Easy Baked Potatoes In A Slow Cooker

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Let Your Crockpot Work While You're Away

When you make baked potatoes in a slow cooker, you’re saving money in at least two ways. Baking potatoes like this is a great way to avoid heating up your kitchen during hot weather and a great way to come home to cozy baked potatoes when the weather gets cooler! A slow cooker uses far less energy than an oven, even if you cook in it all day.

Why You'll Love Baked Potatoes In A Slow Cooker

You can make a whole crockpot full of baked potatoes in about four hours on high or let them cook for eight hours. Either way, you will get fluffy baked potatoes with crispy skins by following this easy method.

Ordinary Russet potatoes are starchy, which makes them ideal for the fluffiest baked potatoes. They are also inexpensive; a ten-pound bag was under $6.00 today. A baked potato typically weighs six to eight ounces, so that’s pretty cheap eating!

Scrub the potatoes thoroughly with a brush, then pat them as dry as possible to help the olive oil coat the skins and stick. Place a rack in the bottom of the crockpot. You can even crumple some aluminum foil for the potatoes to sit on. The purpose of his step is to keep the potato skins as dry as possible while cooking.

How To Make Baked Potatoes In A Slow Cooker

Drizzle olive oil over each potato and rub it in, then sprinkle a little bit of kosher salt all over them. This is what makes the skin crisp and yummy. You do not need to prick them; when the potatoes cook slowly like this, they will not explode.

Put a couple of paper towels on top of the crockpot before you put the lid on. This will wick away more of the moisture, so you'll have baked potatoes, not steamed potatoes. As the potatoes were baking, I added another layer of paper towels. If you zoom in on the picture, you can see the moisture collecting inside the lid.

Cook on low heat for six to eight hours or on high heat for three to four hours, depending on the size of the potatoes. The cooking time may vary, so it’s a good idea to check them occasionally for doneness.

The yummy baked potatoes are ready when they are tender and easily pierced with a fork. The low heat in a slow cooker is so forgiving if you need to leave them in the pot a little longer.

These baked potatoes in a slow cooker are wonderful with butter, salt, and pepper only, but a baked potato bar is always a treat! Let everyone choose their own toppings: shredded cheese, salsa, sour cream, bacon, chives, or taco meat!

I’ve found it’s really handy to have some baked potatoes on hand in the fridge for my husband and me. They keep well and reheat nicely in the microwave! Once you have a few extra potatoes, here are some other delicious things you can do with them:

1. Peel the baked potatoes and dice them into a skillet with butter, olive oil, or bacon drippings, and make wonderful country fries!
2. Peel and cube the baked potatoes and use them as a base for a potato salad. Add diced onions, celery, pickles, hard-boiled eggs, mayonnaise, mustard, and seasonings to taste.
3. Peel and shred the baked potatoes and form them into patties. Pan-fry the patties until golden brown on both sides. Serve them with ham and eggs as a delicious breakfast side dish.
4. Peel the baked potatoes and mash them with butter, milk, and your preferred seasonings until smooth and creamy. You can serve them as a side dish or use them as a topping for cottage pie or other casserole.
5. Or here’s my favorite way to use leftover crockpot baked potatoes! Make Loaded Baked Potato Soup! I’ve included the recipe for you here in a post called Spectacular Spuds They're What's For Dinner, a very old post when I was just getting started!

These are just a few ideas to get you started. Feel free to get creative and adapt these recipes to suit your tastes. Enjoy your slow cooker baked potatoes!

Yield: 8 servings

Slow Cooker Baked Potatoes

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A slow, easy, and hassle-free way to come home to perfect baked potatoes at the end of the day!

Prep Time 5 minutes

Cook Time 8 hours

Total Time 8 hours 5 minutes

Ingredients

• Eight baking potatoes, scrubbed and dried
• Olive Oil
• Kosher Salt

Instructions

1. Put a rack or crumpled aluminum foil in the bottom of your Crockpot to raise potatoes off the bottom of the inner pot.
2. Rub olive oil on each potato and sprinkle with kosher salt.
3. Place potatoes in the Crockpot.
4. Put a layer of paper towels on top of the Crockpot before you put on the lid to absorb moisture.
5. Bake on low for 6-8 hours or high for 3-4 hours, depending on the size of the potatoes.
6. Potatoes are ready when you can pierce them easily with a fork.
7. Serve hot or refrigerate and reheat as needed.

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I think you might like this yummy Mountain Dew Cake, too! It's quick and easy because it starts with a cake mix and dry instant pudding!

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