(Sloooow) Baked Potatoes ♥ How Long to Bake a Baked Potato

Doesn't everybody bake potatoes for an hour? But one hour in the oven is just not enough! Here's how long to really bake a baked potato, that is, if you want the potato to turn nutty and soft and super-special: three hours. Three hours is not a typo. It really is "three" full hours. Baked potatoes' skin and flesh are both completely delicious when the potato is slow-baked for a long time.

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The pregnant pause. I've learned to wait expectantly (ahem) when it occurs in a conversation with my friend Anne, a fine, fine cook and owner of Kitchen Conservatory, St. Louis' great kitchen store and cooking school. (She and her husband introduced me to this guy!)

You see, Anne has, shall-we-say? strong views about food that are some times contrary to conventional wisdom. I always learn something. Take the latest lesson, how to make the best baked potatoes. There's a story here, a memorable one.

Anne's Dad and 68,000 Baked Potatoes

Anne's father married late in life. Marital status matters because for two decades of bachelorhood, Mr. S ate out three times a day. (Do the math, that's almost 22,000 meals out! Once married, no wonder the man never wanted to eat out again!) All those restaurant meals left him suspicious of what went into sauces and any food he couldn't identify with his own eyes. Mashed potatoes were suspect because, you know, you can't tell if they are real or come from a box! But a baked potato? It's irrefutably the real thing, a real potato.

For Mr. S, one of the great benefits of marriage and a family was home-cooked food. In a Father-Knows-Best way, he insisted on a baked potato every single night, not just a soggy foil-wrapped baked potato, mind you, but a slow-baked potato, one baked in the oven for three hours.

Yes, three hours! The family kitchen even housed a special oven, just for baking potatoes for Father & Family. How many potatoes would that be for a family with six kids? Some quick math, maybe up to 68,000 baked potatoes? Wow.

This May Be the Easiest Vegetable You Ever Make.

Just rub Idaho potatoes with olive oil, then pop them into a 350F oven for up to three hours. The hardest thing about these baked potatoes? Not snatching one from the oven about half-way through, when the baked potato aroma throughout the house will begin to tempt ...

Sloooow-Baked Potatoes Are Worth the Wait!

Once the full three hours has passed, dig into creamy-smooth and nutty-tasting potato flesh that "mashes" with a fork right inside their crispy jackets. And the skins? Oh my, the skins! They're stiff and crackly and completely delicious.

See For Yourself: For Baking Potatoes, One Hour in the Oven Isn't Enough!

Once you've baked Sloooow-Baked Potatoes, I'm betting you won't go back. One-hour potatoes will seem almost raw. But like Anne's father, be skeptical! Do your own side-by-side potato-baking and potato-tasting!

Here's How to Conduct Your Own Test

With this technique, all the potatoes finish at the same time, perfect for taste comparisons. It'll help you find your own "sweet spot" for timing. It helps to keep notes, it helps to keep track of which potato is which, although you'll definitely be able to tell when the test completes.

Set the oven and prep five russet potatoes. It's best to use potatoes about the same size and purchased from the same place at the same time.
Put Potato #1 in the oven. It will bake for 3 hours.
After 30 minutes, put Potato #2 in the oven. It will bake for 2-1/2 hours.
After another 30 minutes, put Potato #3 in the oven. It will bake for 2 hours.
After another 30 minutes, put Potato #4 in the oven. It will bake for 1-1/2 hours.
After another 30 minutes, put Potato #5 in the oven. It will bake for 1 hour, the common length of time to bake a baked potato. You'll soon see. One hour isn't enough! I recommend keeping the oven on, you'll probably put this potato back in the oven!

Now for the real test. Get out a knife and cut into each potato. Take note of the differences in the skin textures but most importantly, the color, scent and texture of the potato flesh. Now taste, you may want to sprinkle on a little salt. Butter and sour cream are recommended after the first few tastes. Big difference, eh?

Compliments!

"Sooo good, Alanna. No wonder they're so creamy and nutty - the long, slow cooking seems to almost caramalize them." ~ Anonymous
... it was magnificent. ... now will not do it any other way. ~ Sunny
I do this often ... [a pork roast on the bottom rack, potatoes on the top rack] ... Close the door and read blogs for 2.5 hours. Make a salad, pull everthing else out of the oven, and impress your friends and loved ones with that dinner you worked sooooo hard on. ~ Lyssa
Cutting into them was amazing--the outside was crisp, and then the inside felt like butter on the knife. Delicious. ~ The Former Veggie Paparazzo
... they were wonderful! ~ Her Heatherness
Hubby thought they were the best baked potato he'd ever eaten. ~ Lin
... they were perfect! Oh so creamy and not mealy/dry at all. And the skins! I'm glad I baked extras. ~ Cyndi
Nearly 10 years later, this is still my go-to method for the best baked potatoes. ~ Sally

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(SLOOOOW) BAKED POTATOES

Hands-on time: 5 minutes
Time to table: 3 hours
Serves – well, you decide

1 russet potato, scrubbed well, rubbed with olive oil

Set oven to 350F/180C. Place the potatoes directly on the oven rack. There's no need to prick the potatoes, at least in my experience. If you do prick them, place a baking sheet on the rack below to catch any juices. Bake the potatoes for 2-1/2 to 3 hours. Remove the potatoes from the oven and slice open pole to pole with a knife. Serve hot, any way you like.

ALANNA's TIPS & KITCHEN NOTES
RUSSET POTATOES (ALSO CALLED IDAHO POTATOES) ARE BEST FOR BAKING For baking, choose a russet potato, some times called an "Idaho potato". (Did you know that Idaho Potato is actually a brand name for potatoes grown in Idaho? It's along the same lines of Parmesan Reggiano.) A russet potato is a so-called "mealy potato" and has a relatively thick, brown and rough skin. It's high in starch and low in moisture, that makes it perfect for creating fluffy potato texture.

REMOVE BLEMISHES With any luck, the skin of your potatoes will be without blemishes. But if there are rough spots, slice them off with a knife then proceed the same; I baked one potato that had an open cut and it baked just fine.

ENORMOUS POTATOES In St. Louis groceries, the russet potatoes sold loose (one or two individual potatoes) are huge! They can weigh a half pound – and often more. So it pays to watch their size, the calories and carbs can really add up.

SMALLER POTATOES Instead, I buy russet potatoes in three- or five-pound bags because the potatoes are smaller, more suited to an individual serving. For the smaller potatoes, I've learned that the "sweet spot" time-wise is right at 2-1/2 hours baking time.

FOIL? No foil! Just a little olive oil!

PRICK THE POTATOES? I don't. Conventional wisdom says that potatoes will explode in an oven unless they're pricked, allowing the pressure/heat to release. I bake Sloooow-Baked Potatoes like this all the time and have never once had an explosion. That said, at least one commenter says otherwise. I do think that pricking the potatoes defeats the purpose of baking the potatoes for a long time. Unpricked potatoes are almost like little pressure cookers, keeping the temperature high and moisture inside.

LARGE BATCHES As appealing as the idea is to bake a large number of Sloooow Baked Potatoes at once for a party, say, commenters suggest that this doesn't work out well. Baker, beware.

NUTRITION INFORMATION
For a 1/4 pound (112g) russet potato, with skin, weighed raw, per potato: 90 Calories; 0g Tot Fat; 0g Sat Fat; 0mg Cholesterol; 6mg Sodium; 20g Carb; 1g Fiber; 1g Sugar; 2g Protein. WEIGHT WATCHERS WW Old Points 1.5 & PointsPlus 2 & SmartPoints 3 & Freestyle 3 & myWW green 3 & blue 3 & purple 0

For a 1/2 pound (225g) russet potato, with skin, weighed raw, per potato: 179 Calories; 0g Tot Fat; 0g Sat Fat; 0mg Cholesterol; 11mg Sodium; 41g Carb; 3g Fiber; 1g Sugar; 5g Protein. WEIGHT WATCHERS WW Old Points 3 & PointsPlus 5 & SmartPoints 5 & Freestyle 5 & myWW green 5 & blue 5 & purple 0

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MORE POTATO PERFECTION

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~ Beer-Soaked Crispy Baked Fries ~
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SEASONAL EATING: THIS SAME WEEK ACROSS THE YEARS

Slow-Roasted Tomatoes (< an annual obsession) Pasta with Slow-Roasted Tomatoes Broccoli with Orange & Curry Cauliflower Tomato Medley Eggplant Parmigiana Mini Tomato Pesto Torte Potato Okra Curry (< hello, Meatless Monday) Slow-Roasted Tomato Salsa “Surprise Inside” Spice Parsnip Cupcakes Steamed Butternut Squash in a Collapsible Steamer Basket Foodie Fight (Slooow) Baked Potatoes (< this week's favorite!) Balkan Eggplant Casserole Apple Cider Vinaigrette (< my fav make-ahead salad dressing) Rosemary Potatoes Calabacitas (< great with garden zucchini!) Beet Salad with Sumac, Yogurt & Pita Pennsylvania Dutch Green Beans with Bacon Tomato Recipes – Alphabet of Vegetables Slow Cooker Beans & Tomatoes Slow Cooker Tomato Grits Mexican Cauliflower "Rice" (< great for meal prep!)

Looking for healthy new ways to cook vegetables? A Veggie Venture is home to hundreds of super-organized quick, easy and healthful vegetable recipes and the famous asparagus-to-zucchini Alphabet of Vegetables. Join "veggie evangelist" Alanna Kellogg to explore the exciting world of common and not-so-common vegetables, seasonal to staples, savory to sweet, salads to sides, soups to supper, simple to special.

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