Crock Pot Baked Potatoes

Crock pot baked potatoes is the better way to baking your potatoes so you can save space in your oven for other dishes!  Hot and fluffy steamy potatoes, this is the best crock pot recipe for baked potatoes!

Turn your oven off and use your crock pot to make baked potatoes!  These crock pot baked potatoes cook up nice and soft, with a crispy skin and fluffy inside.  Use this crock pot baked potato recipe for a baked potato bar.  What an easy weeknight meal for your family!

We really enjoy loaded baked potatoes and this is the easiest way to serve them to my family, or for dinner guests.  It’s as simple as placing the potatoes into the crock pot (I use a 6 quart crock pot) and cooking on high for 3-5 hours, or on low for 6 to 8 hours.  Using my crock pot potato recipe, you will have baked potatoes that are fluffy and steamy, ready to be slathered with your favorite fixin’s!

Crock pot baked potatoes

Not only can you plan to make loaded baked potatoes for a meal in itself, but you can serve these crock pot potatoes as a side dish for any meal!  They go very well with my cheesy broccoli casserole and my chicken noodle soup.  Sometimes we’ll even use baked potatoes as a base for our favorite taco soup!

I use crinkled aluminum foil on the bottom of the slow cooker when baking potatoes in the crock pot.  This helps the air circulation and prevents the bottoms of the potatoes from over-browning.  It’s very easy to add the foil — just tear up squares of foil and crinkle into a loose ball then place on the bottom of the slower cooker bowl in a single layer.   It typically takes about 6 small squares of foil.

How long does it take potatoes to soften in a crock pot?

In my experience, if you set the crock pot on high, the potatoes will soften anywhere from 3 to 5 hours depending on the size of the potatoes.  I like to use medium sized potatoes and it takes about 4 hours.  If you are using the low setting on the crock pot, then the potatoes will soften anywhere from 6 to 8 hours.

Again, the timing will depend on the size of the potatoes.  You can puncture them with a fork to check their doneness and cover again if they are not ready.  This crock pot baked potatoes recipe is pretty flexible so you can feel good about waiting a little longer to ensure they are done.

Make baked potatoes ahead of time

With this crock pot baked potato recipe, you can make baked potatoes ahead of time because you place them in the slow cooker and can forget about it!  Once the potatoes are done, you can keep them warm in the crock pot until ready to serve.  I like to remove the cover about 30 minutes before serving (while keeping the warm setting on) to ensure a crispy shell.

Do not wrap these baked potatoes in foil.  We do use foil in this recipe, but only as I explained above to create air circulation and avoid over-browning on the bottom of the potatoes.  We do NOT wrap the potatoes in foil.  Instead, wash and completely dry the potatoes.  Prick each potato with a fork and then rub a tiny bit of olive oil around the skin of each potato and sprinkle with salt.  Place on the crinkled foil in the crock pot, cover and cook!

When the potatoes are almost ready, you can start preparing your fixins for loaded baked potatoes, or serve them with butter and salt as a side.  You can also decided to MASH these baked potatoes with milk, butter, heavy cream, cheese, etc. etc. to create a delicious crock pot mashed potatoes dish!

Once you try this crock pot baked potatoes method, you may never go back to using the oven for baked potatoes again!

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