Best Fluffy Crockpot Baked Potatoes

Fluffy Crockpot baked potatoes are the best side dish or loaded up with cheese and our 5 ingredient chili for dinner tonight! Having a party over for brunch? Make a potato bar with lots of toppings to make a cheap meal everyone will love. If you’re wondering how to make potatoes in a slow cooker this is it!

Baked Potatoes in Foil Slow Cooker

If you are expecting a crowd this holiday or just because, these are great and super cheap to make. Create a baked potato bar with chili, sour cream, smoked chiles and all the fixings available for everyone to make their own. A potato bar is so darn fun. From the littlest kids to Grandmas, everyone likes to make a pile all the goodies in there.

Let’s start with the main star of the show first shall we? For this and almost all of my other potato recipe ideas we use the brown russets. The most common and inexpensive of them all, you could use red if you would rather though.

FIRST – You should sign up for my free newsletter so you get new posts emailed to you twice a week and never miss out on anything! Let’s talk a little bit about slow cooking shall we?? First off I have a few different varieties and I love them all. Each one has an occasion to be used like….

1. This is my favorite 6 quart programmable one with a locking lid so it’s great for bringing to a potluck too.
2. If you just want to serve a few appetizers you should get this one that sit side by side one another.
3. I prefer not to use liners, but rather just spray olive oil inside before adding my food for easier cleanups.

Let me give you a peek of my pretty thang I bought recently. It goes with my kitchen so I can just leave it out on the countertop all the time. 😉

Baked Potatoes in Slow Cooker on Low

You could use as many as you would like but you do need some hot air circulating inside the pot so you don’t want to pack it totally full. If you have a large pot you would of course have a larger area to work with for more of them at the same time.

• 4-6 potatoes – russet works the best I think
• Aluminum foil
• Olive oil
• Kosher salt
• Crockpot – the more potatoes you need the larger the slow cooker you’ll need obviously

Of course there are tons of easy potato recipes out there but this is probably the easiest. Unlike a potato in the oven you don’t have to check on them. It’s actually better if you don’t! Leave the lid closed and after the time is up you should have tender fluffy potatoes ready to stuff.

Crockpot Baked Potatoes Crispy Skin

You will have to use the broiler function in your oven once these are done to change the texture of the skin once these are done. Another option is to follow these directions and then pop them into your hot air machine to finish them off as air fryer baked potatoes. Spray with olive oil and roll in salt for the best skins ever.

Crockpot Potato Recipe

You could do this with red or Yukon varieties too. Typically russets are desired for filling with all the things since the skins are firmer and they are larger too.

Can you use aluminum foil in a slow cooker?

Yes!! Some people actually line the inside of their crockpot with tin foil to make it easier to clean.  Others choose to use crockpot liners for the same reason. We aren’t using it that way here, we’re just wrapping our potatoes individually.

Slow Baked Potatoes in Foil

What if you don’t want to use foil? I would instead make Instant Pot baked potatoes instead. This method is faster so the skins don’t get as soft and mushy. After that you could throw them into your air fryer or under a broiler to crisp. If you don’t use foil in the crockpot for these the skins will get really moist and yucky from the condensation.

Crock Pot Potatoes

1. Wash and dry your potatoes.
2. Get out as many pieces of aluminum foil as you will need to wrap each one.
3. Generously rub each potato with olive oil and then sprinkle with sea salt all over.
4. Wrap each one so ends are closed and oil cannot leak out. Place them into your slow cooker trying to not overlap them. If you must put largest ones on the bottom.
5. Set on low for 8 hours (ideal), or cook on high for 5 hours.
   1. (of course large potatoes will take a bit longer, this is based on the size of ours which were med. russets)

Is it better to slow cook on low or high?

The only difference is the amount of time it takes to reach the simmer point or temperature. The low setting obviously takes longer than high and in my opinion is better. Yes recipes can be cooked on either setting but low and slow is the key to success if you ask me.

Ways to make baked potatoes

1. Smoked baked potatoes – the taste of these is amazing
2. Oven baked potatoes – so the skins are crispy, insides are fluffy
   1. This is what goes with a baked potato bar!

Best toppings for baked potatoes

There are a lot of other things you can put on baked potatoes besides butter!

• Chili is a great way to fill them
• We love pulled pork baked potatoes with leftovers or if you have a second pot you can make the meat in the other.
• Shredded cheese and bacon is a given
• You could stuff them with beef fajitas for a hearty meal
• Cottage cheese and chives made it on to our cheap Crockpot meals post
• Sour cream and green onions
• Salsa chicken for a healthy meal

How do you keep baked potatoes warm in a crock pot?

• There is a warm setting on all new models, use that.
• Do not unwrap from the foil until you’re ready to eat.

Can I reheat baked potatoes in a crockpot?

Yes!! Just prick the potatoes with a fork, place inside with a paper towel under the lid to catch the condensation. 

Can you prepare crockpot baked potatoes the night before?

Absolutely! This is a great way to do it if you’re having people over and you’re trying to get some prep. out of the way.

Do we have other favorite potato recipes? YES, one of our favorites is this ground beef casserole with potatoes. You can make air fryer potato skins when they’re tender too. Nutrition information including nutritional information is below for you. You can print it to keep it on hand or just bookmark this page and come back to it, we love “seeing” you. 😉

How to cook baked potatoes in Crock pot

(original photo from 2015 below, images revised 2019)