Jacket Potatoes – Easy Meal
An exceedingly easy meal, with minimal preparation, jacket potatoes are a good standby when you want don’t want to spend any preparation time cooking. It’s nature’s ready meal – just pop it in the oven and wait – or get busy with some other tasks while your dinner cooks! Delicious with many fillings, baked potatoes can add up to a nutritious and satisfying, as well as very economical, meal. It’s just the job when you are too tired to cook, but want something filling and tasty.
Baked potatoes are nature’s ready meal. Just pop in the oven and wait for it to cook. Then ad filling of your choice. Healthy and easy
Jacket Potato For Lunch
Jacket potatoes are ideal as a filling lunch too. As a student I had them most lunchtimes. It was standard in a shared flat that the first person to think of it asked around to see who wanted a baked potato putting in the oven!
Potatoes have had a mixed press in the past – often having been seen as the dieter’s enemy in spite of being full of vitamin C and fibre.
All that is required is one large potato per person but two small ones will do just as well, especially if you are a fan of the skin! It is easier if all the potatoes you are cooking at a time, are of a similar size so that they then require the same amount of cooking time.
Where possible include something else in the oven to make the most of the heat – may be a quick to prepare and long cook pudding like rice pudding or bake a cake!
Jacket Potato Fillings
Jacket potatoes can be served alone with just a knob of butter or with some grated cheese. However you can serve them with almost anything, and they are a great way to use up some left over food. There are many fillings but below are a few of my favourites:-
- Grated cheese and warm sweetcorn
- Grated cheese and coleslaw
- Warm baked beans and pickle
- Leftover chilli or bolognese sauce
- Leftover Chicken and Leek
A salad is a good accompaniment too.
Informal Party Food
Baked potatoes are often an accompaniment to a buffet or informal party gathering with salads, especially at a bring and share type gathering where people bring cold savoury offerings to make up a table full of delightful choices.
They are easy to cook and can be kept warm for a while until ready. Good as an addition at barbeque and bonfire parties too.
Of course, potatoes can be cooked in the microwave in 10-15 minutes, but you don’t get such crispy delicious skins.
Slice in two and cover with filling choice.
What is your favourite filling?
Jacket Potato
Ingredients
- 4 Large potatoes washed
Instructions
- Heat oven to 180 degrees C
- Pierce potatoes several times with a skewer or sharp knife
- Bake in the oven for 60-90 minutes until soft in the middle
- Test by prodding the largest potato with a sharp knife to see if the middle is soft
- Prepare filling
- Remove from oven and slice in the middle
- Add butter and filling as desired
- Serve immediately
My favourite filling is the classic beans and cheese! Houmous is another great topping though…
@JerryHuntley-Palmer Thank you for that great suggestion. Slow food is usually the best!
An easy meal I agree but very long. If you are an old virger, you haven’t got time to wait 75mins for the potatoes to bake cos your bed awaits.
However, on a rare day off, my fave topping is cheese and tuna…
Scoop out cooked potato into a bowl and fork to an even consistency.
Apply lashings of butter
Add small tin of tuna similarly forked. [for 4 big spuds]
Add some dill and finely chopped raw onion plus salt and grated black pepper.
Slap ingredients back into the potato skins and throw heaps of grated cheese over them.
Continue the bake at 180c for 20 mins.
Eat very slowly because it will be hot and totally delicious and, thus, every morsel should be savoured!