How to cook Jacket Potatoes in air fryer

Air frying  baking potatoes to make jacket potatoes is a kind of turn it on and let to go kind of job, with mashing the potato and melting the cheese done in the final minutes.

Cook up to 4 jacket potatoes at a time, but first clean the spuds if they aren't already; stab with a knife to introduce hot air flow; set temp to 400°F/205°C, time to 60 minutes. Split open the potatoes on top at the end, add a knob butter, season in salt and pepper, and lightly mash together.

How you cook baked potatoes in the air fryer is very similar to how its done in the oven, only it takes a little less time and is less hassle.

Air fry 2-4 potatoes for a minimum of 1 hour, and a maximum of 1 hour and 15 minutes if your potatoes are huge, and risk still being hard in the centre.

What temperature you get the air fryer to will always be a high of 400°F/205°C, because as you know, jacket potatoes take a long time to cook.

One of the best foods to cook in an air fryer are potato-baked items, thus the air fryer will make easy work of it, with nothing really going wrong.

Here I am air frying approximately 320g each all purpose baking potatoes, which make just as good jacket potatoes as fancy potatoes like King Edwards. Potatoes should be clean but its vitally important they're scrubbed clean well because a good jacket potato, is one that you can eat the skin with... with none to little waste at all.

Best way I like to cook a jacket potato in an air fryer, is actually by scooping out the fully cooked soft centre potato to mash in butter, and return to the potato skins.

To make standard but very full jacket potatoes, the soft centre will stay put, with a criss-cross cut on top of the spuds; allowing you to mash the potato with the back of a fork, thus the potato can be eaten with ease, as the potato is partially mashed.

Baked potato recipes can consist of any toppings or more, although I have found freshly grated Cheddar, or Cheddar cheese to melt, the best topping of all.

If you want to try something new but with the exact same ingredients, you can think about making a Hasselback potato which involves slicing a whole spud multiple times.

I do enjoy making jacket potatoes this way because its similar to how store-bought frozen jacket potatoes are presented, which are actually quite tasty.

Prepare 2 Jacket Potatoes

Chances are you don't have to do much preparation when it comes to any raw potatoes for making jacket potatoes, but you should clean and dry the spuds if they're dirty, and don't forget to poke holes into the centre to allow air flow.

• STEP 1: Wash potatoes; dry in tea towel - Only if dirt remains on the potatoes should you scrub them clean, and dry thoroughly before adding to air frying
• STEP 2: Poke holes in potatoes using butter knife - Stab butter knife slits into the potato centre which helps to ensure the jacket's cook faster

• STEP 3: Line air fryer basket in greaseproof paper - With a cooking time of over an hour, lining the basket in parchment paper will make cleaning up easier
• STEP 4: Add Potatoes; close basket - Now all you have to do is close the air frying basket, to begin cooking for an whole hour

NOTE: Size of potato can add up to an additional 10-15 minutes on top of an  hour, so be sure to poke the potato with a knife to feel if the centre is soft enough.

How to cook Jacket Potatoes in air fryer

Air frying 2 jacket potatoes are demonstrated here, which is simple as placing potatoes in your air fryer, and allow them to cook undisturbed, for 1 hour or more.

• STEP 1: Set temp: 400°F/205°C time: 60 Mins. - Medium to large size potatoes should take 1 hour to cook, with additional 15 minutes needed for larger spuds
• STEP 2: Air fry non-stop for 60 Mins. - No need to check on these jacket's as they're cooking, just press 'START' and let them cook for the full 60 minutes
• STEP 3: Pull Potatoes out of basket; cut deep criss-cross on top - Once the hour is up, transfer spuds onto a plate so you can split them open in a deep criss-cross pattern on the designated top of spud

• STEP 4: Lightly Mash Potato in butter with fork; season with Salt & Pepper - Poke a fork into the soft centre potato and lightly mash together with a knob of butter, with salt and pepper
• STEP 5: Return Jacket Potatoes to basket - Pick up the jacket potatoes and return them to the air fryer basket
• STEP 6: Add pile of grated Cheddar cheese to melt - Pile on as much cheese as you need, and melt for 2 minutes

NOTE: Allow the jacket potatoes to cook for a full hour and then check for doneness. If the centre if soft enough, only then transfer the potatoes onto a plate; so you can cut them open to lightly mash in butter and seasoning - all before returning the spuds to the air fryer to melt the cheese.

How long to cook jacket potato in air fryer

Starting time for air frying any size or shape potato to make jacket potatoes, is a full 60 minutes. By this time the centre should be soft enough to eat.

My instructions for air frying jacket potatoes are based on two fairly large 320g all purpose baking potatoes, and not a minute more was needed.

Despite that, I feel these potatoes could take another 10 to 15 minute air frying time, which is enough to make the soft centre even softer - yet do little harm to the potato skins which should air fry to a light and crispy texture.

If you aren't fond of potato skins or aren't worried about the potato skin quality, you can think about wrapping the spuds in foil to produce super soft potato skin. Skin can be either removed, or you can eat around the soft skin if that is something you prefer.

With all that said, you do not need to turn over the jacket potatoes, because enough surface area of the spuds are accessible to the heating element.

Air fry jacket potatoes for a minimum of 60 minutes, or make it 1 hour and 15 minutes to cook any size potato to ensure a soft potato centre.

Better way to make Jacket Potatoes

I do have a better way of making jacket potatoes, which involves slicing the potatoes in half once they're cooked - as oppose to splitting them open in a cross pattern as done so on this demonstration - and removing the soft potato all together.

I would then transfer the potato to a sauce pan where I will mash the potato thoroughly, with a couple of knobs of butter, salt and pepper and perhaps a handful of grated cheese.

Mashed potato is then return to the empty potato skins which are then returned to the air fryer, to cook for a further 2 minutes to reheat the spuds a little, and to melt the cheese.

Melting the cheese isn't my favourite way to make jacket potatoes, as I prefer to freshly grate the cheese, and pile it on top of the jacket's still cold.

To improve these jacket potatoes, do mash cheese into the mashed potatoes when this stage comes along, and don't forget to add a pinch of salt and pepper.

Summary

Cooking jacket potatoes in the oven can be time consuming, and while it takes a while in the air fryer, it can be up to 10-15 minutes less when not cutting corners - which can involve par cooking spuds in the microwave for many of you.

What I do to air fry 2 to 4 jacket potatoes, is set the temperature to 400°F/205°C, and the time to a full 1 hour.

At this point it would be a good idea to stab a potato to see if the potato centre is soft enough, and if it isn't, reset the timer to add an additional 10-15 minutes.

I utilized approximately 320g potatoes each which air fried just fine on the hour, but no harm would be done to them if I added additional minutes.

When the hour is up and you are sure the potato centre is soft enough for you, cut open the top of the jacket potatoes in a deep criss-cross pattern; to which you can use the back end of a fork to lightly mash the potato in a little butter, with salt and pepper.

You may have to briefly remove the potatoes to do this to avoid burning your wrist on the air fryer; which you will then return the spuds to the basket to melt the cheese.

Cheese can be served freshly grated on top, but you may still want to return the jacket's to the air fryer, to give you a chance to reheat what could be gone-cold potatoes.

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