Today I am sharing a secret with all of you that I just recently discovered. I wish I had learned about this a long time ago, or at least at the beginning of the summer. So here is the secret – you can make baked potatoes in a crock pot! I know, isn’t that cool. It is so simple to do.
The beauty of this is you can have baked potatoes without heating up your oven and your house, this is perfect for summertime. Think about those times when you just don’t have room in your oven along with everything else. No problem, just cook the potatoes in the crock pot. Or you have a busy day and just don’t have the time to do baked potatoes. No problem because it takes 8 hours in the crock pot. You can have them cooking while you are at work, running errands, etc. I know, I just changed all of your lives with this secret. The only thing I ask is that you share this secret with others. This is too good of a secret to keep to yourself!
Crock Pot Baked Potatoes
potatoes (I used russets)
- Wash your potatoes well and let them dry. Then wrap each potato in a piece of foil (no need for pricking them).
- Place the foil wrapped potatoes in your crock pot. I put 8 medium sized potatoes in my 4 quart crock pot, but I probably could have fit at least 10.
- Cook on low for 8 hours.
Adapted from Skip to my Lou.
Great idea. I need to share this. I would have never thought to cook them in a crock pot.
I have a friend who always and I mean always under cooks her potatoes. I can’t wait to try this and if it works, share this with her. Plus, it is one less item to prepare for dinner, Heck, potatoes CAN be dinner!
I personally do not like microwaved food and don’t use it unless absolutely necessary.
Rhonda, I always said I didn’t like the texure of microwaved baked potatoes either. Then I was given a tip that truly works. Please try it at least one time and if you don’t like it, then you haven’t really lost anything except time! LOL Wash, pierce and microwave the baking potatoes until tender. Try not to get them overdone, just until you can feel the tell-tale \give\ when you press on the potato. Take immediately from the microwave and wrap first in a paper towel, then in aluminum foil. Put on your serving plates. They’ll stay hot 10-15 minutes easily while you finish the rest of your meal. Open and serve the potatoes and I think you’ll be so pleasantly surprised at the improved texture/consistency of the potatoes!
I will be trying this weekend. I for one will make sure my crockpot is exceptionally clean and wash the potatoes thorougly before cooking. I won’t be worried about bacteria. Thanks for the post!
I wrap them in foil and that also helps.
it’s true, but microwaves are not really that healthy so it is still a nice alternative.
do people really not know what a microwave does? The microwave is not unhealthy. The microwave emits heat and excites the water molecules. The only thing it is not good for is meat because it will cook the meat dry and the grease gets all over in your microwave. They say to not boil your vegetables because it boils out the nutrients, maybe that’s what you were thinking of. Crock pots are really fun to cook with and everything tastes delicious! I am excited to try potato’s in a crock pot! Woot!
Except for the fact that if you have two identical plants and you water one with regular clean water, and water the other plant with microwaved (obviously cooled first) regular clean water from the same source, the plant being fed the microwaved water dies. Try it at home. Hmmmmmm is the microwave really cooking foods that are still good for our bodies? ….
Please read this with regards to the science behind this. http://www.snopes.com/science/microwave/plants.asp
Oh thank you, thank you – so happy to see someone pointing out the facts about this, its exhausting to keep reading such unscientific bunk on thread after thread in the internet world. Snopes is your friend, everyone! Hear “facts” you haven’t seen substantiated? Start by looking it up on Snopes if you aren’t clear how to determine for yourself how to assess the soundness of supposedly scientific information, its a great start.
I don’t like the ‘texture’ of microwave potatoes as well as baked ones. But, I do eat them from the microwave because of time.
Do this all the time without the foil and also with sweet potatoes.
I do this all the time with no foil. Also with sweet potatoes-nothing better
Tried this with my husband yesterday..LOVE IT! SO easy and they were perfect! THANK YOU!
If you microwave your potatoes for about 5 min and then put them in the oven, it greatly reduces the oven time and you still get the crispy skin and fluffy interior. This tip also works well for roasting cut potatoes….microwave them about halfway, then cut them up, toss w olive oil and season, lay on baking sheet and finish in the oven. Got this tip from America’s test kitchen! I have done this crock pot method before, but don’t care for how dense the potatoes become.
What a great idea. I have even down this to make mashed potatoes for dinner. I set it before work and when I get home I have nice fluffy potatoes I can make mashed potatoes out of.
On a side note I try to avoid microwaves for the radiation aspect….
This is my favorite way of making baked potatoes when I have nothing else going into the oven. Who wants to heat up the kitchen when you don’t have to??
Thanks for the great post!
Leslie
a.k.a. The Menu Maker Mom
Thank you! Pinned this, found your site, trying tonight!
umm…. you get the same results from 5 minutes in a microwave.
I tried this tonight without the foil and the potatoes were cooked perfectly. Only thing was that the fluffy white insides were more like a dull brown. Did that happen to anyone else?
Yes did not like it
My mom did potatoes in the crock pot all the time growing up. She would quite often make a meatloaf and put it in the bottom of the crock then just lay washed potatoes on top, no need for foil. When your done cooking you have meat and potatoes done at the same time. It does make dents in the top of you meat loaf, but my mom just named that meal craters of the moon and it was family fave.
That is a great idea. You can also, wrap your potatoes in foil and place them on the coals of your BBQ ahead of time and they cook while your doing your chicken or steaks and ribs.
We’re trying these tomorrow night since i’ve got work and school until 9 pm at night. Cant wait!
After baked place the potatoes in an ice chest and they will stay hot till ready to serve. Perfect if for picnics or gatherings where feeding alot. They will stay hot for hours. Thanks for the tip
NO! Keeping the potatoes in foil too long can create samonella. A restaurant left a potato overnight in foil and it got re-heated under a heat lamp and served. it just about killed a man. Of course the restaurant closed down, the man lost everything he was so sick for so long. Be careful! I don’t know what the rule for keeping it is but you should find out before you do this.
You can’t “create” salmonella. It’s either there or it’s not. If the potatoes and/or prep materials and area weren’t contaminated, no amount of heating is going to “create salmonella.
You can get sick from potatoes if they are not heated properly. There have been cases of people getting Botchulism from potatoes and rice not being heated to the right temperature.
If not taken out of foil and cooled down right it can cause botulism which can kill.
If cooked food is kept at a proper hot temperature it will not develop any kind of bacterial whatever. You are always taking a risk with food that is served buffet-style because there is no way to be sure the temp was hot enough. But if it is, they will be fine. Otherwise food should be refrigerated or thrown away within 1-2 hours of finishing cooking.
This is not rocket science, people. Don’t leave food sitting out overnight then reheat. Duh. And don’t eat food that has gone cold sitting out too long. If the potatoes stay hot enough in a container, then they should be good, but I’d be more worried about what the plastic in the ice chest is adding to my food when heated — they really aren’t meant for hot foods so will leach.
And foil does not cause botulism. Where do you get these crazy ideas?
wow, tin foil creates salmonilla and botulism?
I thought it was just a transmiiter to receive UFO transmissions. when molded into a hat of course.
http://www.bccdc.ca/NR/rdonlyres/B2100B09-1587-4B58-8300-251243965BBC/0/Baked_Potatos_and_Foodborne_Botulism.pdf
HTH!
I was just wondering….I have a large crock pot and I was going to try a slow roaster chicken in it wrapped in foil. Has anyone tried doing the chicken and baked potatoes at the same time?
You can put your potatoes in the bottom, well wrapped in foil, then just place your seasoned chicken on top of them, not wrapped in foil. The juice just drips to the bottom but won’t get into your potatoes. I’ve done this using seasoned salt & it will taste like a rotisserie chicken.
put potatoes in crock pot over night and the slice or grate for home fries in the morning
Blooming brilliant! I had never thought of that! Refrigerated baked/cooked potatoes for the morning don’t taste so good to me. This should do the trick! Thanks!
I like your idea. We have the nuwaveoven and it makes wonderful food, but one of my favorite thing that it makes is baked potatoes. I also make my baked potatoes in the microwave without alumin foil and poke holes in them and cook them for 20 minutes, and they usually turn out pretty good.
I agree with you, plus the energy it costs to cook these all day is quite alot.
My crock pot on low (like this recipe calls for) uses 125W/hr. This recipe needs 8 hours to cook, so 8hr * 125W = 1,000W to cook.
My electric oven recipe for baked potatoes takes 5 minutes in the microwave, and 30 minutes in the oven. Let’s forget the microwave completely and factor just the oven usage. My oven uses 3,000W/hr. So 3,000W*1/2hr = 1,500W
Even without factoring in the microwave wattage, the electric oven method still uses 50% more electricity than the crock pot. Just because something runs longer doesn’t mean it uses electricity.
I rub my potatos with olive oil, wrap in wax paper and microwave; they’re great!!
How do you cook them and still keep the potato fluffy? Mine always turn out gray inside and too moist. They seem to soak back up too much moisture.
Coat the potatoes with coarse salt, then cover with foil. The salt will retain the extra moisture.
This is a great idea! Has anyone tried it with sweet potatoes? We eat a lot of baked sweet potatoes in our house…
I have to bake potatoes for 100-150 people. Do you know if this will work in one of those large electric roasting pans?
Thanks!
Yes it’ll work in the large roasting pan…I wash, dry then place potatoes in layer cover with coarse salt and repeat…it takes about 6-8 hours depending on how many potatoes and how big each one is. The potatoes end up fluffy and the saly adds to the flavor of the potatoes. A trick I learned from my Grandmother who fed farm hands and hungry 4-H horse club members.
I just put some potatoes in my crock pot. We’ll be having these tonight. Thanks!
Is it necessary to put potatoes in foil? We like our skin crispy. Great idea! I’ll have to try it.
I just learned recently about the crock pot method and the suggestion was to scrunch up several pieces of alum foil and toss into bottom of crock. Wash and dry potatoes and pierce with fork. Lay them on top of the foil. You can cook up to 10 on low for 8-10 hours. I can’t seem to find the site again but I’ll look for it.
This would also be a great idea when you have soo much to do but need to make that potato salad for the cookout. Throw these on do errands,laundry etc. and then when you are ready just cut/smash and make
That is a great idea. A great way to have them done when you get home from work.
Saw you on Cookeatshare. What a great idea. I love using my crock pot, but would never have thought of baked potatoes.. I might not even wrap them. Bet that would work too.
LOVE this!! Thanks sooo much for sharing!!
This is genius. I HATE baking potatoes in the oven. I usually end up microwaving them. I am totally making them this way from now on.
I’ve been doing this for years…and you’re right…it is one of those best kept secrets (like how the chalk boards at Church are magnetic!)
WHAT a great tip. I hate cooking those things and try to avoid the microwave. Totally gonna try this.
Great secret and one that I will be sharing with my friends. Thanks for sharing….shug
I can’t wait for an opportunity to put this tip to use. Thanks for sharing it.
ButterYum
We do this all the time only we don’t even wrap ours! Just scrub, spray lightly the crockpot and potatoes with olive oil and sprinkle with sea salt. The skins get yummy and delicious just like at a restaurant!!
Good idea….as I try to avoid aluminum foil! How long do you cook yours without foil and at MED or LOW?
Thanks,
Barb
I always cook my “baked” potatoes in the microwave (for efficiency), but my husband would really prefer it to be cooked in the oven. Perhaps this is the compromise we’ve been looking for!
Great idea. Thanks for sharing.
I love a secret that I don’t have to keep to myself : ) Thanks!
Going to have to try this…we make a lot of baked potatoes in our house
I love this idea! I’m always trying baked potatoes in the oven or microwave, and I can never get them done enough!
This is perfect!
I love crockpot potatoes! I usually cook mine without foil. I just prick them and rub them with a bit of olive oil so the skins don’t get weird. I’ve never tried cooking the potatoes on low though. On high it usually takes about 2 hours, but I usually only make 3-4 at a time. I don’t know if more potatoes would take longer.
Thank you for your comment mrsblocko! I was late getting dinner started today and wondering if there was a way to cook them in my crockpot quickly.. so thank you! =)
I’ve never tried baking potatoes in the crock pot, what a great idea. Another great way to have ‘baked’ potatoes is a using a potato bag in the microwave! It actually makes the potatoes come out (almost) as if they were baked in the oven. My MIL gave us one for Christmas a few years ago and we love it!
here’s how to make one: http://www.frugalcreativity.com/2011/04/how-to-make-baked-potato-bag-guest-post.html
I use the micro bag as well, I live in FL and don’t like to heat up the house, but be careful and don’t wander off too far. I got one for my daughter and it caught FIRE in her microwave. I will try the crockpot next time and put in on my patio. Everything heats up a FL kitchen.
I’ve never tried baking potatoes in the crock pot, what a great idea. Another great way to have ‘baked’ potatoes is a using a potato bag in the microwave! It actually makes the potatoes come out (almost) as if they were baked in the oven. My MIL gave us one for Christmas a few years ago and we love it!
This is the 2nd time I’ve seen ‘MIL’ written in a Comments section. I searched for it twice (I think Americans say ’2 times’) on the Internet, without success, but I didn’t have a lot of time to look thoroughly. Could/does it mean ‘Mother-In-Law’?
I’ll check back one day, to see if anyone leaves/left a reply. Thanks, if you do.
JW
YesMIL is mother in law…
Yes, MIL does mean Mother-In-Law. And… Americans say 2 times and also say twice
awesome, Thanks so much!
This is a genius idea!!!
genius! thanks for sharing. : )
Someone ask if you can bake sweet potatoes in the crock pot.
The answer to that is yes.
They are yummy.. I like them even better than white potatoes in the crock pot.
I truly hope you posted this under the wrong item.