Air fryer baked potatoes have flavorful crispy skins, tender fluffy middles, and are so easy to make. Whether you’re using a drawer-style air fryer or a toaster oven air fryer, we’ve got you covered! 

If you’re anything like us, you love potatoes. From classic toaster oven baked potatoes to roasted sweet potato rounds, we want to eat them all. 

Today we’re sharing how to make baked potatoes in an air fryer because having more ways to cook up some tasty spuds is never a bad thing!

Potatoes: Russet potatoes make the best baked potatoes. They have a higher starch content which is why their dry flesh turns delightfully fluffy once baked. 

Oil: Rubbing the skins of the potatoes with a little oil helps them to crisp up. We like to use olive oil or avocado oil but any vegetable oil (that you like the flavor of) will work.

Salt: Kosher salt, sea salt, table salt…use what you’ve got on hand to season those skins. And feel free to sprinkle on a little pepper too!  

1. First, preheat the air fryer at 400°F for about 5 minutes while you get the potatoes ready.

2. Scrub and dry the potatoes well, then pierce each one a few times all over with a fork. This will let some of the moisture and steam escape during cooking. Then, rub them with a light coating of oil and season generously with salt.

3. Place the potatoes in the air fryer basket so they are spaced out and not touching (otherwise the skins won’t crisp up).  

4. Cook for 20 minutes. Then, remove the basket and carefully flip the hot potatoes using tongs.  

5. Continue cooking until the potatoes feel soft when squeezed in the middle and a paring knife or fork can easily be inserted into the center. About 10 to 25 minutes more depending on the size of the potatoes. 

6. Once ready, transfer the hot potatoes to a plate and slice each one lengthwise down the center (watch out for steam). Fluff the flesh with a fork, season with more salt and pepper, and add your favorite toppings.

As the potatoes sit the skins will soften. To quickly re-crisp them before serving, press the split potato halves back together (it’s okay if the potato is not entirely closed) and air fry again at 400°F for 4 to 5 minutes. 

While cooking a whole potato in an air fryer toaster oven takes about the same amount of time there are a few adjustments you might want to make.

Lower The Temperature. For our ovens, lowering the temperature to 375°F helped to keep the potatoes from over-browning before they could cook through the center. If your oven runs hot or the air fry setting is really intense, you may have better results with an even lower temperature like 350°F. 

Use a Pan To Catch Drips. The little holes in an air fry basket make it great for circulating heated air around the food and crisping it up. But if you’re cooking something that might drip (like oily potatoes) and don’t have a pan underneath the basket there is the potential for things to get messy. 

One of our air fryers is designed in a way that makes it difficult to use a pan with the basket. To bake potatoes, I like to swap the basket for my trusty quarter sheet pan/wire rack combo. The potatoes bake up nicely without leaving a mess behind to clean up!