How Ina Garten Achieves Flavorful, Crusty Skin On Baked Potatoes

When we think of Ina Garten, we may think of chicken. We think about the type of chicken Garten uses for salads. Or maybe we find ourselves searching the internet for the reason she almost always cooks chicken with the skin on. Of course, we may just want to make a homemade skillet lemon chicken recipe authored by the Barefoot Contessa (via Food Network), but regardless of whatever fact or meal we might be searching for, you get the picture. This celebrity cook and her love and knowledge of chicken are synonymous. 

But Garten knows a thing or two about another food staple: the potato. Per Today, Garten adds a little lemon zest as a magic ingredient to her mashed potatoes. She told the outlet, "Lemon isn't a classic seasoning for mashed potatoes, but butter makes an excellent go-between." And then there are her scalloped potatoes, where she features the flavor of fennel against the creamy decadence of the cheese and heavy cream it requires (via Barefoot Contessa). As for the skin of potatoes, she has the perfect combination of ingredients to achieve a lovely and flavorful crust. 

Baked potatoes are easy to make but difficult to make perfectly delicious. More often than not, baked potatoes are kind of bland and flavorless. It takes a little ingenuity to bring out any taste that will make your mouth happy. Some people even post their baked or roasted potato woes on Reddit in hopes of some relief. Well, Ina Garten has just the flavor boost you want. She revealed when she bakes potatoes, she rubs the outer skin with olive oil before rolling them around in a blend of rosemary, thyme, lemon, fleur de sel, or sea salt that's been combined and mixed in a food processor (via YouTube). This herby element adds a beautiful crusty and well-seasoned element to the skins — but that isn't the end of this flavor fest.

Additionally, Garten makes whipped feta using feta cheese, cream cheese, a little lemon juice, and some salt to create a topping that is a balance of acidic, savory, and tangy-sweet. At the end of the video, she tells viewers that if you decide to make these baked potatoes, you should be prepared for many compliments because your friends and family will say, "These are the best baked potatoes they've ever had."