Air Fryer Baked Potato

Air fryer baked potatoes are perfect for a side dish (or even a meal!). They are quick to cook, with perfectly crispy skin and fork-tender on the inside. Here is a simple recipe for baked potatoes in the air fryer (with my bonus method for if you’re really short on time!).

Why you’ll love this recipe

Baked potatoes (aka jacket potatoes) are the perfect comfort food. Warming, hearty and so delicious! But the one thing I don’t like is how darn long an oven-baked potato takes to cook. Baking potatoes the old way can take 45 minutes an hour!

Well not any longer! The method I am going to show you in this recipe includes the quickest way I know to get a perfect baked potato. Think gorgeously crispy skin, and a fork-tender fluffy inside that is just begging to be slathered in butter and devoured.

I also love that you can easily cook a single baked potato in the air fryer. I don’t know about you, but before I got my air fryer I never would have turned my oven on and waited for it to heat up etc. etc. just to cook one baked potato!

Air frying is my favorite way to cook potatoes. They cook faster, and the action of cooking with hot air results in a crispier, tastier potato without needing to add a lot of oil.

Some other favorite air fryer potato recipes to try are air fryer roasted potatoes, air fryer baby potatoes, air fryer french fries, and air fryer smashed potatoes.

Scroll down for the printable card for this air fryer baked potato recipe, or read on for all the details!

Ingredients

Any of the following will be great:

• Russet potatoes
• Yellow varieties
• Idaho
• Maris Piper
• Red gold
• Yukon gold
• Most varieties of sweet potato

Probably the best type of potatoes to choose for baking is a russet potato. Not only are they a wonderfully fluffy potato when cooked, but they also have thick skins which will crisp up nicely in the air fryer.

How to make a baked potato in an air fryer

Then rub the potatoes with oil (or melted butter) and sprinkle with salt. You can also give them a quick spray with olive oil when they are in the air fryer basket if you want to reduce the amount of oil that you use.

Step 2: Place potatoes in the air fryer

Place the potato in the air fryer basket. If you are cooking more than one baked potato, ensure they are not touching.

Step 3: Air fry baked potatoes

Cook the baked potatoes in air fryer at 360°F (180°C) for 30-40 minutes, until crispy and golden brown on the outside, and tender in the center.

If you have extra-large potatoes cook time may need to be adjusted. If required, air fry for additional 5-minute intervals until it is done.

Step 4: Serve and enjoy!

Cut potato open, add butter, pile high with delicious toppings and enjoy!

Air fryer baked potato quick method

Air fried baked potatoes still take a while to cook through if you just use the air fryer.

If you are really short on time you can speed things up by starting the cooking process in the microwave, followed by a blast in the air fryer to crisp the potato up:

1. Prepare the potatoes as above, but before adding the oil and salt microwave the potato on High for 5 minutes.
2. When it is finished, the potato should feel soft on the outside. If you have a really large potato and it is still hard you will need to adjust the cooking time – turn the potato over and microwave for another 3-4 minutes until it starts to feel soft. For smaller potatoes, you could start with 3-4 minutes.
3. Then remove potato from microwave (use oven mitts – it will be hot!), carefully add oil and salt as in the method above, and place the potato in air fryer basket.
4. Air fry baked potato at 360°F (180°C) for 15 minutes, until crispy on the outside and fork-tender in the center.

How long to cook baked potatoes in air fryer

The exact cook times will depend on how large your potatoes are, and how powerful your air fryer is. Medium-sized potatoes should take around 30 minutes to air fry (15 minutes if you blasted them in the microwave for 5 minutes first).

Larger potatoes will take 40 minutes or even longer to cook if you don’t microwave first, or around 20-25 minutes if you do.

Serving ideas

Now all you need to figure out is what topping you are going to top that potato with. If you need some ideas, some of my favorite toppings are:

• Butter, sea salt and black pepper
• Mexican beef mince, cheddar cheese, and sour cream
• Chicken mayo
• Cottage cheese and slaw
• Sour cream, bacon bits and chives or green onion
• Tuna mayo
• Avocado, chopped red onion and a drizzle of lemon juice
• Butter and shredded cheese

Storing and reheating

In the unlikely event that you have any leftover baked potato, store it in an air tight container in the refrigerator and use within 3 days.

You can reheat the baked potato in the air fryer, air fry for 3-4 minutes until warmed through.

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