If you need to have a quick meal when you get home or want to free up oven space for your Thanksgiving, Christmas or Easter meal, cooking potatoes in the crock pot is a great solution. I love using potatoes because they are cheap and can compliment almost any meal. When I think of easy recipes including potatoes I immediately think of crock pot baked potatoes. The potatoes can be prepared in the morning and will be ready for lunch or dinner depending on your setting.

Crock Pot Baked Potatoes

1. Scrub the potatoes well to remove dirt.
2. Prick the potatoes a few times with a fork.
3. Coat each potato in olive oil.
4. Sprinkle each potato with salt and pepper.
5. Wrap potatoes tightly in aluminum foil.
6. Place the potatoes in a crock pot. Place the lid on.
7. Cook on high for 4 – 5 hours or on low for 7 1/2 – 8 hours or until tender.

Just a few tips:

• I like using a rimmed cookie sheet to place my potatoes on when completing the steps prior wrapping the potato in foil. Sure that means one more dish to wash which usually I am against, but it makes everything go faster. I can oil the potatoes quickly, then sprinkle all the potatoes at once with salt and pepper. For even easier clean up line your cookie sheet with parchment paper!
• The larger the potato the longer the cooking time. Don’t be afraid to check your potatoes early to make sure they do not over bake. I regularly cook 6 small potatoes in a crock pot on high for 4 hours and they come out perfectly.
• NO water is added to the crock pot. Only the foil wrapped potatoes will be in there.
• Only fill your crock pot 3/4 full with potatoes so that they will properly cook.
• Yes, russet and sweet potatoes can both be cooked in this manner.
• If you are pressed for time in the morning, prep these the night before, then plug in and turn on in the morning.
• Usually clean up is minimal inside the crock pot. If you are worried you can always use these crock pot liners.