How to Cook Potatoes in a Brown Bag

Potatoes can be cooked in brown paper bags.

Cooking potatoes in a brown paper bag creates a sweet flavor for the potato. The heat from the oven slowly infuses the potatoes, and caramelizes the sugars of the tuber to make them sweet. When the potatoes are cooked in a bag they come out of the oven with soft pliable skins that can be peeled off with your fingers once they have cooled. You can eat these potatoes straight, or you can mash them and use them in a casserole.

Things You'll Need

• Paper bags
• Baking sheet
• Potatoes

Instructions

1. Rinse off the potatoes to remove dirt and debris that may be on them. Pat the potatoes dry with paper towel, then let them air dry for 10 minutes.

2. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Place the sweet potatoes in the paper bags so that they can lay flat in a single layer. Make a single layer of sweet potatoes in each bag that you use. Set the bags on a baking sheet.

3. Place the baking sheet into the oven on the middle shelf. Bake the potatoes for 1 hour and 20 minutes. Remove the baking sheet. Take the potatoes out of the paper bags and set them on a cooling rack. When they are cool to the touch, peel off the skins with your fingers.

Tips & Warnings

• Always wear heat resistant oven mitts when placing a baking sheet in the oven and removing it.

References

• The Teacher Cooks: Sweet Potato Bread