Make the perfect jacket potato by avoiding mistake ‘so many make’

There aren’t many filling meal options that are popular in summer – but a jacket potato is certainly one of them owing to their versatility and the speed in which you can prepare them on a hot day.

A popular source of comfort food at both lunch and tea time, the choice of toppings is endless. Not only that, the large spuds can be a perfect meal on their own, or a delicious side dish.

But have you ever considered you may be cooking them all wrong and you’re not maximising their taste potential? According to one cook, so many people make a simple mistake when baking potatoes in the oven.

Max McCann took to TikTok to outline how to get the best results. “If you’re struggling to make the perfect jacket potato, don’t worry, you’re not alone,” he began in a video.

He elaborated: “One thing that people tend to do with jacket potatoes that you don’t need to do is poke them with a fork and also coat them in oil. Instead, just wash and dry the potatoes and then wrap them up in foil.”

Max went on to add that for the best results, the potatoes should always be baked in the oven rather than heated in a microwave. “Once they are wrapped in foil, cook them in the oven at 200 degrees Celsius for around one hour and a half,” he advised.

Once the time had elapsed in his clip, Max took the potatoes from the oven and carefully removed the foil. “At this stage they are cooked all the way through, but we want to get the skin nice and crispy,” he said.

To do so, he recommended placing them back in the oven for 15-20 minutes, but this time without any foil. “They should end up super crispy like this and perfectly done inside,” Max added, showcasing his results by cracking open the skin to reveal a soft inside.

Some TikTok users pointed out in response that avoiding pricking the potatoes would likely lead to them “exploding”. However, experts from Southern Living advise: “Potatoes are made up of a high percentage of water. As they bake, that water heats up, turns to steam, and expands inside the potato. Poking holes in the skin is meant to give that steam a way to escape. The idea is that releasing pressure prevents the potato from bursting open in the oven.

But while a potato can explode, it’s extremely rare. Most potatoes naturally release steam through tiny imperfections in their skin, so there’s usually no dramatic buildup of pressure to worry about.”

They add: “While poking holes may be a technique passed down through generations of cooks, it doesn’t actually make a big difference in how potatoes cook. In some cases, it can actually allow too much moisture to escape, leading to a slightly drier interior. So while it does provide extra insurance against steam buildup, your potatoes will bake up just fine without it.”