Are Salt Baked Potatoes really worth their salt?
Can baking potatoes on a bed of salt really produce better, more flavorful baked potatoes? You know the kind with a crispy skin and steamy, fluffy interior? I know the magic that can occur when you salt bake fish and even pork, so I wasn’t that skeptical.
I consulted this recipe from the Idaho Potato Commission and this one from Cook’s Illustrated.
My results? Salt Baked Potatoes are definitely worth their salt. For added instruction and entertainment, watch the How to Make Salt Baked Potatoes Video.
Ingredients for Salt Baked Potatoes:
4 Idaho Russet Potatoes (8-10 ounces each)
2-3 cups salt
1 head garlic
fresh or dry herbs
Notes: Serves four. Total bake time one hour, thirty minutes.
Consider making Roasted Garlic Butter from the garlic after baking in the salt.
Simply squeeze softened cloves from husk and mix with room temperature butter. Add any other herbs, seasonings or citrus.
Serve Roasted Garlic Butter with piping hot Salt Baked Potatoes and other toppings such as sour cream, chives and bacon bits.
For added instruction and entertainment and to see the Potato Popper (above, left) in action, watch the How to Make Salt Baked Potatoes Video.
Directions:
1) Wash and dry Idaho Russet Potatoes.
2) Pour salt into a 9×13 baking dish. Nestle potatoes in the salt, equal distance apart.
3) Optionally, add a capped head of garlic and herbs of your choice to the salt.
4) Cover the baking dish with aluminum foil and bake in a preheated 450(F) oven for one hour, fifteen minutes.
5) Remove baking dish from the oven and preheat oven for a second time to 500(F).
6) Remove foil from baking dish and remove garlic from salt. Squeeze garlic from husk if using for butter.
7) Brush the tops of each potato with olive oil and return, uncovered, to preheated 500(F) oven. Bake for 15-20 minutes more.
8) When the potatoes are done, use a clean towel to chip excess salt from the bottom of each potato. Serve immediately with your favorite toppings.
9) For added instruction and entertainment, watch the How to Make Salt Baked Potatoes Video.
10) Share and enjoy.
What do you like on your baked potato? Tell me in the comments…
RECIPESalt Baked Potatoes
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Baking potatoes on a bed of salt produces more flavorful baked potatoes with crispy skin and a steamy, fluffy interior.
Ingredients
- 4 Idaho Russet Potatoes 8-10 ounces each
- 2-3 cups salt
- 1 head garlic
- fresh or dry herbs
Recipe Notes
Serves four. Total bake time one hour, thirty minutes. Consider making Roasted Garlic Butter from the garlic after baking in the salt. Simply squeeze softened cloves from husk and mix with room temperature butter. Add any other herbs, seasonings or citrus. Serve Roasted Garlic Butter with piping hot Salt Baked Potatoes and other toppings such as sour cream, chives and bacon bits. For added instruction and entertainment and to see the Potato Popper (above, left) in action, watch the How to Make Salt Baked Potatoes Video.
Instructions
-
Wash and dry Idaho Russet Potatoes.
-
Pour salt into a 9x13 baking dish. Nestle potatoes in the salt, equal distance apart. Optionally, add a capped head of garlic and herbs of your choice to the salt.
-
Cover the baking dish with aluminum foil and bake in a preheated 450(F) oven for one hour, fifteen minutes.
-
Remove baking dish from the oven and preheat oven for a second time to 500(F).
-
Remove foil from baking dish and remove garlic from salt. Squeeze garlic from husk if using for butter.
-
Brush the tops of each potato with olive oil and return, uncovered, to preheated 500(F) oven. Bake for 15-20 minutes more.
-
When the potatoes are done, use a clean towel to chip excess salt from the bottom of each potato. Serve immediately with your favorite toppings.
Ooh! I want one of those potato poppers!
I know! Me too — pretty sure I have to send it back to the Idaho Potato Commission. It’s a rare commodity. :)
Can you ask the Idaho Potato Commission where the potato popper/splitter can be purchased?
Thanks
Hi Gourmet Chef, It’s a custom made item — I don’t think it’s commercially available.
I don’t get it. Does adding the salt increase the surface area contact with the potatoes, so that is why they get so crispy? In other words, you get the potatoes to be hotter faster than they would if they were not lying on a bed of salt? If that is the case, why not cover the potatoes entirely in salt?
Also, it does seem like an amazingly large amount of salt to waste. And what do you do with the salt after the potatoes are cooked? Is it re-useable? As always, Sara, love your website and your recipes, please keep up the great work! John V. Karavitis
There are different methods and yes, you can cover the potatoes completely with salt. The salt can be reused a few times; salt is pretty inexpensive. Hope this helps!
Made these several times and they really are better with the salt! Now I only make baked potatoes using this recipe.
So excellent to hear! Thanks, ALynn!
I made these tonight not expecting anything different. Boy, was I wrong! I used regular table salt & used Pepper/garlic seasoning.
I will only use this from now on. Wonderful. and it really is different.
So happy to hear it, D! Thanks!
Greetings! I’ve been reading yyour site for a long time now and finally got
tthe courage to go ahead and give youu a shout out from
Dallas Tx! Just wanted to say keep up the fantastic job!
I like potatoes with butter on top.
Sour cream is always a nice topping for a baked potato. Chopped scallions I always have atop mine. Butter is great, but I usually don’t use sour cream if I add butter. Freshly ground black pepper is a must. Maybe a few shreds of grated cheddar. That’s it for me.