Baked Potatoes in the Oven

Finished homemade baked potato in oven finished with butter, cheese, sour cream, and chives.

Making the perfect fluffy on the inside, crispy on the outside, restaurant-style baked potato in the oven is so simple with this easy-to-follow recipe! Ready in about an hour, you will be able to serve the best oven-baked potatoes ever with ease!

Course Dinner, lunch, Main Course, Side Dish

Cuisine American

Keyword Baked Potato, Baked Potato in Oven, Baked Potato recipe, Oven Baked Potatoes

Prep Time 5

Cook Time 1

Total Time 1 5

Servings Servings

Calories 186kcal

Cost $10

Ingredients

6 Russet Potatoes
3 tsp butter
2-3 tsp salt
Any Additional Ingredients for Topping!

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 400°F. Wash and clean the potatoes, removing any eyes or green spots. Dry well before continuing.
Pierce each potato with a fork 8-10 times evenly around all sides. Add a 1/2 teaspoon of butter to each potato and coat well. I use my hands for this, and it takes about 10 seconds per potato.
Generously salt each potato on the top, then flip and coat the other side.
Place the potatoes on a parchment-lined baking sheet and bake for 30 minutes. Flip and bake for another 30 minutes. Gently squeeze the potatoes at this point and bake for another 5 minutes at a time, if needed, until they are soft when squeezed.
Remove the potatoes from the oven and immediately slice open the top and halfway down each side. Squeeze gently to fluff the interior, or use a fork to fluff the potato.
Finish each potato as desired! For a classic loaded baked potato, use butter, cheese, sour cream, chives, and bacon. For a BBQ baked potato, use butter, cheese, sour cream, shredded beef or pork, and a healthy serving of BBQ sauce. Or top in any other way you’d like.

Notes

Best Potatoes for Oven Baking

It’s probably no surprise that I’m going to recommend russet potatoes for baking, but I wanted to confirm the reasons why I’m recommending them!

Texture – High starch content leads to the best finished interior texture
Size – Large size is perfect for a single serving of potatoes. Other varieties would require 2-3 potatoes to yield the same size serving.
Crispy Outside – The skin on a russet potato allows for a perfect crispy exterior! Other varieties have a tender skin that doesn’t hold up as well to the baking process.

While you can use yukon gold, red potatoes, or various other varieties, for an authentic restaurant-style baked potato, stick with the classic russet potato!

Nutrition