To oven bake or microwave your potatoes? We’ve given both a try and are breaking it down for you.
I prepared potatoes 3 different ways to compare baking versus microwaving them (two ways to bake potatoes and one way to microwave them). Was there a clear winner? Did one taste better than the rest? Let’s look into it.
Pros & cons of microwaving potatoes:
+ It’s quick.
+ These potatoes came out soft and tender.
+ They can go in the microwave naked. That means one less step to prepare them.
– You don’t get a crispy skin.
– You do have to rotate the potato so it cooks evenly.
Pros & cons of baking potatoes:
+ You can cook up a ton of potatoes at once.
+ Crispy skin for the win.
– It takes planning and forethought – they take at least 60 minutes to bake.
How do you know which way to choose?
If you’re looking for a quick starch? Microwave
If you’re going to cook for a small army? Bake
If you’re going to reheat them? Microwave
If you’re lazy? Microwave
If you don’t plan ahead of time? Microwave
If you have an aversion to microwaves? Bake
If you love crispy skins? Oven! Microwaving them will disappoint you beyond belief.
This post originally appeared in December 2017 and was revised and republished in July 2020.
I’m a firm believer that if you want a better tasting baked potatoes, bake them in a NUWave XL all-in-one oven. Toaster ovens can’t handle the it. I should know because I have a B/D toaster oven sitting on the top of my NuWave XL all-in-one Oven,and it’s only used for toasting bread and bread items.
Perfect microwave potatoes, use medium size, oil them, place in a bowl with only 1/2 inch cut on each side, cover bowl, microwave the best ever potato.
Thank you for sharing your method with us, Lyn!
when you boil the potato and it loses some of its vitamins etc, do the vitamins go into the water? The other thing is if you scrub them and then boil with the skins on do they still lose goodies.
Boiling potatoes can cause some of vitamins but retains most of them, Greg. And if you don’t want to waste that potato water, you can always turn it in Vegan Gravy!
Did nothing to answer my question!
What was your question?