The 7 Biggest Mistakes You Make When Baking Potatoes

Potatoes need to cook all the way through, and the best way for that to happen is to make sure the hot air can get to the potato from all sides. If a potato bakes with one side touching a sheet pan, you'll get a hard spot and possibly uneven cooking.

Place a thin wire rack inside a rimmed baking sheet. Line up your spuds, side by side, and place the pan into the oven. Make sure there's a little room between each potato before closing the oven door.

4. The oven is too hot.

Low and slow—that's the mantra of the Perfect Baked Potato. If you've got the time to spare, cook the potatoes at 300°F for 90 minutes. If you need to speed that up, bump it to 450°F for 45 minutes. (Note: Your baking time will vary depending on the size of your potato and how hot your oven runs.)

But don't go hotter than that. There's no victory in cooking potatoes at a temp greater than 450°F. They might be done a bit faster, but the high heat temp will leave you with overly browned skins that might even char in spots. And since the whole point of a perfectly baked potato is to have skins as delicious as the fluffy interior, there's no charring allowed.

5. You don't take the potatoes' temperature.

You know when meat is perfectly cooked by measuring the internal temperature; the same is true for baked potatoes. Use a probe thermometer to measure the temp of your potatoes. You're aiming for a temp in the sweet spot between 205°F and 212°F. Below that, the texture may still be too dense, and above that, it may become a gummy mess.

6. You baste first, not last.

Skip rubbing your potatoes in oil and salt until the end of the cooking time. That's when they'll deliver the most texture and flavor benefit for the spuds. If you oil them up early, the skins may not turn crispy. The salt, too, can run off the potatoes in the heat.

Instead, do a quick oil baste after the potatoes reach 205°F: Remove the pan from the oven. Brush with olive oil (or bacon grease if you have it) and a hefty sprinkle of kosher salt.

Return the pan to the oven for 10 minutes — the temperatures of the potatoes won't climb more than 2 or 3 degrees in that time. The oil will crisp up the skins that were dehydrated during the long bake, and the salt will add delectable flavor.

7. You let the potatoes cool before cutting.

Unlike meat, potatoes don't get better by resting. They need to be sliced open immediately. If you don't, they will retain water from the still-steaming center and turn dense and gummy.

Quickly jab a serrated knife through each potato as soon as the pan has cleared the oven. Give them a gentle squeeze (with a hot-temp glove or towel) to create a vent.

Then you can gather all your fixings and call the family to the table. The potatoes will have cooled just enough by the time everyone gathers around to enjoy dinner — and marvel at your perfectly baked potatoes.

More: Check out 5 different ways to bake potatoes — including twice-baked potatoes and grilled potatoes — and get favorite recipes to try.