Chips · Air fryer

Air Fryer Jacket Baked Potatoes (40 min)

Jacket potatoes in the Ninja, 40 minutes flat, no microwave shortcut. Two ways to slash the skin (cross vs pricked), two toppings (chilli vs cheese-and-onion), and a husband-and-wife banter taste test that ends in 'my knees have gone wobbly'.

R By Richard · Adapted from Wes's Camping Cooking · Published 10 June 2026
❤️ 6.6k source likes
⏱Prep 5 min
🌡Temp 200°C
⏲Air fry 40 min
🍽Serves 2
Air Fryer Jacket Baked Potatoes

Source video by Wes's Camping Cooking on YouTube. This recipe was adapted with strict source-fidelity rules and is marked for human review.

From Wes's Camping Cooking. Two average-sized potatoes are prepared two ways for comparison: one cross-cut halfway down, one all-over pricked with a fork. Both are turned in olive oil, salted with Himalayan sea salt and peppered. Into the Ninja for 40 minutes at standard air-fry temperature; turned at the 20-minute mark for even crisp. Served slashed open and pressed to fluff, with a knob of butter rubbed in, then either tinned chilli con carne or grated strong cheddar with chopped onion.

Ingredients

Potatoes
  • 2average-sized baking potatoes, one cross-scored halfway down, the other pricked all over with a fork
  • olive oil
  • Himalayan sea salt
  • black pepper
To serve
  • butter (real butter, not margarine) (add late)
Chilli topping
  • 1 tintinned chilli con carne, heated through (add late)
Cheese topping
  • strong cheddar, grated (add late)
  • white onion, finely chopped (add late)

Method

  1. Wash the potatoes. Cut a deep cross on the top of one, halfway through but not all the way down. Prick the other all over with a fork.

    ~2 min

  2. Drop a little olive oil into a bowl. Turn each potato in the oil to coat lightly. Sprinkle with Himalayan salt and black pepper.

    ~1 min

  3. Place both in the air fryer basket. Cook at 200°C for 40 minutes.

    ~40 min

  4. At 20 minutes, pull the basket and turn each potato over. Slide back in for the final 20.

    ~1 min

  5. If serving with chilli, heat a tin of chilli con carne in a saucepan during the last few minutes.

    ~5 min

  6. Test the potatoes: tap for crisp skin, slide a knife in to check the inside is fully soft.

    ~1 min

  7. Open each potato (press the sides if cross-cut; cut open if pricked), mash a knob of butter into the inside with a fork, season with salt and pepper.

    ~2 min

  8. Top: one with the heated chilli, the other with chopped onion and grated strong cheddar. Serve at once.

    ~1 min

Frequently asked

Do I need to microwave the potatoes first?
No. Wes specifically goes without the microwave shortcut. Forty minutes at 200°C in the air fryer is enough for average-sized potatoes to cook through, and you get a crisper skin than the microwave-then-finish method.
Cross-cut or pricked?
The cross gives a better presentation when you press the cooked potato open. The pricked one cooks identically inside but doesn't open as dramatically. If you're slicing them anyway, both work.
How do I know they're done?
Tap the skin: a crisp skin sounds hollow. Slide a knife in: it should go through to the centre without resistance. At 40 minutes for average-sized potatoes, both checks usually pass.
Margarine instead of butter?
Wes says no. Butter melts into the hot fluffy potato in a way margarine doesn't; the difference is real. If you must, salted butter is a fine compromise.
Extraction notes (transparency): Air fryer temperature not stated on camera (Wes just says 'turn the Ninja on' and references his Cosori Dual Blaze elsewhere). 200°C used as the standard air-fry temperature for jackets; flagged. Potato weight not stated; 'average-sized'. Olive oil, salt, pepper, butter quantities all 'a drop' / 'a knob' / to taste; recorded as null.