Matt Preston on the spud-tacular return of the jacket potato - Food Files

Jul 31, 2025

It’s one of the cheapest meals out there, and the perfect way to use up leftovers. Yes, it’s time to put the humble baked spud back on the menu.

And the air fryer is here to help. The idea of using the oven for just one or two people in smaller households can feel a little fiscally irresponsible, so the rise of the air fryer has helped champion a jacket potato resurgence. The small size makes it quicker to heat up, and that means faster spuds. In my trials, I got a couple of well-cooked spuds with an excellent crispy jacket in under an hour at 200°C. And prep, other than washing the dirt off the spuds, was just rolling them in olive oil and salt. The benefits of wrapping them in foil or jabbing them with a fork are negligible at best when using an air fryer. But the oven is still the best way to go if you are feeding loads of hungry people.

The other reassuring thing for those above a certain age, who might shake their heads at social media’s more questionable food trends, is that the classic baked potato fillings are still the most popular. The classic combos of butter, chives, sour cream and crispy bacon bits; or baked beans and cheese are still the favourites, hands down. New ideas like baked spuds with a yellow split pea dal; with kimchi and grilled tasty cheese; or loaded with pesto and tuna all got a big thumbs down from every generation I talked to.

Topping baked potato with leftovers like chilli con carne, bolognese or a red wine braised beef is also much loved, and that hits my cheaper eating brief perfectly. “Don’t put it in the bin, put it on a baked potato” could be a motto for these straightened times, where food waste is public enemy no.1.

Butter and cheese also seem to be non-negotiable here, so if there’s a little leftover nugget of Gruyere or parmesan, go for it. Put your loaded spud back in the air fryer or under the grill to brown it up and get the cheese properly melted.

Sure, there are still some who now praise a sort of tuna melt topping, or even diced ham and pineapple with cream cheese, but these are individualistic outliers. People championing the idea that, like pizza toppings, the baked spud can be a chance for each person at the table to make their own culinary expression is so very 2025.

Perhaps more in keeping with the cheaper eating theme this week is the attraction of spiking my spud’s baked beans with smoked paprika and fried slices of red capsicum and chorizo. Although I’d probably get a bit pretentious with the cheese choice here and blow the budget with grated Manchego, tasty would still do.

The biggest bones of contention with the return of the jacket potato to our tables is whether you slice them in half or cut a cross into the top, then squeeze them apart; and whether you mash the floury white flesh with butter before packing it back into the skins, or leave the cut side pristine until you dig in to load your fork with your first bite.

There are more than 100 great ideas for baked potatoes on this site alone. Try Junda Khoo’s smoked salmon and egg mayo baked potatoes, Shannon Bennett’s chilli-beef baked potatoes, Matt Moran’s jacket potatoes with confit garlic and chilli herb butter or Darren Roberton’s rarebit jacket potatoes or jacket potatoes with chilli con carne for starters. Have a look before reaching for the can opener and the grater, like you usually do.