Get great ideas for cooking baked potatoes in the slow cooker, oven, and instant pot so that no matter what, you are going to have awesome baked potatoes.

Long live perfectly cooked baked potatoes. It’s one of the simplest side dishes to make for just about any dinner and they are easy enough to turn into a main course of their own. Baked potatoes are one of those recipes that sound simple, but I’m always wondering if there’s a different/better/faster way to do it. So today I’m sharing with you how to bake, slow cook, and pressure cook a “baked potato” and the pros and cons of each method. Now you’ll be able to have baked potatoes no matter the time or tools you have in your kitchen!

I wanted to distinguish the difference between small to medium potatoes and large potatoes. Small to medium potatoes are generally the ones that come in a 10-20 pound bag. A small to medium potato will weigh between 5 and 8 ounces and will be a little longer than the palm of your hand. Large baking potatoes, often sold individually or marked as “baking potatoes”, will generally weigh 8-12 ounces and will be the size of your whole hand, palm to fingertip. The size of your potatoes doesn’t matter much – it’s consistency that matters when it comes to baking multiple potatoes at once. Big or small, it’s always best to find potatoes of a similar size to cook for your meal. That way, no matter the cooking method, they are all done at about the same time. If I have a mix of large and small potatoes, I’ll often cut my largest ones in half so that they are closer to the smaller ones in size.

Now onto the cooking methods for “baked” potatoes!

Cooking Baked Potatoes in the Oven:

To bake potatoes in the oven, all you need to do is preheat your oven to 450 degrees, wash and dry your potatoes, prick them with a fork a few times, slather them with olive oil and then sprinkle them with kosher salt. You can bake them directly on your oven rack or on a baking rack placed inside of a rimmed baking sheet. Bake small to medium potatoes for 45-55 minutes and bake large baking potatoes for 60-75 minutes.
Pros of this method are that the skin gets so crispy and delicious. Potatoes roasted in the oven without foil taste just like a great steakhouse potato. In terms of flavor, this is the best method for cooking potatoes. Cons are that it takes a while and you need to be home while it’s cooking (I’m ok leaving my slow cooker going but I don’t leave my oven on when I’m not home. That’s normal, right?!)
So delicious! I love baked potatoes as a main dish with some lentil chili on top or as a side to meatballs, chicken legs, or honey lime grilled chicken.

Cooking Baked Potatoes in the Slow Cooker:

To make baked potatoes in the slow cooker, simply wash your potatoes, poke them a few times with a fork, and place them in your slow cooker. Add the lid and cook small to medium potatoes on high for 3-4 hours or low of 5-6. Slow cook large potatoes for 4-5 hours on high or 6-7 hours on low.
You can cook them in foil or you can cook them right in the slow cooker. It’s up to you. I have tried both and both work well. You also do not need to add any water to the slow cooker; they’ll be fine without it.
Here’s what I love about cooking baked potatoes in the slow cooker – you can cook along with your meat! I often make a batch of our favorite chicken legs and stick them in the bottom of the slow cooker. Then I’ll add a layer of parchment paper (foil would work, too) so that the potatoes aren’t touching the sauce, and put my potatoes on top. The chicken and the potatoes cook together without tasting like each other which I love. That is one of my very favorite easy meals that I make often.
The pros to this method are that you can set it and forget it, and bake something else (like chicken legs) along with the potatoes. The cons are that the method is slow and the skin doesn’t get deliciously crisp. THOUGH to remedy that, you can always pull your potatoes out when they are done, slather them with oil and salt and roast them at 450 degrees for about 10-15 minutes to crisp up the skin. Problem solved.

Cooking Baked Potatoes in the Instant Pot:

To make baked potatoes in the Instant Pot all you need to do is wash your potatoes and prick them a few times with a fork. Add the trivet to your instant pot and add one cup of water. Add your potatoes (don’t exceed the max fill line, so the amount will vary depending on the size of Instant Pot you have). Close your lid, set the valve to sealing, press manual, and set your time for 10-22 to minutes, depending on the size of your potatoes. Let your Instant Pot natural pressure release for 10 minutes after the cook time is up. Release the rest of the pressure, carefully open the lid, and enjoy.
The pros to this method are that it’s super fast. It’s a little harder to tell when a potato in the Instant Pot is cooked through, though. You can’t just pull one out and test it. The time it takes to cook will depend on the size of your Instant Pot, the size of your potatoes, and how many potatoes you have added to the pot to cook. So it might take a little playing around on your part to determine a perfect cook time for your circumstance. The cons are (besides the difficulty in determining doneness) are that you have to own an electric pressure cooker, and the skin doesn’t get deliciously crisp. THOUGH to remedy that, you can always pull your potatoes out when they are done, slather them with oil and salt and roast them at 450 degrees for about 10-15 minutes to crisp up the skin. Problem solved.
I have not played around much with cooking more than just potatoes at a time in the IP but I think that you could cook meatloaf or chicken at the same time. It’s something I’m still looking into.