Jacket potatoes will taste 'best ever' with simple topping - not baked beans

This simple recipe is easy to follow and leaves you with the perfect jacket potato, safe from any beans. Arguably one of the best easy-fix meals, the hearty jacket potato is often swamped by toppings such as cheese, tuna and beans. Serious Eats claims that the real issue with the dish often lies with the "overall blandness of a baked potato [which] requires more than just a surface treatment".

Adding that "no matter how fully loaded a plain baked potato may be, there's still an expanse of unspectacular spud beneath," the blog shares its easy solution on how best to bake the potato, and how to serve it. The writer states their personal favourite to be "roughly mashed, with butter and seasonings" before adding any toppings.

The mashed style is ideally achieved by scooping out the potato's contents into a bowl to mix with seasoning before transferring the mash back into the skins.

Method

Puncture it with a fork several times to vent the potato and remove the buildup of steam.

Don't wrap it in foil. This is only helpful in campfires. In a home kitchen, this only produces soggy skins. Leaving the potato unwrapped and exposed allows the skin to dry and crisp.

Rub in oil so that the skin does not turn leathery. This will save your Jacket potato from a dumping of toppings.

Moderate ovens are a great way to maintain temperatures, with an ideal range lying between 350 to 375°F. This is best for creamy insides and golden skins. Any warmer and the flesh behind the skin will become too tough and dry. Cook for roughly an hour.