Real Recipes From Real Home Cooks ®

perfect salt baked potatoes

(1 rating)
Recipe by
Maggie May Schill
Jacksonville, FL

I've been on a long and potato filled journey searching for the perfect baked potato for some time now. I might have found it recently... or at least nearly. The same method that's been used for ages to bake fish has a similarly mystical effect on the common russet. The salt super heats all around the spud, holding moisture in while keeping the skin from burning or hardening. It allows you to cook at high temperatures for a long period of time without fear of losing a drop of moisture. Awesome! The insides of these potatoes are like butter, and the outside crisp and perfect!

(1 rating)
yield 4 serving(s)
prep time 5 Min
cook time 1 Hr 30 Min
method Bake

Ingredients For perfect salt baked potatoes

  • 4
    russet potatoes (baking potatoes)
  • 2 lb
    salt (basically two containers)
  • 1
    full garlic bulb
  • 3 sprig
    rosemary
  • 1 tsp
    finely diced fresh rosemary
  • 1/2 c
    salted butter, softened
  • 1/2 tsp
    black pepper
  • 4 tsp
    extra virgin olive oil

How To Make perfect salt baked potatoes

  • 1
    Preheat oven to 450'F
  • 2
    With a vegetable brush rinse and scrub down 4 russet potatoes. Set on a paper towel to dry completely.
  • 3
    In a 13X9X2 inch baking dish pour out your salt and spread evenly. Bury your three rosemary sprigs in the salt in three separate locations. Make sure there is a decent amount of space between sprigs.
  • 4
    Take your garlic and clean off the outer layer of papers from it. With a sharp knife cut just the very tip-pity top of the garlic bulb off to expose a bit of the garlic's flesh.
  • 5
    Set the garlic bulb in a corner of the pan, burying it in the salt a tiny bit.
  • 6
    Take each cleaned and dried potato and bury in half way in the salt. DO NOT COMPLETELY COVER... only half way, sort of nestled in there. Make sure there is at least an inch in between each potato.
  • 7
    Cover the baking dish with foil and seal tightly.
  • 8
    Bake on the center wrack for 75 minutes.
  • 9
    After the 75 minutes, take the baking dish out of the oven. Remove the garlic bulb (carefully, it hot!) and set it aside.
  • 10
    Raise oven temperature to 500'F
  • 11
    Brush the top of each potato with extra virgin olive oil.
  • 12
    Put baking dish back in oven for 15 minutes.
  • 13
    Meanwhile, once garlic is cool enough to handle, squeeze the roasted garlic out of the bulb. It will come out like a paste.
  • 14
    Cream your butter with the garlic paste.
  • 15
    Finely mince a teaspoon of fresh rosemary. Pour it in the butter. Add pepper to the butter and mix.
  • 16
    Remove potatoes once they are done, let cool for 5 minutes then carefully remove from salt. The salt will be molten hot, be careful!
  • 17
    With a clean dish towel wipe excess salt off the potatoes. Serve with garlic butter! Yum!
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