Baked Potato

Baking a potato in the microwave is quick, easy and retains far more of the nutrients than with conventional cooking. The only difference in quality is that potato skins cooked in the microwave do not go crisp.

Who cares? For many uses of baked potato, such as soup and mash, the skin is discarded anyway. Make no mistake about it, microwaving is a quick and efficient way to prepare potatoes for any number of dishes. It saves on energy, water, effort and allows the cook to perfectly time the rest of the meal.

As a method, you can safely use it to prepare any potato dish that does not require browning – and you can even get round that restriction by finishing off under a hot grill.

It’s this easy:

Wash the potato and remove any ‘eyes’, then score round the widest circumference of the potato with a sharp knife. This is important. If you’ve ever seen the result of a potato exploding in the microwave you’ll know why.

Place the potato on the edge of the microwave turntable and cook on High for 3 minutes. Then turn it over and cook for a further 2 minutes. It should now be ready to eat but check your oven’s handbook for any variation on these times.

Slice the potato open along the score mark you made earlier, make a few diagonal incisions on the top and then add the filling of your choice.

Always remember that a microwave cooks from the outside in to a depth of about 2.5cm (1 inch). The inside of any dish is therefore cooked by convection, which takes a bit more time, so the larger your potato the longer it will need to cook.

Increasing the number of potatoes also extends cooking time, usually by half as much again for each potato added, but check your manufacturer’s instructions, because these times can differ depending on the brand of microwave.

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