles are perfect to fill with chili we had left over.
I can never say no to good old baked potatoes. Such a wonderful recipe to keep handy!
The best side dish ever! They come out crispy and fluffy every single time!
My kids love baked potatoes so I find myself making this recipe often! It always turns out well – and they have fun loading up the potatoes with their favorite toppings!
These potatoes were so good!! Perfect for a side dish with our dinner. Kids asked for seconds!
The perfect baked potatoes. Love the photos! Thanks for the step by step guide, you’ve totally inspired me for dinner tonight.
You cannot go wrong with a baked potato for dinner, super filling and very versatile.
We made these loaded baked potatoes for dinner tonight and they were the perfect, easy weeknight meal! My kids loved them too!
Wonderful tips on how to make the potatoes perfect! We tried them last night with the Russet potatoes, as recommended and they were simply delicious! Great article and recipe!
I always love how these turn out! So easy and perfect every time. Thanks for sharing!
These potatoes look irresistibly good! I can’t wait to give this recipe a try!!
Love the crispy outside of these potatoes. I can’t wait to give them a try.
Oooh, you had me at crispy outside and fluffy inside. These baked potatoes look absolutely amazing with all those toppings too.
Love how flavorful the potatoes come out with the simple olive oil and salt after baking – a great base to stuff!
I love how easy these are and how everyone can customize them to their own liking. Makes my job as mom much easier!
i’m always forgetting how much time for a potato – this recipe was simple and easy – thanks so much
This is such an easy and delicious side dish!
This was such a simple recipe for baked potatoes and they turned out perfectly in the oven! Made a great side dish for our dinner tonight!