All cooking methods cause foods to lose some of their nutrients, but the quicker your potato cooks, the more nutrients it will retain. Baking a sweet potato in the microwave preserves far more nutrients (folate, vitamins A and C) than boiling it, for example.
As such, a microwave is great at heating up a potato, but only up to about 100°C (212°F), the boiling point of water. By heating up the water, the starch in the potato will start to cook. It will absorb water and gelatinize, softening the potato as a whole and making it digestible.
You can steam potatoes to speed up cook time.
Place potatoes into a pot with a steamer insert and enough water to reach the bottom of the potatoes. Place a lid on top and turn the heat to medium-high. The steam gets hotter than boiling in water, allowing the potatoes to cook faster.
The microwave cooks the potatoes evenly and, when processed through a ricer, are just as fluffy as those made in boiling water. Additionally, boiling potatoes can actually cause some of their flavor to be leached into the water.
Potatoes often house Clostridium botulinum, the botulism bacteria. When they're cooked and not immediately stored in the fridge, spores of the bacteria can multiply. 6 Microwaving the potatoes won't kill the bacteria either, so your second-day potatoes could cause an upset stomach.
A microwaved potato can generally offer the same texture and flavor as an oven-baked potato, says Cameron, but you do need to keep certain things in mind. Below, experts share their top tips for making baked potatoes in the microwave.
Step 1Wash potato thoroughly and pat completely dry. Pierce 3 to 4 times with a fork. Step 2Place potato on microwave-safe plate and microwave 7 minutes, turning over halfway through cooking. If your potato isn't fork-tender after 7 minutes, continue microwaving in 1 minute increments until fully cooked.
A baked potato is more nutrient-dense, providing 6 grams of protein and 6 grams of fiber. It has about 25 percent more magnesium as a boiled potato. It also contains 40 percent more phosphorus and potassium, as well as four times the amount of folate in a boiled potato.
MYTH #2. MOST COOKING METHODS DESTROY THE NUTRIENTS IN POTATOES. While boiling potatoes does cause a small loss of water-soluble nutrients like vitamin C and vitamin B6, the white potato retains most, if not all, of its potassium and dietary fiber regardless of cooking method, such as baking, boiling, or frying.
You'll want to boil potatoes any time you don't want them to dry out (as they can when baked in the oven). So it's a cooking method ideal for mashed potatoes or potato salad. Boiled potatoes on their own can also make a quick side dish.
New potatoes taste best when they're roasted or boiled, rather than fried. This article provides three methods for cooking new potatoes: pan-roasted, boiled, and crushed.
Microwaves, slow cookers and air fryers
Cooking a potato in a conventional oven will use up to 10x as much energy as a microwave! This is because microwaves use less energy for every hour they're in use (fewer kilowatts per hour). There is no heat-up time, helping to make the cooking process quicker.
Why do potatoes get hard in the microwave? Potatoes get hard in the microwave when they're overcooked and the overcooked sections lose too much moisture and become dry and hard.
The important thing to remember is always to prick the potatoes with a fork before cooking – this allows the steam to escape and will stop them from exploding. Make sure you're using top kitchen kit with our pick of the best microwaves, tried and tested.
Don't microwave for too long: Overcooking the potato can cause it to become dry and overcooked. To avoid this, be sure to check the potato for doneness every few minutes and stop the microwave when the potato is soft and yields to the fork.
According to USDA data, microwaving potatoes is the best way to retain its nutritional value, boiling potatoes causes the most nutrient loss, and frying adds fat and extra calories. None of the cooking methods destroy fiber. Still, potatoes are rich in key nutrients regardless of how they are cooked.
Cooking potatoes at a high temperature leads to loss of essential nutrients. It also produces a small amount of acrylamide, which is a potential carcinogen (causes cancer).
Boil potatoes with skin- Boiling potatoes can lower their nutritional content like vitamin C and B vitamins if they are boiled without skin. Boiling them with skin can save nutrients that may lost in cooking water. Try to use minimal water like with steaming.
Soaking potatoes in water helps remove excess starch. Excess starch can inhibit the potatoes from cooking evenly as well as creating a gummy or sticky texture on the outside of your potatoes. Cold water is used because hot water would react with the starch activating it, making it harder to separate from the potatoes.
Cutting potatoes before boiling does aid in removing excess starch. Excess starch can make potatoes gummy or gluey. That said, cutting the potatoes too small can lead to too much water absorbing into the potatoes. A good rule of thumb is to go with a 2-inch dice on the potatoes before boiling them.
Healthiest ways to cook potatoes
The next-healthiest way to cook a potato is through steaming, which causes less nutrient loss than boiling. Cooking a peeled potato in this way results in significant nutrient loss, as the water-soluble nutrients leach out into the water.
For 2 medium-sized potatoes, start with 10-11 minutes microwave time. For 4 potatoes, start with 15-16 minutes in the microwave. When the time is up, get a towel or oven mitt and gently squeeze the sides of the potato. If it gives without resistance and starts to open up, it's ready.
It's simply a case of scrubbing your spuds, pricking the skin several times all over and placing it into the microwave for around 4-5 minutes per potato. Prodding the skin prior will allow the skin to crisp and the inside to soften. After this, turn it over and cook for a further 4-5 minutes.
Don't Forget to Poke
These little holes allow steam to escape while the potato is cooking. Forget to poke, and your potato could end up exploding in your microwave from the pent-up steam.