Easy Vegan Baked Potatoes

Ever wondered how to make the perfect vegan baked potatoes? This easy recipe takes just 5 minutes to prepare and it results in the best-baked potatoes ever. With a crispy and thin skin, perfectly baked, warm and soft on the inside, vegan baked potatoes are our favourite side dish.

Maybe it's a UK thing, but we sure do love our potatoes. Not saying they are the healthiest or that they should be your staple side dish, but every now and then they are delicious. And hey, they still classify as a vegetable, so we'll take them! Ok, let's talk about potatoes a little. I feel a lot of people avoid eating potatoes thinking they are fattening or not very healthy but the reality is, eaten as part of a varied diet, potatoes come with their own benefits.

Potatoes are rich in potassium, vitamin C and fibre. Potatoes contain Vitamin B6, calcium, magnesium and iron and are gluten, fat, sodium, and cholesterol-free. What is bad about potatoes is the way we tend to eat them: french fries deep-fried in oil, crisps which are again, full of oil. So potatoes are best boiled, steamed or baked. When eaten in moderation, it's unlikely that unprocessed potatoes will make you gain weight.

Why vegan baked potatoes?

I mean, aren't all baked potatoes vegan by default? Not really. In fact, almost all food magazines advertise that the best-baked potatoes are roasted in goose fat. Not sure about your country, but that's definitely the case for the UK, especially in preparation for Christmas. Baked potatoes represent an important side in any British Christmas dinner, as well as part of Sunday dinner, which is usually meat or pie, served with baked potatoes and some veggies on the side.

So when ordering a good side of baked potatoes, make sure to ask what fat was used for cooking. If it's not vegetable oil, they are not vegan.

To achieve the best vegan baked potatoes we tried the following oils: olive oil, sunflower oil, pumpkin seed oil and rosemary-infused olive oil. We really loved the subtle taste of olive oil in the skin of the potatoes so we found olive oil to be the best fit for this. Rosemary infused olive oil was nice too, but in the end, the rosemary didn't come through as much so dried or fresh rosemary was still better for the herby taste.

Baby potatoes work best for this recipe as they are small and they roast well on all sides. You can, of course, use large baking potatoes as well, and turn them into jacket potatoes at the end (score them and load them with veggies and beans after they roast).

How to make vegan baked potatoes

Super easy to make but they do take 45 minutes or so in the oven so make sure you don't start on them if you are already hungry. Make sure you score each and every single potato with a fork or with a small knife. This is because you don't want the potato to explode in your oven. And also because the flavours from the oil, salt and rosemary will sip into the core of your potatoes.

Arrange them nicely on a baking tray and make sure they are not on top of each other. Otherwise, they won't bake evenly and well. Coat them well in a little bit of olive oil, salt and rosemary and bake them for 45 minutes or so. Depending on your oven, you might find yourself baking them for 60 minutes or even more. It depends and it's important to keep an eye on them. Basically they are done when you can insert a fork into the core and your fork meets no resistance. Alternatively, just grab a potato out of the oven and cut it in half to check the middle.

We use sea salt but you can also use Himalayan salt or oak-smoked salt for the vegan baked potatoes. We don't recommend Hawaiian black lava salt as the potatoes will look at little spotty at the end. However, we do use black salt a lot for many of our recipes.

For rosemary, you can replace it with thyme if you prefer it more. Both work really well and will make your potatoes taste herby and delicious. But there is something special about rosemary and potatoes, the two tastes seem to be a match made in heaven.

To serve, you can make a quick and easy garlic sauce or simply serve them with fresh garlic on the side. Garlic potatoes do taste amazing but it's not something I'd recommend for lunch at work (hehe).

And this is it, super easy vegan baked potatoes. Are you ready to try the recipe?

This recipe has been developed entirely by Yuzu Bakes. Any resemblance with other recipes is purely coincidental.

Vegan Baked Potatoes

5

Average: 5 (1 vote)

• Prep Time: 5 mins
• Cook Time: 45 mins
• Total: 50 mins
• Serves 6 people

Categories: Baked, Sides Cusine: American, British, Greek

Description

Vegan Baked Potatoes

Ingredients

(USA / Metric)

• 4 1/4 cups baby potatoes
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 1 pinch salt
• 1 tbsp rosemary, plus some fresh rosemary for decoration

Instructions

• 1. Preheat the oven to 440F / 225C.
  2. Wash potatoes and leave their skin on. With a shark fork or a small knife, score the skin of the potatoes.
  3. Put the potatoes on a baking tray and add the olive oil, sea salt and rosemary on top. Shake the tray to make sure the potatoes are fully coated.
     Bake for 45 minutes or until they become golden brown. The skin should look brown in parts.
  4. Serve hot as a side with a little fresh rosemary on top as decoration. To eat, you can simply bite into them or cut the potatoes into halves and add a little more salt to the middle if you prefer.

Nutritional Information

Total Nutrition Facts

Serves 6 people

Amount Per Serving
Calories 99
% Daily Value*
Total Fat 2 g			3%
	Saturated Fat 0 g		2%
	Trans Fat 0 g		0%
	Polyunsaturated Fat 0 g
	Monounsaturated Fat 2 g
Cholesterol 0 mg			0%
Sodium 34 mg			1%
Total Carbs 18 g			7%
	Dietary Fiber 2 g		7%
	Sugar 1 g		2%
Protein 2 g			4%
Vitamin A 0% Vitamin C 9% Calcium 2% Iron 6% Vitamin D 0% Magnesium 6% Potassium 10% Zinc 3% Phosphorus 8% Thiamin (B1) 6% Riboflavin (B2) 3% Niacin (B3) 7% Vitamin B6 21% Folic Acid (B9) 0% Vitamin B12 0% Vitamin E 2% Vitamin K 3%
* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet. Your daily values may be higher or lower depending on your calorie needs.

The information shown is an estimate provided by an online nutrition calculator. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist's advice

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