Meet the Air Fryer Baked Potato – it's crispy outside and fluffy inside, all with minimal effort. This quick and easy recipe uses just three ingredients, making it the ideal side dish.
Thanks to the air fryer, you get perfectly even cooking and wonderfully crispy seasoned skin without the long oven wait. No need to use foil or to microwave first!
An air fryer can halve your cooking time while delivering super crispy results, just like our air fryer fried chicken and zucchini fries. You'll love the salty crispiness of these potatoes.
Table Of Contents
- About Air Fryer Baked Potato
- Why It's Yummy
- More Potato Recipes You’ll Love
- Ingredients
- Instructions
- Recommended Equipment
- Tips
- Serving Suggestions & Toppings
- Toppings
- Freezing And Storing Instructions
- Air Fryer vs Microwave Baked potato
- FAQs
- Thinking About Dessert? Try These!
- More Easy Air Fryer Recipes
- Recipe
- Comments
About Air Fryer Baked Potato
These easy-baked air fryer potatoes are incredibly versatile; you can customize them with various toppings.
Baked potatoes pair perfectly with air-fried steak, pork, or chicken. For sweet potato lovers, you can try my easy-baked sweet potatoes or twice baked sweet potatoes. If you're new to air frying, check out my other air fryer recipes.
Why It's Yummy
- Great texture and taste - Air fryer potatoes are crispy on the outside and fluffy inside, giving you a tasty combination of crunch and tenderness in every bite.
- Speed and ease - These potatoes are ready in a fraction of the time it would take to bake them in the oven. This makes them perfect for busy days when you want a delicious meal without the wait.
- Saves energy and keeps you cool - Using the air fryer is efficient, so it saves energy. Plus, it won't make your kitchen as hot as using the oven, which is especially nice on hot days.
- Flexible and tasty - You can make them as simple as they come or serve with your favorite toppings, like bacon, chili, taco meat. They're versatile and go well with many different foods.
More Potato Recipes You’ll Love
If you love these baked potatoes (aka jacket potatoes), try these simple potato recipes next:
Ingredients
My few comments on the ingredients + don't forget to read the Tips section!
The full recipe and ingredients are in the recipe card below this post.
For this simple air fryer recipe, you'll only require three ingredients.
- Potatoes - For the fluffiest air fryer baked potatoes, choose Russet (Idaho) potatoes due to their starchy nature, or go for red potatoes or Yukon golds for a creamier texture with a buttery flavor. Regardless of your choice, take care to choose potatoes of similar sizes and clean off any excess dirt from their skins. You can also mix Russets with yellow or sweet potatoes, as long as they're of roughly the same size, making them all great options for this dish.
- Salt - To enhance the flavors in all my recipes, I prefer using sea salt, although kosher salt or any other type of salt can be used as a substitute. or try this homemade celery salt instead. If you desire an extra kick, feel free to add a dash of black pepper.
- Olive oil - Olive oil contributes to achieving that coveted crispy skin, yet any neutral cooking oil, including avocado oil, can be used for baking potatoes in the air fryer.
Instructions
Prep potatoes. Begin by scrubbing the potatoes under running water and then pat them dry with a towel.
Next, perforate the potatoes thoroughly using a fork, and gently massage them with oil while generously sprinkling salt all over.
Place the prepared potatoes into the air fryer basket.
Air fry. Cook these potatoes in a basket-style air fryer at 390 degrees for about 30 minutes.
Afterward, flip the potatoes and continue cooking for an additional 5-15 minutes, adjusting the time based on their size.
Check for doneness. You'll know they're ready when a fork easily glides through to the center.
📋 JULIA'S TIP - The cook time will depend on the size of the potato: smaller potatoes will cook faster, while larger ones may require a bit more time. Use tongs to transfer the perfectly cooked potatoes to a plate.
📋 FLAVOR & TEXTURE Fluffy inside with salty crispy skin on the outside. The flavor of these baked potatoes is creamy and buttery, simply delicious!
Recommended Equipment
Air fryer makes the best baked potatoes but you can also use a ninja foodi with air fryer setting.
- Kitchen Tongs - for flipping potatoes
- Measuring cups and spoons
- Airtight Food containers
- Mixing Bowls
- Ninja Foodi - with an air fryer setting.
- Air Fryer Cosori - 5.8 quart
Tips
- Make sure your potatoes are similar in size when air frying them together in one batch.
- Avoid overcrowding the air fryer; if it's smaller, cook fewer at once to prevent touching or overcrowding. Proper air circulation is important.
- Check for doneness. Verify if your potato is fully cooked by inserting a knife into the center; it should go through easily. If not, continue cooking in the air fryer as needed.
- Scrub thoroughly. The potato skins are edible and tasty when seasoned. Make sure to clean the potato under running water before cooking.
- Dry completely. Ensure the potatoes are completely dry after washing, as this helps achieve a crispy skin.
- Fork poking. While not necessary, poking the potatoes with a fork for a few seconds reduces the chance of them bursting in the air fryer, ensuring a mess-free cooking process.
- No foil needed. Skip the aluminum foil; cooking without it yields crispier skin and perfectly fluffy insides.
- Top it your way. The beauty of an air fryer baked potato is its versatility for toppings. Offer a variety of options for everyone to customize their own potato to their liking.
Serving Suggestions & Toppings
We love to serve baked potato recipes with hearty mains and sides:
- Seafood - baked salmon, shrimp scampi, baked cod, flaky air fryer tilapia or tuna steak.
- Chicken - fried chicken, chicken legs, marry me chicken, or chicken parmigiana.
- Pork - pork tenderloin, pork chops or these 9 minute air fryer pork chops.
- Chili - white bean chicken chili, fall-favorite pumpkin chili, vegan chili, or this creamy chili.
- Your favorite steak
- Sides - brussels sprouts, cauliflower, buffalo cauliflower wings, green beans, asparagus.
- Salads - cabbage dill salad, cucumber salad, chopped Mediterranean salad, tomato onion salad or avocado corn salad.
- Make Potato Skins.
Toppings
Make a Baked potato bar: Place individual bowls of preferred toppings for everyone to craft their personalized dinner.
Here's a list of popular fillings:
- My favorite way: Taco Potatoes! Add a filling of ground taco meat, taco seasoning, cheese and serve with sour cream, guacamole or avocado crema and Pico de Gallo. Or use my vegan taco meat for a vegan/vegetarian modification.
- Simply with cheese - cheddar cheese, parmesan, blue cheese, feta cheese or cheese sauce.
- Timeless classic - butter, salt, and pepper.
- Veggie loaded - your choice of sauteed mushrooms, broccoli, cauliflower, and cheese.
- Meat - cooked ground meats, rotisserie chicken, pulled pork or beef, air fryer bacon.
- Sauce - buffalo sauce or this healthy green goddess dip/sauce, honey mustard, vegan nacho cheese sauce.
- Garlic parmesan - similar to my smashed potatoes, use minced garlic (or roasted garlic) + savory parmesan for a winner combination.
Freezing And Storing Instructions
- To Store. Store leftover baked potatoes in an airtight container in the refrigerator, where they can remain fresh for up to 3 days.
- To Reheat. For reheating a baked potato in air fryer, just preheat it to 350°F and heat for 3-5 minutes. Alternatively, you can use the microwave.
- To Freeze. Place them in an airtight, freezer-safe container. They can be stored this way for up to 3 months. When you're ready to enjoy them again, allow them to thaw overnight in the refrigerator before reheating.
- Meal prep. You can also prepare them in advance for meal prep and enjoy them throughout the week, either as a standalone dish or as an ingredient in various recipes.
Air Fryer vs Microwave Baked potato
Microwaving baked potatoes is widely recognized as the fastest cooking method, but it often results in a softer skin.
That's where the air fryer steps in! Just 20 minutes in the air fryer, and you'll have the perfect baked potato with a crispy skin.
FAQs
The cook time will vary on the size of your potatoes. You can tell when a baked potato is done by inserting a fork or knife into the center. If it easily pierces through the potato with little resistance, it's fully cooked and ready to enjoy.
Absolutely! Keep the skin on the potatoes; it's packed with nutritional value and crisps up beautifully in the air fryer. Just be sure to give the potatoes a good scrubbing and ensure they are completely dry before cooking.
You don’t need but I still like to preheat it to 390 F before cooking potatoes.
Yes, I recommend to puncture potatoes before air frying. This way potatoes will not burst in the air fryer creating a mess and the holes allow steam to escape from the potatoes during the cooking process.
There's no need to wrap potatoes in foil since it can result in soggy skin. For the crispiest skin, air fry them without wrapping. I prefer to lightly spray the skin with olive oil and sprinkle it with salt, creating a deliciously crisp and salty exterior that's also packed with fiber.
Thinking About Dessert? Try These!
More Easy Air Fryer Recipes
For all baking recipes, hop on to our Desserts collection.
Happy Cooking,
Love,
Julia
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Recipe
Easy Baked Potato In Air Fryer
INGREDIENTS
- 3 medium potatoes (red or russet potatoes)
- 1 teaspoon sea salt (or to taste)
- 1 tablespoon olive oil (or use a cooking spray)
INSTRUCTIONS
- Prep potatoes. Begin by scrubbing the potatoes under running water and then pat them dry with a towel. Next, perforate the potatoes thoroughly using a fork, and gently massage them with oil while generously sprinkling salt all over. Place the prepared potatoes into the air fryer basket.
- Air fry. Cook these potatoes in a basket-style air fryer at 390 degrees for about 30 minutes. Afterward, flip the potatoes and continue cooking for an additional 5-15 minutes, adjusting the time based on their size.
- Check for doneness. You'll know they're ready when a fork easily glides through to the center. The cook time will depend on the size of the potato: smaller potatoes will cook faster, while larger ones may require a bit more time. Use tongs to transfer the perfectly cooked potatoes to a plate.
PRIVATE NOTES
(Nutrition information is calculated using an ingredient database and should be considered an estimate.)
Recipe inspired by Natasha's Kitchen.
Julia | The Yummy Bowl
Delicious and fluffy baked potatoes made in air fryer. So easy!