Why wrap potatoes in foil for baking

Place coarse salt onto a small plate. Roll potatoes lightly in the salt. The skin is so yummy to eat when baked! Bake according to the Temperature Chart below. The higher the oven temperature, the shorter the cooking time will be and the crustier the skin. Larger potatoes will take longer to bake.

Bake potatoes along with whatever else you are baking and gauge the cooking time according to oven temperature. Turn the potatoes over halfway through the baking time to prevent browning of the undersides where they touch the oven rack. Potatoes are done if tender when pierced with a fork to see if it slides out easily and you can check the internal temperature reaches degrees F. Use a meat thermometer to test for doneness.

You can also test for doneness by gently squeezing the middle of the potato using a pot holder or oven mitt. If it gives in easily to your touch, it is done. When baked to perfection, remove potatoes from the oven.

Slit across the top with a sharp knife. Gently pinch squeeze in each end of the potato towards the middle using your thumb and index finger. The potato will then pop open and loosen the fluffy white interior from the skin. Be careful as there will be some steam. Conventional or Regular Oven: about 5 ounces, medium-sized potatoes, or grams each. Place the potato directly on the oven rack in a preheated oven.

Place a baking sheet I put a piece of aluminum foil on the lower rack below the potatoes to catch any drippings. Convection Oven: about 5 ounces, medium-sized potatoes or grams each. Also, the food in a convection oven is cooked at a lower temperature than in a regular oven to achieve the same results.

The general rule is to decrease your oven temperature at least 25 degrees lower than a regular oven. This is the type of cooking and meat thermometer that I prefer and use in my cooking. I, personally, use the Thermapen Thermometer shown in the photo on the right. To learn more about this excellent thermometer and to also purchase one if you desire , just click on the underlined: Thermapen Thermometer.

Favorite Baked Potato Toppings Ideas:. Filet Mignon. A while back I was looking for alternate baking times for potatoes so I could synchronize with other oven dishes. I used to be a tech writer years ago. Your informative, tight, and expert writing is about as good as it gets. I had never made a baked potato before. I remember the ones my mother used to cook when I was a kid being really dry but I wanted to make one, so I googled it and found your site. My baked potatoes were delicious and I have you to thank for it.

Thank you so much. I so appreciate a recipe that turns out beautifully. PERFECT just like you said with no aluminum foil used and salt, pepper, and butter on the outside — perfect cook times. They were amazing! Hi Linda — Your recipe is perfect. I am a terrible cook and have always assumed you have to wrap a baked potato in Reynolds Wrap. I have also cooked them at too high a temperature. I followed your instructions and they turned out perfectly.

You are right — the consistency is totally different. During our 15 year marriage, I did a bake potato for him once a few years ago in the microwave — it was edible. I think! Tonight I decided it make him real baked potatoes with his dinner and decided to look up how to do it. From a hopeless cook and an American abroad, thank you so much for the Perfect Baked Potato.

Cheers — Karen Harland, Middleton St. George, England. I have to bake apx. If you leave room for each potato to not touch each other during baking, you should be able to bake all the potatoes at once without any time or temperature adjustment.

If you wrap the potatoes in foil after baking, you will be steaming the already baked potatoes. If your time period is less than 1 hour, how about turning the oven off and leaving the potatoes in the oven until serving time. I baked 1 potato at degrees F. Checked it at 45 minutes and it was not done so I kept cooking it for 10 more minutes, then 5 more minutes. Finally the potato was done in the middle!

The skin was not crisp at all, just tough. I did not put oil on it before cooking because the information said that would give a soft skin. We wanted a crisp skin.

This method did not give the results desired! My method is to rub olive oil and srpinkle salt on the skin before baking and you will get a nicely cooked potato skin and soft potato on the inside. By not rubbing with olive oil, you did not actually follow my recommended method. Also Remember — Great cooks use a cooking thermometer as their guide — not a clock.

Always follow internal cooking temperatures to be safe! Internal temperature of perfect baked potatoes: to degrees F. Please follow the recipe for perfect baked potatoes.

I make these baked potatoes all the time. You will not be sorry! I have to cook lots of potatoes for a potato bar we are having tonight. My dilemma is that I need to attend a family baby shower prior to the time I need to leave for the event.

Although potatoes are generally OK to eat the next day, there are two circumstances in which they can become problematic when reheated. The aluminum foil patch took more than 20 minutes to cook. Even after 12 minutes the inside was raw. On the other hand the non aluminum foil took less than 10 mins to cook. The foil does three main things.

And the third main function of the foil is that it helps the meat retain moisture. That said, the potato is the most common cause of solanine poisoning in humans. Place the potatoes on a baking sheet and bake for about 45 minutes. The exact baking time will depend on how large the potatoes are. The potato should be tender inside if you poke a fork into it.

Serve with butter, cheese, chives, sour cream and all of your favorite toppings! Cooler temperatures, such as those afforded by a pantry or root cellar, allow them to keep longer than at room temperature. Once cooked, potatoes last up to 4 days in the refrigerator and 1 year in the freezer, though the quality of cooked mashed potatoes suffers with freezing 4, 5. So thanks for information. They have quite a few. I just needed temp and how long. Thank you again for info, Have a Blessed Day!!?

I like to rub the outside with onion and garlic powder and no salt. Your email address will not be published. Share Pin 2K. Yum Ingredients Potatoes Olive oil Salt. Wash the potatoes and dry them with paper towels. Prick the potatoes 2 times with the fork to make holes for the steam to escape. Rub the potatoes with a little olive oil and with salt.