Simple Air Fryer Baked Potatoes

How to Cook Baked Potatoes in an Air Fryer

These air fryer baked potatoes are totally foolproof! They only take about 5 minutes to prep, and all you need are three simple ingredients (not including the potatoes).

Once finished, the potatoes are absolutely amazing. The air fryer gives them a delicious crispy outside, and with a simple trick that I’ll share below, the inside of the potatoes turn out light, fluffy, and tender.

I’m not even going to lie: this might be my new favorite way to bake potatoes – and I can’t wait to show you how it’s done! Stick around too because I’ll be sharing over a dozen awesome topping ideas below.

Air Fryer Baked Potato Cook Time

Baked potatoes usually take about an hour of cooking in a hot oven, but with an air fryer, there’s no preheating and only 40-45 minutes of cooking time needed. The end result? Fluffy, tender baked potatoes with crisp, tasty skins in less time!

Cooking Tips for Perfect Baked Potatoes

Lightly oiling and salting the outside of the potatoes gives them these awesome, crisp, well-seasoned skins. I use avocado oil, but vegetable oil works well too! Feel free to try some new flavors by adding something like garlic salt, garlic powder, rosemary, and/or parsley on the outside of the potatoes.

Poking holes in the potato is what allows steam to escape while cooking and results in the fluffy, tender filling.

My Philips XXL AirFryer easily fits 4 medium potatoes. Many air fryers will fit two potatoes. No problem, adjusting the recipe is easy. Plan on about ⅛ teaspoon of oil for the outside of each potato, the cooking time stays the same.

Topping Ideas

These air fryer baked potatoes taste great plain or just with butter, but if you’re planning on doing a baked potato bar or you just want some fun ideas for toppings, I’ve got you covered. First, look in the fridge for leftovers, and then check out these ideas…

• Loaded – Shredded cheddar cheese, crumbled bacon, sour cream, green onions.
• Chili – Try this quick hearty chili recipe or check out some of our other chili recipes!
• Blue Cheese-Pepper Butter – Mix together 1 ½ tablespoons softened unsalted butter, 1 tablespoon crumbled blue cheese, ¼ teaspoon pepper.
• Lemon-Thyme Butter – Mix together 2 tablespoons softened unsalted butter, 1 teaspoon minced fresh thyme, ¼ teaspoon lemon zest, ¼ teaspoon lemon juice.
• Broccoli Cheddar – Melt Velveeta, or use shredded cheddar, and add steamed broccoli florets (could link to Broccoli cheese soup).
• Chicken Alfredo – Mix cooked shredded chicken with Alfredo sauce, then sprinkle with Parmesan and fresh parsley (link to alfredo sauce).
• BLT – Drizzle potato with Ranch dressing (link to ranch seasoning), top with crumbled bacon, chopped tomatoes, and green onions.
• Taco – Taco meat (try this healthy homemade taco seasoning recipe), black beans, salsa and/or guacamole, shredded Mexican blend cheese, cilantro.
• Pizza – Marinara or pizza sauce (I like the marinara dipping sauce in our crazy bread copycat recipe as pizza sauce), shredded mozzarella, pepperoni.
• Mediterranean – Hummus, chopped olives, chopped tomatoes.
• BBQ – Top with BBQ pulled pork or shredded BBQ chicken and shredded cheese (this Copycat Sweet Baby Ray’s BBQ sauce is my favorite, learn how to shred chicken easily with a mixer).
• Pesto – Mozzarella, pesto sauce, diced chicken or ham.
• Spinach Artichoke Dip – Try this amazing spinach artichoke dip recipe.
• Breakfast – Crumbled or cooked strips of bacon and fried egg, maybe add a little drizzle of maple syrup or hot sauce.
• Dip Recipes – Test out some of your favorite dip recipes! Here are some options: Cheesy Bacon Dip, Cheesy Crab Dip, Queso Dip, Onion Dip, or Buffalo Chicken Dip.

Final Thoughts

These air fryer baked potatoes are definitely the easiest and tastiest baked potatoes I’ve ever made. You just can’t get that perfectly crispy skin so easily with any other method! Give these a try as soon as you can and let me know how it goes.

PS: Don’t have an air fryer just yet? Check out our Air Fryer Reviews – we compared some of the top air fryers to create the ultimate buying guide!

More Air Fryer Recipes:

• Korean Fried Cauliflower in the Air Fryer
• Air Fryer Brussels Sprouts with Bacon & Maple Syrup
• Simple Air Fryer Chicken Tenders Recipe
• 15 of the Best Air Fryer Hamburger Recipes
• 20 Healthy Air Fryer Recipes

Simple Air Fryer Baked Potatoes

Get perfect baked potatoes that are crispy on the outside and fluffy on the inside - all in less time - with this simple air fryer baked potato recipe.

4.75 / 5 ( 8 Reviews )

Print Rate

Prep Time: 5 minutes minutes

Cook Time: 40 minutes minutes

Total Time: 45 minutes minutes

Serves: 4

Adjust Servings: 4

US CustomaryMetric

Equipment

• Air Fryer

Ingredients

• 4 medium russet potatoes washed, unpeeled
• ½ teaspoon oil
• Salt and pepper

Instructions

• Lightly prick each potato several times with a fork. Make sure potatoes are dry first, then rub them with oil and sprinkle with salt.
• Arrange potatoes in the air fryer basket, with space between them.
• Cook at 400˚F/204˚C for 40-45 minutes, until a knife can be inserted with little resistance.
• Transfer potatoes to a plate, use a knife to cut two slits, forming an X, in each potato. Press in at ends of each potato to push the inside up and out. Season with salt and pepper, to taste.
• Serve with your favorite toppings!

Recipe Notes

Lightly oiling and salting the outside of the potatoes gives them these awesome, crisp, well-seasoned skins. I use avocado oil, but vegetable oil works well too!

Try some new flavors by adding something like garlic salt, garlic powder, rosemary, and/or parsley on the outside of the potatoes.

Nutrition

Calories: 173kcal | Carbohydrates: 38g | Protein: 5g | Fat: 1g | Sodium: 11mg | Fiber: 3g | Sugar: 1g

Recipe Adapted From: Air Fryer Perfection by America’s Test Kitchen