My favorite is oven baked, I love the crispy skins. I just wish it didn't take so long. I usually microwave until they're mostly done and then bake to crisp them up a bit.

The restuarant I worked at for a long time, we had "baked potatoes" as an option for a side item but it reality we wrapped each washed potato in foil and boiled the suckers. I came to find out many restaurants with baked potatoes do because its so much more time/cost efficient.

At home, I prefer them in the oven but usually pressed for time, I toss them in the microwave and nuke til done.

Steph on a Year of Slow Cooking makes them in the slow cooker. I haven't tried it yet though.

Maybe I'm just in an overly critical mood today, but this whole "three methods" idea seems to overcomplicate a simple idea. First, I don't really consider microwaving a way to "bake a potato," so much as a way to cook a potato. Second, woudn't it just be simpler to describe how to bake a potato (i.e. "method 1") and then add that you can wrap them in foil for softer skins?

On the grill!

I never understand why potatoes get such a bad wrap. A medium baked potato with the skin eaten gives you almost 1000mg of Potassium plus vitamin C, vitamin b6, magnesium, fiber and more. And it's tasty!

I prick them, microwave for three or four minutes while the oven heats up, and then bake for 20 minutes. Faster potato plus crispy skin!

Just made this last night using the first method in the oven. Came out great. My 6 year old kept trying to pick the salt off the potato skin to eat!

I think the potato gets a bad wrap because of this: A medium potato has (about) 36 grams of carbs (nutritiondata.com), which, when broken down has the effect that 9 teaspoons of sugar would. If you take the number of carbohydrates and divide it by 4 (I can’t remember why that is, by I listen to a podcast called Dishing Up Nutrition, by some wonderful nutritionists AND registered dieticians in Minnesota, and that’s the statistic they put out). Which is ALMOST the same as a can of soda.

I agree with cedargr0. That's exactly what I do. Best of both worlds.

I might have to go to the store and buy some potatoes for dinner. We cut back on them for dietary reasons, and I reallllllly miss them.

We always use method #1 but with a twist. We bake them lower and slower. Generally the entree they're being served with is an oven dish and bakes at a much lower temp. We have one oven so this works well for us. We stick the potatoes in allowing for about 1.5 - 2 hrs per potato. This works when you're doing roasts/meatloafs etc. The interior of the spud gets soft and almost creamy. The skin is incredibly crunchy.

has anybody tried doing them in the slow-cooker? i've seen recipes (stick potatoes in slow-cooker for 6-8 hours on low) but am curious how they turn out.

@cedargr0 I do the same thing. Nuke em and finish in the oven so I get the crispy skin.

I put the potato in a very hot (450 deg) oven in the a.m. for 20-30 minutes, then turn off the oven before I leave for work. I have a noisy old gas oven so it's easy to remember to do this, but I set the timer anyway, just in case.

I leave the tater in the oven, which stays warm for a very long time, and when I get home, it is cooked in half the usual oven time (i find a sizable potato takes an hour normally).

If I want it warm, I'll turn on the oven again for 10 mins or so but usually I just eat it straight from the oven. I am not adding butter, etc., usually I'll eat it plain, that's how much I love a really good potato (sweet or white).

Note: I do not own a microwave, so this is one way to cut back on fuel use for baked potatoes.

@cedargr0 - Oh, wow! That's brilliant! I'm totally doing that from here on out.

Before I met my husband, I always baked my potates by poking them and wrapping them in foil.
However, one of the first times we cooked together and made baked potatoes, he said that in England, they usually stab them with a metal knife or a metal skewer to ensure that they cook faster and through the middle.
They turn out lovely and fluffy in the middle and saves some time (usually I would bake them for about an hour, now it's 40-45 min!)

Scrub, halve, score an 'X' in the middle, wrap in foil and throw into the fireplace or a barbecue.

I did baked potatoes in the crock pot a few weeks ago. They actually turned out pretty well. They were a bit creamier than an oven baked potato, and obviously the skin wasn't crispy. But they were much much better than a microwaved baked potato. I think they ended up a tad sweeter than a regular potato, but that may just have been the batch of potatoes that I had.

Basically I cleaned them, dried them, poked holes in them, wrapped them in foil and popped them in the crock pot on low for about 8 hours. It was nice to have a hot meal to come home to.

My microwave has a button for potatoes (you tell it how many you have), so I usually use that. Also, I'm not that great at planning ahead, so the long oven time is not usually an option.

I prick them with a fork stick inside a piece of foil with a pat of butter and solt salt and pepper, wrap, and throw on the grill for about an hour. Yum!

When I was growing up (and ate potatoes more) Dad used a method similar to what cptnruthless describes except that he used to use a couple of those really heavy duty nails, cleaned and reserved for this purpose.

If I'm taking a baked potato to work, I'll wet it, prick it with a fork, cover it with kosher salt, and wrap the whole thing in parchment paper.

When I microwave it, steam forms inside the parchment paper and really softens the outside, and allows the salt to make a nice crust.

i love making them in the crockpot/slow cooker. Scrub clean, dry, poke with a fork, then wrap in foil. Throw in the crock on low on the way out the door to work 8-10 hours later amazing potatoes. (or on high for 4ish hours). The insides are creamy and have a huge potato-essance flavor and the skins become crispy

And always make extra that way I have leftovers to make baked potato soup later in the week - plus no wasted energy/time since your crock is already running.

I make my baked potatoes according to the method described by Delia Smith. The British actually call them "jacket potatoes", I suppose because of their crunchy exterior. Basically, they are baked at 350° for approx. 2 hours. The inside gets all fluffy, and the outside very crunchy. Another key is to use a rocky salt, like fleur de sel, for the exterior.

http://www.deliaonline.com/recipes/type-of-dish/party-food/accompaniment/jacket-potatoes.html

Why wrap in foil? If I wanted soft skin, I'd boil them instead of baking them.

I definitely have been taught to stick them through with a metal skewer before tossing in the oven. Don't really need to prick the skin then, and it cooks a little faster.

I rub the clean potato's skin with butter, put in a 400 degree oven or so for a half hour, directly on the rack...spear once with a sharp knife, turn over and bake for another half hour...perfect baked potatoes every time.

I like the all cotton baked potato bags that you use in the microwave. Easy to sew and work really well. Just wash the potato and leave wet, do NOT prick it, stick in the bag and nuke on the potato setting. They're always done and the bottom isn't hard like in normal microwave potato cooking.

However, I really like the crockpot idea, so will probably start doing that. I love that it won't heat up the place, especially here in Texas where it's hot all of the blasted time.

Wash and prick potatos. Then wrap them in a loose pocket of wax paper. Microwave about 7 - 10 minutes and you will have a lovely fluffy potato.