How To Cook a Baked Potato in an Air Fryer
A baked potato with your favourite filling is the perfect comfort food on a cold day and makes for a great working from home lunch. But, they can take forever to cook in a conventional oven and sometimes we just don’t have to the time. Luckily, if you have an Air Fryer and follow this simple recipe you can have the Perfect Baked Potato in half the time it takes in a conventional oven.
What is a perfect Baked Potato
A perfect baked potato is soft in the centre and crisp on the outside.
As your knife cuts through the skin it should make a wonderful cracking sound and then as you divide it into two halves you should be presented with soft, steaming, potato that is perfect to soak up butter, cheese and many other tasty ingredients.
A well cooked baked potato is a top comfort food for many people around the world, makes a great lunch choice, or a tasty yet simple dinner choice.
But, in a conventional oven a perfect baked potato takes a very long time. You can shortcut some of the cooking with a microwave but you still need the oven to reach its temperature and cook out the potato which can easily take over an hour. Fine if you have the time but who does these days?
So, are there any options to get a perfect baked potato in well under an hour?
Yes, and the best way is with an Air Fryer.
Perfection is subjective
In the paragraphs above I’ve described what we at the Foodie Toolbox HQ, and probably a lot of people, think is the perfect baked potato.
However, this might not be how you like your baked potatoes.
You may want then much crispier or much less crispy.
No problem, just adjust the cooking time in the Air Fryer and check on how it is doing as it is cooking.
Once it has reached your version of perfection then take it out and enjoy.
How does the Air Fryer cook the perfect baked potato
An Air Fryer reaches the perfect cooking temperature for a baked potato in a couple of minutes and then blasts your potato with that heat to nicely crisp up the generously seasoned skin,
However, to take advantage of this you do need to use one other piece of kitchen equipment first.
The microwave.
It is the combination of the Microwave and Air Fryer
It is the combination of the microwave and Air Fryer that give you the perfect baked potato in under 30 minutes.
By starting with the Microwave you are able to rapidly cook the inside of the potato in just under 10 minutes for an average size baking potato and then transfer to the air fryer to finish off and crisp up the outside.
So, first you cook the inside and then the outside when following this method.
Why not use the bake mode on your Air Fryer
You may be wondering, why not just use the bake mode on your Air Fryer or Multicooker to cook your baked potato?
Well, you could use the bake mode but you will still have to wait a fair amount of time to properly cook the inside and then crisp up the outside so you won’t get much of a time saving.
By using the microwave to first cook the potato, you could eat it at this point if you really wanted to, and then crisp up in the air fryer you shorten the time to the perfect baked potato.
How to cook the perfect Baked Potato in an Air Fryer
Here are the step by step instructions on how to cook the perfect Baked potato using an Air Fryer
Ingredients for an Air Fried Baked Potato
You need the following ingredients for this recipe.
- Baking Potato (or large general use potato)
- Salt
- Pepper
- Spray oil
Equipment Required to cook a Baked Potato in an Air Fryer
The following equipment is required to make this recipe.
Method to cook a Baked Potato in an Air Fryer
Follow these fool proof steps above and you will have a perfect baked potato in under 30 minutes.
- Wash the potato removing any dirt or growths
- Prick the potato with a fork four times in different places
- Wrap in kitchen paper and put into the microwave
- Cook on full power for 9 minutes
- Remove from the microwave spray the potato with the spray oil. Use the tongs to help handle the hot potato.
- Generously season the potato all over with the salt and pepper
- Place the potato in the Air Fryer and cook on air fryer mode, at 200c, for 20 minutes
- Once complete take out, slice in two and enjoy with the filling of your choice.
Example Baked Potato Recipe using this technique
Here is a tasty Tuna and Red Onion Baked Potato recipe that uses this technique to get the perfect baked potato using our Ninja Foodi Air Fryer.
Recipe Card
Air Fried Baked Potato
Equipment
- 1 Air Fryer We used a Ninja Foodi Pro Cooker
- 1 Silicone Tongs or similar for use with the Air Fryer
- 1 Microwave To cook the inside of the potato
- 1 Sheet if Kitchen Paper Also known as kitchen roll
Ingredients
- 1 Baked Potato Large or medium in size
- 5 sprays Spray oil Sunflower or vegetable works best
- Salt and Pepper
Instructions
- Clean the baked potato and prick with a fork or knife in a couple of places
- Wrap the potato in kitchen paper and place in the microwave
- Microwave on full power for roughly 10 minutes (this cooks the inside of the potato and ensure a soft fluffy potato)
- Once the potato has cooked in the microwave take it out, spray the oil all over the potato and season with salt and pepper
- Place the potato into the air fryer and cook on full power for up to 20 minutes. Check on the potato at 10 and 15 minutes to turn it and see if it has crisped up enough. Once it has then remove and enjoy with your favourite filling.
Video
Notes
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