My Secret To Making Baked Potatoes in Half the Time

It’s exhausting work for any dad or mum to maintain their kids fed and comfortable, and my mother was no exception. She had three daughters to maintain sated, all with their very own dietary preferences. One daughter was vegetarian after which wasn’t, one other turned vegetarian however didn’t actually eat veggies. Then there was me, the youngest and choosy for no good motive. One of many few issues I did eat? Meat.

Bless her. My mother made it work with the assistance of some spine carbs—rice, pasta, and potatoes. We usually ate baked potatoes as a result of it was one of many few issues we may all agree on and that stuffed us up. She may bake up a number of, present completely different toppings (my sister loved hers with a blanket of A1 sauce, although she was the vegetarian), and name it a day.

Later, when it was simply her and me and our schedules turned busier—me with extracurriculars and an after-school job and her with a number of jobs (once more, bless her)—time was of the essence. She didn’t have to feed as many hungry mouths, however dinner needed to occur at lightning velocity.

That is when my mother transitioned our weekly baked potatoes to the microwave. She would begin them there, shrinking the prepare dinner time down significantly, then end them within the oven. Not solely may you not inform they had been microwaved, they had been higher. It’s now the one manner I make a baked potato.

Begin the Potatoes within the Microwave

The apparent motive is velocity. It’s so a lot quicker it’s ridiculous. Baking a potato can take an hour, whereas microwaving takes about 10 minutes. 

An equally good motive is that this technique produces a superior baked potato. A very long time within the oven can typically dry out the inside of a potato, however not so with the microwave. It steams the inside of the potato, protecting it moist and fluffy. After microwaving, a fast journey in a high-heat oven offers the spud crispy pores and skin and further taste.

How To Make the Excellent Baked Potato

The straightforward course of is printed in Nick Evan’s glorious microwave baked potato recipe, however don’t skip the oven step. A skinny coating of olive oil and a sprinkle of salt earlier than transferring to the oven crisps the pores and skin and provides the potato nice taste.

This trick can be versatile—generally I microwave the potato till it’s totally cooked and simply crisp it within the oven. Different occasions I microwave it till it’s about half or a 3rd accomplished (5 to seven minutes) and end within the oven for 20 to half-hour. Each produce a scrumptious baked potato.

In case you’re making multiple baked potato, you’ll be able to prepare dinner as much as three or 4 potatoes at a time (relying on the dimensions of your potatoes and microwave). You may simply want so as to add a few minute of prepare dinner time per further potato.