Quick and Easy Air Fryer Baked Potato Recipe

What you will love about this recipe

• Baked potatoes make the perfect side dish or entree. 
• Air frying is the best way to make baked potatoes in less time. 
• No aluminum foil is needed.

Ingredients

See recipe card for the amounts we use.

Ingredient Notes

Just 3 simple ingredients are all you need to make this great side dish or main dish.  

Potatoes – Russet potatoes make the best baked potatoes. We haven’t used any other type of potato for this. Other kinds of potatoes can be air fried (like sweet potatoes and red potatoes), and depending on their size will have a similar cooking time.

Canola Oil –  you can use avocado oil, light olive oil, vegetable oil or peanut oil. Just make sure the oil has a smoke point of at least 400°. Health Stand Nutrition has a great chart you can look at to see if the type of oil you want to use has a high smoke point. 

Salt – we like coarse kosher salt, you can use sea salt or regular table salt. 

How many baked potatoes can be air fried at one time?

This depends on how big the basket is in your particular air fryer model. For best results you don’t want the potatoes too close together. We can easily fit 4, even 5 or 6 in ours and it is a La Gourmet 7.2 quart air fryer. 

How long does it take for a potato to get soft in the air fryer?

This depends on the size of the potatoes, generally it takes between 30 and 50 minutes. 

Do you have to pierce a potato before baking it in the air fryer?

It depends on who you listen to. Poking holes in the potato does allow the steam to escape. I have forgotten to pierce the potatoes when I baked them in the regular oven and they didn’t explode like I have read they will. From what I could find researching this it is possible that the skin will pop or on rare occasions it will explode. But like I said, I have never had that happen. 

How to make air fryer potatoes

1. Scrub potatoes under cold water and dry with a paper towel. 
2. Pierce each potato several times with a fork. I usually poke them on all 4 sides and on each end. 
3. Brush each potato with a little oil and sprinkle with salt.
4. Place potatoes in the air fryer basket in a single layer making sure that there is a little room in between each potato.
5. Air fry at 400° for 30-40 minutes or until a fork goes into the potato easily. 
6. Top potatoes with your favorite toppings. 

Tips

• Use tongs to get the potatoes out of the air fryer basket. 
• We use small to medium potatoes for a side dish and large potatoes for a main course. 
• Potato size makes a difference in the cooking time. Start checking potatoes for doneness at around 30 minutes for smaller potatoes and 40 minutes for larger potatoes. 

How do you know when potatoes are done in an air fryer?

A fork should go into the potato easily with no resistance. If potatoes still seem hard when you poke them with a fork then cook them in 3-5 minute intervals, depending on how easily the fork goes in. Because different sized potatoes have slightly different cook times you will have to do this every single time you make them. 

Popular potato toppings

• Butter (of course!)
• Sour Cream
• Cheddar Cheese
• Chives
• Green Onions 
• Bacon Bits
• Ranch Dressing

Did I leave out your favorite topping? If I did let me know in the comments.

Delicious toppings for a baked potato main dish

• Chili and cheese 
• Smoked meat, cheese, and barbecue sauce
• Diced chicken, broccoli and cheese
• Taco meat and toppings
• Buffalo chicken and ranch dressing

More air fryer recipes

Three Ingredient Cube Steak

Country Style Ribs

Sliced Potatoes

Brats

Seasoned Potatoes & Onions