Baked potatoes are among the tastiest comfort snacks you can have when craving something light but flavorful. And potatoes taste amazing in any form and size; therefore, baked potatoes will make you drool for more. However, you may have noticed that whenever you are having a meal outside, the baked potatoes at any restaurant are served super-fast with the most delicious textures. It may have given rise to the question in your head, how do restaurants bake potatoes so fast?
Because restaurants must manage the same quality and taste for every batch and serve food within short periods, they must have a few insider tips to bake potatoes fast. Let us tell you all about them in this guide.
Takeaways
- You have to follow a few tips to bake potatoes fast.
- Restaurants make entire batches of potatoes ahead of the day.
- Baked potatoes help in weight loss instead of contributing to weight gain.
What Are Baked Potatoes?
Before moving ahead, let’s clear the basics about baked potatoes. The dish is made by baking potatoes in a microwave, barbecue grill, or a convection oven. Once ready, you can fill it with your favorite stuffings, like cheese, butter, vegetables, cream, ground beef, corn, and more. Additionally, you can pair it with yummy sauces to enjoy baked potatoes to their maximum potential.
How Do Restaurants Bake Potatoes So Fast?
Whenever you decide to have baked potatoes at home, it requires a little more than an hour to prepare them traditionally. The baking process is time-consuming, and you will drool at the thought of having your hands on them.
On the other hand, the same dish is ready in about 15 to 20 minutes at a restaurant. It can be confusing because some customers may believe that restaurants do not serve fresh dishes since it seems impossible to prepare baked potatoes so quickly.
Let us assure you that this is not the case. Restaurants use a combination of methods to bake potatoes quickly. They cannot keep the customers waiting for long periods. Hence they have to come up with alternatives that ensure tasty potatoes in less time. We will discuss the tips below on how restaurants bake potatoes so fast.
Use Smaller Potatoes
Many restaurants go with small-sized potatoes for this particular dish. Small potatoes take relatively less cooking time than larger ones.
Why? Because when you heat the potatoes from the outside, it heats up on the inside as well. Smaller potatoes are thinner compared to large potatoes. Therefore, the heat can pass through quickly to cook the potatoes from the inside.
Preheat the Oven
Restaurants also preheat the oven before inserting the rack of potatoes. It takes up to 15 minutes, depending on the oven size and model. Preheating allows the potatoes to heat up as soon quickly they enter the oven since the inside chamber is already burning.
Prepare the Potatoes Beforehand
To minimize waiting time, restaurants bake large batches of potatoes ahead of the day. They bake potatoes in advance and store them in the oven until someone orders them. But how do you cook a baked potato quickly? Whenever an order demands a baked potato, the chefs take them out of the oven and put them in the warming equipment.
As a result, the potatoes remain crispy and fluffy on the inside. Moreover, this does not disrupt the taste; customers always get freshly baked potatoes to devour. Besides, the chefs regularly rotate batches of potatoes to keep the freshness alive.
How Do Restaurants Estimate the Quantity of Baked Potatoes To Make?
It is impossible to guess the accurate number of baked potatoes a restaurant will sell on a specific day. However, based on the order history and occasions, one can guess when customers like to go with baked potatoes the most.
For example, restaurants can compile the order history of baked potatoes and find out how many they sell each day. Based on the data, they can prepare nearly those numbers of potatoes for the day ahead.
On the other hand, they also do not want to waste any ingredients in the kitchen. Any leftover baked potatoes are used for other food purposes to minimize wastage. So, this is how restaurants bake potatoes so fast, by estimating the quantity beforehand and getting it ready for the day.
How to Cook the Best Baked Potatoes?
This section will list the best-baked potato recipe you have ever encountered. It will help you create the perfect batch of baked potatoes in your home that is fluffy and crispy. Therefore, you will surely love the combination of brilliant tastes and textures.
Choose the Type of Potato
Potatoes come in several types. The Russet potatoes are the best type for baked potatoes because their skin has the perfect thickness for a crispy outer layer. Also, it makes the fluffiest baked potatoes that will melt in your mouth to delight your tastebuds.
Season the Potato
Use several ingredients that will help add flavors to the baked potatoes. Coat the potatoes with butter or olive oil to give them a crispy texture after baking. Sprinkle salt and black pepper to give it a taste. Stick them to the skin by firmly pressing your hands against the potatoes.
Besides, poke each potato with a fork or a sharp knife a few times so the heat can escape during the heating. Otherwise, the potatoes may explode in the oven due to the accumulated heat.
Preheat the oven to 450°F
While seasoning and preparing the baking racks, turn on the oven and set the temperature to 450°F. Let it heat to the desired temperature to ensure a crispy outer layer on your baked potatoes.
Prepare for Baking
Place the parchment paper on the baking sheets of your oven. Place the potatoes on the sheets. You want your potatoes to receive heat evenly on all sides to become soft and delicious.
The next step is to let the potatoes bake for about an hour or more. It depends on how long it takes them to become fluffy inside when baked. After 50 minutes, examine the potato by inserting a knife. Let it bake for another ten or twenty minutes if it feels hard on the inside.
However, if the potatoes are soft and your knife comes out all clean, and smoothly, your baked potatoes are ready. Use oven mittens to grab the sheets. Let it steam off for a minute, and then place the potatoes on the serving tray.
Stuff the Potatoes
Slice the potatoes horizontally, but do not slice them apart. Just cut the middle of the potato. Add your favorite stuffings here: cheese, cream, vegetables, sauces, meat, or anything you like. Your baked potatoes are all set to munch on.
Do Restaurants Bake Potatoes in Microwaves?
We cannot precisely claim which restaurants use microwaves for baking potatoes and which ones use the traditional ovens. Furthermore, microwave-baked potatoes taste significantly different from oven-baked potatoes.
For example, baking potatoes in a microwave may not make them as crispy as they would be in the oven. In addition, it also affects the overall taste of the dish.
Hence, small kitchens may opt for microwaves to reduce the workload of their staff; however, big-scale restaurants are likely to use traditional ovens. It ensures that the taste and crispiness are top-notch for every batch of potatoes.
Health Benefits of Baked Potatoes
Baked potatoes are not only delicious to eat, but they also offer benefits for your physical health. In this section, we will list those health advantages.
- Baked potatoes contain high fiber content, which helps in smoother food digestion, speeding up the metabolic processes.
- It helps in inducing a feeling of “fullness” to prevent overeating. Consequently, you can have baked potatoes when you want to shed weight.
- Baked potatoes are low in cholesterol and fat but rich in potassium. This nutritional balance improves heart health and aids in keeping away heart diseases.
- Baked potatoes contain anti-oxidants that can kill cancer cells in the body before they spread to other parts and turn lethal.
These facts disprove the myth that eating baked potatoes leads to weight gain. As we read in the section, baked potatoes have low fat and cholesterol and are rich in essential carbohydrates and vitamins.
As a result, having baked potatoes two or three days a week will bring good to your overall health while improving the body’s inner functioning. However, when consumed excessively, anything will harm your health.
Summary
We hope you now have the answer to your question of how restaurants bake potatoes so fast. Restaurant baked potatoes are made hours ahead, but thanks to the expertise and genius of professional chefs, you can never guess it from the taste. They ensure that every plate tastes and looks fresh, making your visit incredible.
