I tried the TikTok trick to make a perfect baked potato in 6 minutes, and I'm still torn about it
Although I haven't gotten on board the TikTok train just yet, I'm still a fan of food hacks — so when I saw user @harley.oseguera's video to make a "perfectly baked potato" in mere minutes, I knew I had to give it a try.
In the video, which currently boasts 1.4 million views and over 197,000 likes, the TikTok user cooks a potato in the microwave wrapped in a wet paper towel, which is supposed to keep it from drying out.
The TikToker prepares a russet potato in their video, but I'm a big fan of sweet potatoes, which usually take me almost two hours to regularly cook. So to see how versatile the hack is, I tried it on both types.
Read on to find out how my experiment went and if I'll make potatoes this way again.
The prep work came first
Before anything else, I thoroughly washed both potatoes, using my hands to scrub the skin of any dirt.
The video instructs to stab the vegetable "a million times," which I didn't take literally, but I made sure to cover both potatoes with a generous amount of holes.
But when I "stabbed deeply" as the TikTok's voice-over told me to, I ended up lodging the fork so firmly into the potatoes that I had to use a decent amount of strength to remove it.
I wrapped the potatoes in paper towels and let them soak
In their video, the TikToker uses a long sheet of paper towels to wrap the potato in, but I opted to cover each vegetable lengthwise and across with two different pieces to minimize the amount of paper used.
Then I ran tap water over both potatoes, lightly squeezing them afterward to get some of the excess liquid out.
When it came time to cook the potatoes in the microwave, I started with the russet one
I decided to separately cook the potatoes for six minutes each, per the video's instructions, and started with the russet option.
The TikToker put the paper-towel-wrapped potato directly inside the appliance, but I opted to place mine on a microwave-safe plate before heating it up.
And after just a few minutes, my kitchen started to smell like baked potato.
After 6 minutes, the russet potato was nice and steamy
Steam came out of the microwave when I opened it after the timer went off.
I used oven mitts to remove the hot plate from the microwave and tongs to carefully peel the paper towel from the steaming potato.
The russet potato looked a little dry on the outside but still tasted delicious
Although the paper towel was definitely still moist, the potato looked a little shriveled and dry. But when I cut into it, I was pleased to find it was completely cooked.
I mixed salted butter into the cooked russet potato and took a bite. Although the flavor was good, it was a bit dry.
Next, I microwaved the sweet potato
I repeated the same six-minute cooking process for the other option.
And after taking the sweet potato out of the microwave and unwrapping it, I found that it was also cooked through.
In their video, the TikToker said that the cooking time will vary depending on the size of the potato.
So if yours isn't completely soft on the inside, you should rewrap it in the paper towel, run it under some water to get it a bit wetter, and put it back in the microwave for two or three more minutes.
The microwaved sweet potato was super soft and smooth but lacked flavor
I put some salted butter on the sweet potato and mixed it all together.
I was impressed by how quickly it boasted a silky consistency, which was much smoother than that of the russet potato I cooked only minutes before.
I was a little disappointed with the potato's taste, as it lacked the sweetness I get when I bake this variety in the oven.
Plus when I uncover my oven-baked, foil-wrapped sweet potatoes, they are super moist, even on the outside — but this one came out looking dry.
Overall, this method was convenient, but the results lacked flavor
I can definitely see the appeal for cooking a potato this way — it's fast and requires minimal cleanup.
But if you have the time to plan ahead and bake potatoes in the oven, I think you'll be more pleased with the results.
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