Quick Baked Potatoes
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This Quick Baked Potatoes recipe is one of our favorite recipes. It will have you making delicious baked potatoes at home more often. It’s so easy to prepare, and it requires only 3 simple ingredients and about 30 minutes.
I’m Irish to the core. Well, at least I think I am. If nothing but for my lack of self-control when anything potato is involved, I would say I’m totally Irish. That has to mean something, right?
Potatoes are a staple in our home. We have to moderate our intake and how they’re prepared, but a good baked potato is always the perfect standby for us to serve as a side, or as the main star topped with chili, or maybe even something healthy. I’ve learned a shortcut for cooking baked potatoes quicker, and I have to say, tastier. My friend, Cindy, tipped me off to this technique for cooking Quick Baked Potatoes a few years back.
Cindy is also the person that originally spurred me on to begin this site. I didn’t really know what a blog was when she suggested I look into starting one of my own. So thank you for that, Cindy! And thank you for showing me how to bake a potato faster too.
How to Bake Potatoes Quickly
Here’s how it works. It couldn’t be easier. Begin with washed potatoes. Scrub the potatoes and remove any bad spots. We use sweet potatoes for this too. Sweet potatoes are my husband’s favorite. I always toss one in the batch for him. Once clean and when you’ve washed and removed any icky or weird-looking parts, follow these next steps.
1. Cut the potatoes in half length-wise. Then pour a little olive oil, and sprinkle a good amount of salt on a parchment-lined baking sheet.
2. Coat the cut potato halves with the olive oil and salt, place them on the baking sheet, cut side down. Just use your hands to coat the potatoes with oil and salt. It’s easier. Plus, olive oil and salt make for an excellent hand scrub.
3. Once they’re coated on all sides, sprinkle a little more salt, then bake at 400 degrees F for about 30-40 minutes, depending on your oven. Check with a fork for doneness and enjoy!
See? Isn’t that easy?
When potatoes are baked this way, they develop a super tasty skin (which I enjoy even more than the flesh), and they’re the healthiest part of the potato too. They end up being a cross between a baked potato and twice baked potato without all the scraping and re-stuffing involved. Super simple. Super quick. And super satisfying.
Try it soon and let me know what you think! Before you go, do you have any tips for cooking vegetables quicker without losing flavor and health benefits? Do share!
What to serve these quick baked potatoes with:
Potatoes are a great side dish that goes well with so many different meals. They are golden brown and crunchy on the outside and have a soft and crumbly texture on the inside. Their simple flavor and texture makes them the perfect side dish with almost any meal.
One of my go-to recipes that go perfectly with roasted potatoes are these Chicken Breasts in Mushroom Sauce. The mushroom sauce adds so much creaminess and balances all the flavors of the potatoes and juicy chicken breasts. I also like combining these quick baked potatoes with Glazed Salmon, Roasted Turkey, BBQ Chicken, and all other types of grilled meats.
You’ll also love to try:
Twice Baked Potatoes
Spicy Loaded Baked Potatoes
Lemon Garlic Roasted Potatoes
Easy Roasted Asparagus
Roasted Broccoli Recipe
Quick Baked Potatoes Recipe
Quick Baked Potatoes
A quicker and delicious way to bake a potato.
Ingredients
- 2-3 tablespoons olive oil
- several pinches kosher salt
- 4 baking potatoes,* washed
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400-degrees F, and line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Drizzle lined baking sheet with olive oil and sprinkle with salt.
- Cut potatoes in half length wise.
- Coat potatoes all sides with olive oil and salt, and place cut side down on lined baking sheet. Sprinkle potatoes with additional salt.
- Bake at 400-degrees F for 30-40 minutes until done. Check with fork for doneness.
Notes
* Sweet potatoes may be used.
Such a great idea and gorgeous shots!
I love this concept (and those gorgeous salty photos) , and need to try this out!
Thank You, Thank You!!!! We too like sweet potatoes….this is so easy to do while every thing else is cooking..
Hi Amy, thanks for sharing , I tried it out on my recipe and I LOVE it. Great for making stuffed potatoes 🙂
I’ve got a little Irish in me (thus the wee little “Mc” in me last name). This must explain my affinity for all things potatoes. And now that you’ve shown me this quick and easy (and delicious) way of making them? I’m toast. Or maybe I should say I’m potatoed. It’s not a word, I know. I just made it up. 😉
So easy – why didn’t I think of this before? Duh!
You make it look so good Amy! I am definitely
going to try this recipe out soon! There are so
many times when I wanted to make baked potatoes
but didn’t because it would take too long.
This is kind of genius.
I am making these tonight 🙂 been craving a baked potato since you posted this! (The skins my favorite part too)
Just made these for dinner and everything you’ve read is true – they’re great! Couldn’t be easier and I love how the cut side gets browned a little. I had garlic salt in a grinder that I used instead of plain salt and it worked out really well. I will definitely do this again.
Lovely! These look really easy and delicious. 🙂
This is kind of genius – I never would have thought to try this out.
You just helped me make dinner tonight in a shorter amount of time! Smiles!
I baked potatoes this way this week. Thanks for the great tip for baking them faster than usual!
I like putting in the microwave for 10 seconds then bake as she suggested but not so long.
We grew potatoes this fall and most are too small for traditional baked potatoes. I found your site last night while trying to come up with something new to do with our little spuds other than mashed potatoes. My boys (8 and 4) loved them! The oldest ate more than his dad and then took the leftovers for lunch today. Thank you so much for the post. They are delicious.
YUMMY!!! My family loooooooooves these potatoes! Thank you for the awesome recipe!!
Hey Amy… so fun running across this post while looking up a recipe on your site! Even though I’ve moved to another state, I am still a faithful follower of She Wears Many Hats and have no idea how I’d overlooked this… so imagine my surprise! 🙂 Loved seeing “my” favorite potato recipe and all of the fun comments. Especially loved remembering talking to you about starting your own blog and telling you about PW and how much I loved her and getting you to check her out and how fun it was to “convince” you that you should have a blog of your own and how excited it was to be right there with you as you were thinking of a name for it and helping you check your first few posts for typos and then listening to you think about what to wear on your first TV interview and then hearing about all of the trips you were beginning to take and people you were meeting and friends you were making and then before I knew it YOU were on a weekend at PW’s ranch with other blogger friends and I was so proud of you and always will be, all along the way. Still love your blog and love the way it suits you perfectly. Keep it up my friend… keep it up. I’m sure the best is yet to come!
Slice a couple of Vidalia onions in half and throw them on the baking sheet with the potatoes! Fantastic side dish to a good steak!
I love this! What a great and easy way to have baked potatoes!
Smart! Thank you! 🙂