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   Food & Drink / How to Bake a Potato

Baking potatoes does not require special cooking skills of you, and at the same time it is an inexpensive and delicious side dish. What is more, potato contains much fiber, vitamin C, manganese¹ and potassium². You can cook them in numerous ways and below are some of easy methods of baking potatoes. Pick the one that you like most of all and do not forget about experimenting.

Preparation

First of all, you have to prepare you potatoes for cooking. Do the following:

• Peel or scrub potatoes.
• Rinse them well (do it in cold water).
• Dry potatoes with paper towels.
• Get rid of the "eyes".
• Remove any bad spots.
• Pierce potatoes with a fork once, twice or even several more times. It will help them to cook faster.

Necessary Ingredients

We are going to explain you how to bake potatoes in several simple ways. You may need different products for each method. Of course, for all of them, you will need potato and salt. Take red or russet potatoes, six-eight ounces each.

The optional ingredients are: sour cream, olive/vegetable oil, chives, pepper, cheese, and butter.

Now that we have the prepared potatoes, we can start baking them. Let us discuss various methods.

Baking Potatoes in a Microwave Oven

Let us begin with describing the process of baking potato in a microwave oven, because it is one of the easiest ways of cooking it.

• Season peeled potatoes with oil, pepper and salt.
• Place them on a dish suitable for using in microwave ovens.
• Cook the potatoes for five minutes on high.
• Turn them over and bake for five minutes more.
• Check if they are done by piercing the potatoes with a fork.
• If your potatoes are not ready, continue cooking them in one minute intervals.

Garnish to your taste.

Baking Potatoes in a Conventional Oven

You can cook potato quickly and easily in a conventional oven.

• Rub the peeled and dried potatoes with olive or vegetable oil.
• Season them with pepper and salt.
• Place them on a roasting dish or a baking tray.
• Bake the potatoes at 400 degrees F for up to sixty minutes (or about 1.5 hour at 375 degrees F).
• When you can pierce them with a fork easily, they are done.

Season the dish to your taste. You can use butter, cheese, chive, and sour cream.

Baking Potatoes in Aluminum Foil

One more way to cook potatoes is baking them in aluminum foil. In fact, when prepared in foil, potato is not baked, but steamed. Thus, this method is good for people who do not like crispy skins.

• Season previously prepared potatoes with pepper, salt and olive oil.
• Wrap them in foil.
• Place the wrapped potatoes on a baking tray.
• Bake them at 400 degrees F for about sixty-seventy minutes. Look out: foil can accelerate the process of cooking.

Garnish the potatoes as necessary.

Baking Potatoes in a Slow Cooker

Here is an explanation of hot to bake potato in a slow cooker³.

• Peel off potatoes.
• Do not dry them because this method requires a bit moisture for better baking.
• Place them in your slow cooker.
• Bake the potatoes for about six-eight hours. When done, it should be tender.

Slow cookers allow getting light and soft-skinned potatoes.

Now you know how to bake potato in several different ways and can enjoy delicious meals every day.

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