These air fryer baked potatoes only need an additional five minutes to transform into giant stuffed smashed potatoes! Perfect for those who enjoy twice baked potatoes but don’t have the time. With endless options for fillings and toppings, this is a simple lunch that makes use of your air fryer’s ability to crisp things quickly and easily.

One of the first things a proud new air fryer owner might try in their new toy is a baked potato (or jacket potato if you’re on my current side of the pond).

Air fryers make amazing baked potatoes – nice crispy skins, fluffy insides, without having to run your oven for an hour.

A baked potato for one or two people becomes a more feasible lunch plan. And that’s probably what I use my air fryer most for – my lunchtime baked taters, which I top with all sorts of different things.

This, however, is not a simple air fryer baked potato recipe, but rather a giant smashed baked potato. Hear me out.

You bake the potato, then open it up, flatten and smash it up a little, use a fork to mix in some butter and fillings into the potato flesh, then return it to the air fryer to crisp up again.

You get the nice creamy, crispy effect that you’d expect from a twice baked potato… the additional crispiness you expect from a smashed potato… but without all the time and hassle. This only adds an extra 5 – 10 minutes to your cooking time!

So it’s sort of like a very messy, very lazy twice baked potato.

Or a giant stuffed smashed potato with toppings. It’s hard to know how to pitch this one.

Toppings and Fillings

This is the fun part. There’s an abundance of ways to serve these potatoes. Here are my favorites so far. I may add more as I experiment with new ideas!

Cheese & Chive (as pictured – full recipe in the recipe card)

Open the potato, mix in butter, cheese and chives, and then cook it until crisp. Add sour cream on top.

Fresh Tomato & Basil (as pictured above – full recipe in “Notes” section of recipe card)

This one is actually my fave! I wanted to give you the more classic cheese and chive recipe as the headline one, but THIS is my fave lunch right now. You will marinade some fresh chopped tomatoes in garlic, basil and olive oil. When you open the potato, mix in butter and a handful of grated parmesan, cook again until crisp. Spoon fresh tomato topping over it and make sure to pour all the juices on!

This recipe is included in more detail in the “Notes” section of the recipe card.

And some other ideas not pictured:

Brie. Open the potato, mix in butter and then top with some sliced brie. Cook until the brie is bubbling. You might even add the fresh tomato topping, as per the previous variation, too!

Broccoli & Cheddar. Finely chop a few broccoli florets and toss them in olive oil. When you take out the potato to smash it up, place the broccoli in the air fryer and cook it for about 3 minutes. Stir your butter into the potato, then take out the broccoli, place it on top and cover with some grated cheddar cheese. Cook for another 3-4 minutes until the cheddar has melted.

Leftover Chili or Dal. Prepared very plain with just butter as a filling, it makes a great base for saucy vegetables, beans or legumes. I particularly enjoy chilli or dal on mine.

Giant Air Fryer Smashed Potatoes

These air fryer baked potatoes only need an additional five minutes to transform into giant smashed potatoes! Perfect for those who enjoy twice baked potatoes but don't have the time. With endless options for fillings and toppings, this is a simple lunch that makes use of your air fryer's ability to crisp things quickly and easily.
5 from 1 rating

Ingredients

  • 1 medium sized baking potato
  • 1 Tbsp salted butter
  • 1 Tbsp chopped fresh chives, you can swap in spring onions / green onions
  • 2 Tbsp of grated cheddar cheese
  • 2 Tbsp sour cream

Instructions 

  • Use a knife to poke a few holes in your potato, brush the skins with olive oil and cook in the air fryer at 360F/180C for about 30-40 minutes, until the insides are soft. (Alternatively, you can speed things up a little if you microwave them for 8 minutes and then air fry for another 20 minutes which is actually my preferred method!) If you are cooking more than one potato you will need a slightly longer cooking time.
  • Pull out the air fryer basket and cut the potato open. Cut a cross into the top of the potato and use a fork to start to smush the sides down and mash the filling.
  • Smush some butter, cheese and chives into the potato flesh. Use the fork to mash it in as much as you can while making sure to keep the sides of the potato intact.
  • Brush the top with a little olive oil. Return to the air fryer, turn the temperature up to 200C/400F and cook again for 5-10 minutes, until crispy.
  • Top with sour cream and serve.

Notes

Alternative toppings:
Tomato & Basil (pictured in the post):
Finely chop 2-3 small tomatoes and place in a bowl with some salt, 1 clove of garlic sliced in half, a few basil leaves and a drizzle of olive oil. Allow to marinade while you cook the potato. In step 3, when you open the potato, mix in butter and a handful of grated parmesan (instead of cheddar), then cook again until crisp. Remove the garlic from the bowl and then spoon fresh tomato topping over the potato. Make sure to pour all the juices on!
Serving: 1g, Calories: 375kcal, Carbohydrates: 39g, Protein: 9g, Fat: 21g, Saturated Fat: 12g, Polyunsaturated Fat: 6g, Trans Fat: 1g, Cholesterol: 59mg, Sodium: 215mg, Fiber: 4g, Sugar: 3g

Equipment

Philips Viva Air Fryer