Making baked potatoes in the oven takes only a few ingredients and steps but gives you a cooked potato that's fluffy and soft within a crisp skin. A perfect side dish or meal option.
Wash and scrub your potatoes well to remove the dirt.
Pierce the potatoes several times each using the prongs of a fork. I usually do about 10-15 times as I rotate the potato in my hand, but even just 4 times is fine.
Rub the potatoes with olive oil to fully coat and then sprinkle salt and pepper on top.
Bake in the oven at 425 degrees F for 45-60 minutes or until the potato is fork-tender. This time will be determined by the size of the potato as smaller ones will cook more quickly.
Notes
Recipe TipsIf you're wondering how long to cook a baked potato, you want the internal temperature of your potato to be about 200-210 degrees F on an instant-read thermometer. The outside skin should be crisp or maybe even wrinkly. When you poke the potato with a fork the fork should enter without resistance. This will take about an hour for a medium or large-sized russet potato.When a potato is overcooked it will have a different color, odor, and taste. The soft potato insides may be a shade of brown and there may be spots of discoloration on the skin of the potato as well. The texture will also be dry or goopy.Storage Leftover baked potatoes can be stored in the fridge for up to 4 days, giving you plenty of time to repurpose them or enjoy them at your convenience.While uncooked potatoes do not hold up well in the freezer, cooked ones do quite well. You can keep baked potatoes in the freezer for up to 3 months in an airtight container, wrap well in foil or plastic wrap first. Then reheat in the oven for 30 minutes at 350 degrees F or until the inside of the potato reaches 165 degrees F.