Using the microwave and the oven for baked potatoes speeds up cooking time without compromising texture!
I haven’t met a potato I didn’t like from cheesy party potatoes to mashed potatoes to potato soup to to french fries to potato chili, I love them all. When it comes to baked potatoes, I like them soft and tender. But baking them for hours isn’t really my jam. I don’t have time for that! Instead I take a trick from my mom using this microwave baked potato recipe. Because you start the potatoes in the microwave and finish them in the oven, they cook faster and you still get that nice oven-baked texture.
These microwave baked potatoes are incredibly easy. They’re perfect for weeknight or weekend dinners!
Microwave the baked potato
Turn your oven on to 450-degrees (F) to start preheating.
Before you put your baked potatoes in the microwave, you need to poke holes in the potatoes or else they will explode. I usually stab mine all over in random places with a fork. I don’t know that I need to make as many holes as I do, but I figure better safe than sorry. After all, I don’t want to clean up an exploded potato mess!
Put the potatoes on a microwave-safe plate, and then place them in the microwave. I cook them in the microwave at 100% power for about three minutes per potato. You can probably get away with two minutes per potato if they are smaller potatoes, but I usually do this with large ones and serve them as our main dish.
So, I cooked these three potatoes in the microwave for 12 minutes.
Prepare for the oven
A couple of minutes before the potatoes are finished in the microwave, I get set up to transfer them to the oven with a baking sheet, sheets of aluminum foil, vegetable oil with a tablespoon and coarse sea salt.
When the microwave stops, take the potatoes out. The potatoes will be hot, so use oven mitts to pick them up one at a time to transfer them to the foil sheets.
Once the potato is on a foil sheet, drizzle one tablespoon of vegetable oil over it.
Next, sprinkle the potato with the coarse sea salt, if desired.
Wrap the foil around the potatoes and place them onto a baking sheet. Cook them in the oven at 450-degrees (F) for 20 minutes.
Enjoy the potato
When the potatoes are finished cooking, take them out of the oven. Carefully open the foil to let them start to cool.
Cut the potato open carefully and use a fork to mash the inside a bit, if you like it that way. (I sure do!)
Add your favorite toppings and you’re good to go! We usually have baked potatoes as our main dish, so I loaded this one up with butter, cheese, sour cream and bacon bits. On the night I took these photos, we had a total carb fest. I also served up this delicious homemade french bread! Another great pairing for these baked potatoes is my mom’s meatloaf with ketchup glaze.
Microwave baked potato
Ingredients
- 3 large russet potatoes
- 3 tablespoons vegetable oil
- 1 teaspoon coarse sea salt optional
- baked potato toppings as desired like butter, sour cream, cheese, bacon bits, etc.
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 450-degrees (F).
- Scrub your potatoes until they're clean. Pierce each potato in numerous places with a fork to make holes.
- Put the potatoes on a microwave-safe plate and cook in the microwave for 3 minutes per large potato. (For three large potatoes, cook for 12 minutes.)
- Just before the potatoes finish in the microwave, get out sheets of aluminum foil to hold the potatoes along with a baking sheet, the vegetable oil and the salt, if desired.
- Carefully transfer one potato at a time to a sheet of aluminum foil. (I use oven mitts for this because the potatoes are hot!)
- Drizzle the potatoes with 1 tablespoon each of the vegetable oil. Sprinkle with the salt, if desired.
- Wrap the potatoes in the foil, place them on a baking sheet and cook in your preheated oven for 20 minutes.
- Carefully peel back the foil from the baked potatoes, cut them and serve them with your favorite baked potato toppings.
