A staple of school lunches and weeknight dinners, jacket potatoes were always functional but rarely fun.
And while no one doubted that they provided fuel, few would have said that they were a source of pleasure… until now.
The humble baked potato, complete with its equally modest cheese and bean dip, has not only had a makeover but is enjoying a renaissance fueled by… you guessed it! – the TikTok generation.
But Generation Z isn’t the only one to blame or, if you’re a believer, to thank, whether for the new look of the potato or the renewed interest in it.
Earlier this year, the jacket potato hit the headlines when celebrity chef Tom Kerridge put one priced at £19.50 on the menu at The Coach, his gastropub in Marlow.
Michelin-trained chef and self-proclaimed ‘potato queen’ Poppy O’Toole wore her ‘garlic bread’ jacket on ITV’s This Morning
Hollowed out and stuffed with melted raclette and Parma ham, it was no ordinary potato, but charging the better part of £20 for what has always been a reassuringly cheap meal left many people dismayed.
Still, Kerridge’s particular combination of genius and chutzpah may have inspired TikTokers who have seriously upped the ante in terms of toppings.
From the self-proclaimed ‘potato queen’ Poppy O’Toole (@poppycooks), a Michelin-trained chef who is also one of the judges on the BBC’s Young MasterChef show, to the British Ebby Moyer (@ebbymoyer), based in America, which is determined to get Americans to see baked potatoes as more than just a side dish, there is no shortage of potato ambassadors online.
And while TikTok sensation Spudman (@spudarmy) helpfully debunked the myth that the best baked potatoes are those cooked in foil, chefs like Poppy and Ebby have gone even further when it comes to combining flavors and textures. .
TikTok sensation and potato enthusiast Poppy O’Toole, known to her 4.4 million followers simply as ‘Potato Queen’, aptly started her career peeling potatoes in a pub.
As a Michelin-trained chef with ten years’ experience working in professional kitchens, it’s no surprise that Poppy wasn’t about to let traditional roast potato toppings remain in the spotlight.
Just as the chefs behind fine dining restaurants challenge themselves to put creative spins on familiar dishes, Poppy has reinvented the baked potato by combining it with one of the UK’s best-loved breakfasts: the Full English.
An ‘absolute beauty’: Poppy O’Toole’s Full English Baked Potato contains a layer of sausage meat, topped with beans, mushrooms and a fried egg, then topped with cheese and wrapped in bacon (March 10, 2024 )
In a TikTok video that has been viewed almost 500,000 times, Poppy showed her fans how to make the perfect full English potato, calling the final product “so wrong but so, so right.”
The voiceover begins: ‘Last night I dreamed about a roast potato, so I had to prepare it. It was a totally English baked potato.
The 30-year-old chef, who is also a judge on BBC’s Young MasterChef, begins by adding a layer of sausage meat to a hollowed-out baked potato.
He tops it with beans, mushrooms, and a fried egg before topping it with cheese and wrapping it in bacon.
When it comes out of the oven, Poppy cuts the potato in half to reveal the cross section, which looks remarkably like a full English potato served on a plate, and declares it “an absolute beauty.”
And, with its 35,000 likes, Poppy’s tribute to one of Britain’s best-loved foods was clearly a delight.
But the innovative chef has also looked further afield for inspiration.
In a video that has been viewed just under 175,000 times, the potato queen pioneers the ‘potato pizza’, which is ‘stuffed with cheese and tomato deliciousness’ and topped with small pieces of pepperoni.
‘Potato pizza’: Poppy O’Toole made a potato pizza (pictured) with cheese, tomato sauce and pepperoni pieces
Poppy’s decision to give New Yorkers’ favorite pizza the baked potato treatment was a hit with her fan base, garnering 11,000 likes.
Another of the chef’s viral baked potatoes is his ‘star-crossed garlic roast potato’, which he made for This Morning hosts Josie Gibson and Dermot O’Leary live on the show.
Comparing it to “garlic bread,” Poppy demonstrated how to make the “great potato” for 6,400,000 TikTok viewers.
A key step, he explains, is to “cut it into a star shape,” so instead of cutting it into quarters, cut it into sixths.
Next, Poppy cooks garlic with butter and parsley and prepares the filling, using feta cheese or cream cheese.
Once the cooked potato has been filled with the filling, pour over “that delicious, buttery, garlicky parsley” for an “absolutely beautiful” potato.
Another innovative take on the baked potato comes from US-based British amateur chef Ebby Moyer.
Surprised that “Americans only see a baked potato as a side,” and not as a meal in itself, Ebby, who has a million followers on TikTok, has set herself the task of elevating the jacket’s status to the other. side of the puddle.
U.S.-based Brit Ebby Moyer left some American viewers “lost” when she shared her recipe for tuna mayonnaise and baked potato with cheese and topped with ketchup (pictured).
And, stating that in the United States “it only comes with bacon and chive sour cream,” he laments that Americans are “missing out on the world of baked potatoes.”
In a video that has been viewed 15,800,000 times, Ebby demonstrates how to make a “super delicious, affordable meal” with a classic potato.
While her tuna mayonnaise and cheese jacket was never going to wow Brits – even if it contains “mature cheddar” and is topped with ketchup – some TikTokers admitted that Ebby had them lost when she brought out the tuna mixture.
But the influencer’s attempt to bring the baked potato to a wider audience does not end there.
Rather, its piece de resistance is its ‘Baked Potato Flight’, an impressive potato dish with toppings ranging from ‘classic British flavours’ to American.
With 10,800,000 views, the potato flight appears to have inspired TikTok users and, given the delicious combinations and colorful display, it certainly has the power to reinvent the humble jacket.
Appealing to his American fans, Ebby presents a jacket topped with Buffalo chicken and cheese, and finished with a drizzle of Buffalo sauce, a little blue cheese and a sprinkle of green onions.
The next one gives another nod to his new home. Ebby tells viewers that the “fancy” jacket containing goat cheese, millionaire bacon and chili jelly “has been living in my head for weeks.”
Food influencer Ebby Moyer’s ‘Baked Potato Flight’ features a ‘fancy’ jacket with goat cheese, millionaire bacon and chili jelly (second from left)
Especially popular in the San Francisco Bay Area, California, millionaire bacon, Ebby explains, is candied bacon prepared with spices such as cloves, chili powder and cinnamon.
The latter jacket is creatively topped with “sticky egg yolks, a hint of crispy chili and green onions.”
And, as a later video shows, Ebby’s imaginative jackets are a hit, with her American husband claiming he would eat the Buffalo chicken variety “for lunch every day.”
Originally from Orange County, California, certified culinary scientist and author Jessica Gavin (@jessicaygavin) is another food influencer doing her part for a baked potato renaissance.
Lr: Jessica Gavin’s barbecue jacket (pictured) is made with chicken tossed in sweet and spicy barbecue sauce and then topped with crispy bacon and green onions; For something spicy, Jessica combines sour cream, roasted green chiles, cheddar cheese, and savory Buffalo Chicken (pictured).
Jessica, who has 32,400 followers on TikTok and more than triple that number on Instagram, urges viewers to “delight your taste buds” in the title of her video dedicated to delicious toppings.
With the clip, which has had 24,500 views, the influencer aims to dispel the belief that roast potatoes are “a bit boring” by serving two “delicious” stacked jackets.
The first, Jessica explains, is barbecue style and made with chicken sautéed in a sweet and spicy barbecue sauce.
Topped with some crispy bacon and a sprinkle of green onions, the final product is an attractive, protein-rich and flavorful main dish.
Second on the menu is “something spicy.” Jessica starts by adding some sour cream to a potato before adding roasted green chiles, cheddar cheese, and spicy Buffalo chicken.
Jessica’s jackets, with their American-style flavors and colorful combinations, are a far cry from the baked potatoes Brits were raised on.
Thanks to the culinary scientist’s creativity, her new twists on the classic show what can be achieved with a simple potato.