Slow Cooker “Baked” Potatoes

Published February 10, 2015. Updated December 13, 2018

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This slow cooker method for baked potatoes is genius because you can throw them in in the morning then come home to ready to eat baked potatoes after work. You’ll get perfectly cooked potatoes that a great base to all your favorite toppings!

Baked potato made in the slow cooker. Its cut open and topped with cheddar, bacon, sour cream and chives. Shown sitting on a white serving plate.

Slow Cooker Baked Potatoes

These potatoes are a breeze to prepare and you end with a perfectly delicious, moist potato.

The other great thing about this slow cooker method is that it frees up the oven for another use.

Once you try this simple method you’ll want to use it time and time again!

What Should I Top Them With?

The topping options are limitless with these potatoes. I love to make these for dinner with a couple of toppings or make a potato bar with tons of topping options.

  • Broccoli Cheese Sauce
  • Chili
  • Butter (regular, garlic butter or herb butter)
  • Shredded cheddar
  • Crumbled cooked bacon
  • Sour cream
  • Green onions or chives
  • Chimichurri sauce (may seem strange but I love them together)

Ingredients for slow cooker baked potatoes shown here.

How to Make Slow Cooker Baked Potatoes

  • Scrub and rinse potatoes then dry.
  • Lay each potato on a square of aluminum foil (large enough to fully cover), drizzle 1 tsp olive oil over each potato and rub around potato to evenly coat.
  • Sprinkle with sea salt and pepper. Wrap foil around each potato.

Brushing potatoes with oil and seasoning with salt and pepper.

  • Pour 1/2 cup water into a 6 or 7 quart slow cooker then transfer potatoes to slow cooker.
  • Cover with lid and cook on high heat 4 – 5 hours or low heat 7 – 9 hours, until potatoes are tender.
  • Serve warm with desired toppings.

Potatoes wrapped in foil in slow cooker.

Tips for this Recipe

  • Don’t use potatoes larger than 10 oz or they won’t cook through in time.
  • Scrub and rinse potatoes before cooking, that way you can eat the peel. It’s the most nutritious part.
  • Try to use potatoes that are even in size to they finish cooking about the same time.

Slow cooker potato cut open, shown after cooking.

What Should I Serve with These Potatoes?

Baked potato made in the slow cooker. Its cut open and topped with cheddar, bacon, sour cream and chives. Overhead image.

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4.50 from 2 votes

Slow Cooker “Baked” Potatoes

Such an great to make "baked" potatoes! Throw them in in the morning and come home to ready to eat potatoes after work.
Servings: 4 - 6 servings
Prep5 minutes
Cook8 hours
Ready in: 8 hours 5 minutes

Ingredients

Instructions

  • Scrub and rinse potatoes then dry. Lay each potato on a square of aluminum foil (large enough to fully cover), drizzle 1 tsp olive oil over each potato and rub around potato to evenly coat. 
  • Sprinkle with sea salt and pepper (I used a slightly heaping 1/8 tsp salt and about 1/16 tsp pepper per each). Wrap foil around each potato.
  • Pour 1/2 cup water into a 6 or 7 quart slow cooker then transfer potatoes to slow cooker. 
  • Cover with lid and cook on high heat 4 - 5 hours or low heat 7 - 9 hours, until potatoes are tender (smaller potatoes will cook faster than the larger). Serve warm with desired toppings.

Notes

Method adapted from Cook's Illustrated (they used vegetable oil cooking spray in place of olive oil which would also work fine).
Topping Ideas
  • Broccoli Cheese Sauce
  • Chili
  • Butter (regular, garlic butter or herb butter)
  • Shredded cheddar
  • Crumbled cooked bacon
  • Sour cream
  • Green onions or chives
  • Chimichurri sauce (may seem strange but I love them together)
Note that calorie count will vary based on size of potatoes.
Nutrition Facts
Slow Cooker “Baked” Potatoes
Amount Per Serving
Calories 197 Calories from Fat 45
% Daily Value*
Fat 5g8%
Saturated Fat 1g6%
Sodium 12mg1%
Potassium 828mg24%
Carbohydrates 36g12%
Fiber 3g13%
Sugar 1g1%
Protein 4g8%
Vitamin C 11mg13%
Calcium 26mg3%
Iron 2mg11%
* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.
Nutrition values are estimates only. See full disclaimer here.

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21 Comments

    • Jaclyn

      Jaclyn Bell

      I haven’t tried yet but I imagine it should also work great for sweet potatoes.

      • Angie

        I tried an experiment with cooking sweet potatoes and Russet potatoes in the slow cooker. The sweet potatoes were done before the Russet potatoes.

  • Gabby

    Just discovered your website and am so excited! Perfect time too because I’m teacher off for Spring Break : ) Question ~ How did you melt the cheese after the slow cooker?

    • Jaclyn

      Jaclyn Bell

      The potatoes will be very hot right when you pull them out so I just split them in half add added the cheese and it melts without any additional cooking. Hope you like this method!

  • Cindy

    I make these without the water and they turn out great. I’m excited to try your recipe. The toppings look marvelous!! Another wonderful post. Thanks!!

  • Shari Kelley

    I didn’t know you could do this. I’m really glad to find out about it. Thank you, Jaclyn!

  • Deborah Richards

    Shouldn’t the size of the slow cooker be 6 to 7 quart size instead of 6 to 7 ounce size?

    • Jaclyn

      Jaclyn Bell

      Lol can’t believe I missed that one :)! That would be one itty bitty slow cooker. Thanks for pointing that out!

  • Tom ~ Raise Your Garden

    The best part here is that this frees up your oven. Wife was asking about getting another oven because she gets so stressed out when trying to roast a turkey and cook anything else. This solves that problem. And 2 ovens seems ridiculous to me.

  • Shelby @ Go Eat and Repeat

    I love baked potatoes but I usually just pop mine into the microwave. I’ve never thought of putting them in the slow cooker before. I look forward to trying this!

  • Martha in KS

    In the pre-microwave days (35+ yrs ago) I used to make small meatloaves and stuffed peppers & put them in the crockpot & put whole potatoes on top. A complete meal & no foil necessary.