Jacket potatoes are often the best meal to have when you cannot decide what to have for dinner as they are cheap and easy to make as all you have to do is place them in the oven.
However, one major downside to making baked potatoes is that it can take ages for them to cook meaning you will have to wait for up to an hour for your dinner.
Luckily Kathryn Doherty, a cookbook author and founder of Family Food on the Table, has shared there is actually a way to get “perfectly fluffy and tender” baked potatoes in minutes – as all you need is a microwave.
She said: “These potatoes are perfectly fluffy and tender and steamy and so delicious! And they are ready in about 10 minutes.
“Which is perfect because who has time to heat up an oven and let a couple of potatoes roast for an hour?!”
How to make a jacket potato in 10 minutes
All you have to do is wash and scrub the potatoes, then stab each one around five to six times on every side with a fork.
Place the potatoes directly onto the microwave plate. For two medium-sized potatoes, place them on a 10-minute microwave time on 100 percent power.
Once the time is up, take them out of the microwave with a tea towel or oven mitt and gently squeeze them to determine if they are ready.
Kathryn said: “If it gives without resistance and starts to open up, it’s ready. If it still seems a bit firm, microwave for another minute at a time until tender.
“If your potatoes are different sizes, remove the ones that are tender from the microwave and continue cooking only the potatoes that need additional time.”
If your potatoes are ready, then simply cut it open, add your favourite toppings and enjoy.
How long the potatoes take in the microwave will depend on how many you are placing in the microwave and how big they are.
Two medium-sized potatoes will likely only take 10 minutes but four potatoes will likely need around 15 to 16 minutes. If you are only cooking one potato, cook it for five to six minutes.
Cassie said: “If your potatoes are especially large or fat – like the kind you’d get in a restaurant – you’ll likely need an extra couple minutes of microwave time. Just put them back in the microwave and add more time until they get cooked through.”
Cooking potatoes in the microwave cuts down on the time so instead of waiting a hour or even longer you can have a fluffy and flavourful dinner jacket potato in no time at all.
Cassie said: “I hope you give these a try – they make dinner so easy and you end up with perfect, fast microwave ‘baked’ potatoes every time.”
