Jacket potatoes remain a beloved comfort food, enjoyed for lunch or dinner alike. Whether you pile them high with cheese and beans or tuna mayonnaise, or prefer them simply with butter and salt, they make an excellent meal on their own or a tasty accompaniment.
While they are straightforward to prepare and cook, mastering that perfect balance between a fluffy centre and an ideally crisp skin can prove difficult. The difficulty with jacket potatoes lies in achieving properly crisped skin without leaving the interior dry. Using a traditional oven typically takes several hours, and even then, the skin may turn out chewy rather than crunchy.
The Salt Method for Crisp Skin
While microwaving reduces cooking time considerably, it frequently results in soft skin. Baked potatoes are an absolute staple in my home. Over the years, I've experimented with numerous methods to perfect them, but there's one approach I consistently return to.
I achieve that perfect crunch without oil by salting the skin immediately after removing it from the microwave, before transferring it to the air fryer to crisp. I'll place one potato in the microwave for roughly eight minutes, adjusting for size, until it becomes slightly tender.
I'll then massage a little fine sea salt onto the skin before placing it in the air fryer for approximately eight minutes to achieve crispness. The salt draws out moisture from the surface and helps the skin dry out and crisp more rapidly.
Choosing the Right Ingredients
Sea salt works better than other varieties because its crystals are particularly coarse, which prevents them from dissolving too quickly into the potato. I've also discovered that the ideal type of potato to purchase for a jacket spud at the supermarket is simply labelled as a baking potato. They're frequently sold in packs of four for roughly 89p, and these are precisely the right variety.
As the potato cooks in the air fryer, it develops a satisfying crispness without requiring any butter or oil. Once ready, I score an X on the potato and gently press the sides. This helps to loosen the interior, creating a fluffy texture rather than a dense one. I then lightly mash the inside with a fork, add a knob of butter, and savour the crunch.
