Air fryer baked potato in about 35 minutes

Name: Air fryer baked potato recipe
Prep time: 3 min
Cook time: 35 min
Total time: 38 min
Ingredients: 1 medium Russet potato*; 1 teaspoon avocado oil (or your preferred high heat oil); 1/4 teaspoon onion powder; 1/8 teaspoon coarse salt; Dollop of vegan butter; Salt (to taste); Pepper (to taste); Chives (chopped (Optional garnish))

Published: Oct 23, 2019 · Modified: Mar 21, 2023 by Cadry Nelson
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Get ready for the best baked potato of your life!

Cooking a Russet potato in the air fryer delivers a perfectly crisp peel and pillowy interior.

The whole thing is ready to go in 35 to 40 minutes, depending on the size of your potato.

Air fryer baked potato with chives and vegan butter.

Baked potatoes are hearty, simply delicious, and meal-worthy all on their own.

But waiting for them to cook for an hour in the oven is a slog.

Not anymore!

When you use an air fryer, baked potatoes with perfectly crisp peels don’t have to be relegated to a once or twice a year affair.

They’re ready to go in just 35 to 40 minutes.

(Times vary a little, depending on the size of the potato you’re using.)

And best of all, it’s mostly hands-off.

So you can go about your life doing other things while dinner is being made.

Sure, you could zap potatoes in the microwave and be done in about five minutes.

But once you taste that wonderfully crackling peel & airy inside of an air fried baked potato, the microwave days will be behind you.

In this post:

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Should I wrap it in foil?
Ingredients
Step by step instructions
Delicious topping ideas
Great for leftovers
📖 Recipe

Should I wrap it in foil?

Fork with pillowy potato on it. Behind it, an opened jacket potato.

Absolutely not!

In fact, I recommend that you don’t.

Whenever I see people wrapping aluminum foil around a potato, I want to dive in front of them slow motion style, as if I’m saving them from an oncoming train.

Noooooooooooooo…..

That’s because the best part of the baked potato is the crisp, crackly peel.

Wrap that baby in foil, and you’re never going to get that slight crunch that makes the baked potato experience.

(You can save your foil for roasted garlic instead!)

However, if you really have your heart set on it, you can put a foil-wrapped potato in an air fryer. It is safe to do.

Ingredients

Here are the ingredients you will need for this air fryer baked potato recipe.

Russet potato: There’s a reason they’re a classic. They are starchy, and have a weighty skin. Choose a medium-sized one that’s firm, smooth, and free of sprouts.

Oil: Avocado oil is my go-to, but use any neutral-flavored cooking oil you like.

Onion powder: This delicious seasoning takes the experience up a notch. It can be replaced with granulated onion or omitted.

Salt: A pinch of salt heightens the flavors.

Step by step instructions

Here’s how to make the recipe at a glance. For complete ingredient amounts & instructions, keep scrolling to the recipe card below.

Potato on plate with oil, onion powder, and salt.

Scrub Russet potato with water.

I like to use a clean scratcher pad or scrub brush. Then wipe the potato dry with a towel.

Use a knife or fork to poke several holes into the potato.

It will help the potato to vent the steam building up in it as it cooks. That way there’s no risk of it exploding and making a mess.

Rub or spray the potato with oil.

I use organic avocado oil, but any neutral-flavored high heat oil will work.

(Prefer to skip the oil? That’s fine. The peel won’t get quite as crispy, but otherwise, the taste is still good.)

After oiling the potato, you can add other seasonings like onion powder, garlic powder, and/or coarse salt.

Put the potato into the fryer basket.

If you’re cooking more than one potato, be sure not to overcrowd. There needs to be room for air flow around the potatoes.

Four medium-sized potatoes fit nicely in most baskets.

Air fry at 390 degrees for 35 to 40 minutes. Stop about half way through to flip the potato with a fork or tongs.

The time will vary a little, depending on the size of your potatoes.

You’ll know the potatoes are done when you can easily stick a fork into them.

Slice the potato open, and fluff the inside with a fork.

Fill with your preferred toppings.

Delicious topping ideas

Vegan cream cheese, non-dairy butter, and chives on small plates in front of baked potato.

There are so many topping options!

Keep it simple with non-dairy butter, salt, and pepper.
Add a dollop of vegan cream cheese or non-dairy sour cream.
Throw on a sprinkling of freshly chopped chives or green onions.
Make it a loaded baked potato. Cover the potatoes in browned crispy bits of seitan bacon with shredded non-dairy cheese or vegan sour cream.
Slather the potatoes in three bean chili and a ladling of cashew queso.
Make a taco-flavored potato with spicy black beans, easy guacamole, and salsa.
Make a vegan Philly cheesesteak potato with jackfruit “steak” & cashew cheese sauce.

Great for leftovers

Even though you could put just one potato in the fryer basket, I recommend putting in a few extra.

Cooked potatoes are so handy to have on hand for leftovers.

You can have them topped with any of the topping options above in a packed lunch.

Or you can use them in a breakfast burrito or breakfast nests.

Having cooked potatoes on hand is a great time saver!

A baked potato topped with chives and non-dairy butter on plate.

📖 Recipe

Content updated October 25, 2022. Originally posted April 12, 2017.

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About Cadry Nelson

Cadry Nelson is the writer, photographer, and recipe creator behind Cadry’s Kitchen, a vegan food & lifestyle blog started in 2009. Through approachable recipes, vegan travel guides, and down-to-earth discussions on the social aspects of being vegan, Cadry shows that living a vegan lifestyle is deliciously uncomplicated. Cadry has been featured on NBC News, Mashable, Today, Reader's Digest, Yahoo, Delish, Shape, and Huffington Post.

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