The Astonishingly Simple Trick To Cut Potato Baking Time In Half

Baked potatoes yield steamy pockets and call for delicious toppings, but they seem to take forever to cook all the way through. And you're not alone if you have to poke them with a fork several times throughout baking before they're finally done. If you're looking to cut the cooking time on these stubborn spuds in half, we've got just the tip.

That's right, what used to be at least 45 minutes in the oven before your potatoes were remotely tender to now no more than 25 minutes, all you have to do is this one simple trick: Instead of wrapping them in tin foil and cranking the oven to a super high temperature, simply cut them in half lengthwise, place them face-down onto a greased baking sheet and bake them that way. That's right, you don't need foil at all. Because your potatoes are cut in half, they're much thinner, which majorly reduces the baking time.

This easy method to slashing your baked potato cook time drastically not only efficiently bakes them faster, but it gives you an even better texture to work with. You see when baking your potatoes in foil, they steam and get really tender, but you're often cutting a slit in the center and eating them like a pita pocket. With this particular baking method of cutting them in half lengthwise and baking them face-down, the combination of the hot surface from the baking sheet and the grease that is present will give the surface of your potato a nice crispiness.

On top of that, the skin that is exposed while baking will get nice and crisp as well. This inclines more people to eat the potato whole, skin and all, instead of only consuming the flesh. While the flesh contains a good amount of fiber, the skin has more than double the amount of fiber the flesh does, according to Week&, meaning that this simple hack will allow you to fully benefit from the goodness that these hearty spuds have to offer in way less time.