Baked Potato Throwdown: Russet vs. Yukon Gold vs. Red vs. Sweet Potato

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In the final video celebrating the start of our whole food, plant-based lifestyle back in June 2018, we decided to host a BAKED POTATO THROWDOWN!

Since we kicked this new lifestyle off with two weeks of nothing but plain potatoes (inspired by Penn Jillette’s book Presto!), we wanted to go back and test out a variety of plain potatoes to see how they stack up. We are gluttons for punishment! 😉 If you are interested in learning more about the two week potato diet, check out our Potato Diet Playlist on YouTube!

We picked four different kinds of potatoes to sample, and I was especially interested to see if we still noticed the subtle differences in the flavors. When we were eating plain potatoes for two weeks, we began to pick up on a lot of things you miss out on when your taste buds are overwhelmed by all of the salt, oil, etc. added to everything on a “Standard American Diet.”

Overall, this was a very interesting test and a nice way to end our celebration. I’m not sure if either of us will ever eat another plain potato again, but at least I made it through this one without crying (see “One Year Potato-A-Versary video“)! 🙂

Prepping & Cooking Your Potatoes

Baking potatoes in an oven is super easy! You don’t need any fancy gadgets or anything. We followed these steps:

STEP 1 – Preheat your oven to 350°F.

STEP 2 – Wash off your potatoes, poke them a few times with a fork, and place them directly on the top oven rack. I recommend putting a baking tray on the bottom rack of your oven to catch any liquid that might drip out in the baking process.

*For the sweet potato, since a lot of liquid usually comes out (and it is quite a sticky mess), we went ahead and put that in a small baking pan instead of directly on the oven rack.

STEP 3 – A regular size russet potato will generally take about 60 to 75 minutes to bake, but a good test is to poke it with sharp knife – if it goes in and comes back out easily, your potato is ready! If you get any resistance, leave it in longer. A raw potato is no fun! We ended up cooking all of our potatoes for 60 minutes and they turned out pretty decent. Cooking time really does vary based on size, so use the knife test and your best judgement.

That’s it! We like to let them cool before reheating and eating them. In our experience, they are tastier that way than if you eat them hot directly out of the oven.

Contestant #1: Russet Potato

Plain russet potatoes were not my favorite during the “potato weeks,” but over time, I think they are growing on me! Of course, they taste amazing when loaded up with toppings, but we wanted to try them out plain again to see how the flavor and texture compared to the others.

Russet potatoes definitely have the “fluffiest” interior and the thickest skin. I actually don’t mind eating the skin. When eaten alongside the interior, it adds a nice bite. The fluffy, creamy, neutral-tasting interior makes these work really well as a base to mix with other delicious toppings.

Contestant #2: Red Potato

Up next, we tried a red potato. These are waxier than the russets and the interior is a lot more dense. They have a different, almost sweet or nutty flavor to them.

The skin on the red potatoes is a lot thinner, so you don’t get the bite you do from a russet potato skin. I think these taste better when they are cubed up prior to cooking, rather than eaten as a whole.

Contestant #3: Yukon Gold Potato

There is no denying that the nice golden color of these potatoes makes them look like they should taste buttery and delicious. Gold potatoes were my “favorite” during the plain potato weeks.

Compared to the russet and red potatoes, the gold are definitely more waxy and dense. I do think they have a subtle natural “buttery” flavor and an extra little punch that you don’t get from the other two.

Contestant #4: Sweet Potato

Yes, we know these aren’t REALLY potatoes, but we were “allowed” to have sweet potatoes during the two weeks (per Penn Jillette’s rules). Brian liked to air fry or bake them until they became very mushy and tasted almost like eating pie. The one we tried in the video wasn’t baked quite as long, which I actually preferred over the super mushy ones.

The natural sweetness of these is crazy… all my life, I’ve been adding butter, syrup, sugar, etc. and the truth is, they really don’t need it. That being said, these definitely aren’t my favorite and I think eating them plain was sending us both on flashback lane (and not in a good way LOL).

Surprise Contestant #5: Peef’s Fingerling Potatoes

Peef decided we should also try some fingerling potatoes, so we put his medley in our air fryer on 350°F for 30 minutes. Truth be told, I think we may have over cooked them a bit.

During the two weeks of potatoes, we had some fingerlings and they actually tasted a bit salty to me. This was after a week or so of eating absolutely no salt. This time, I didn’t detect it as much, but then again we are eating things with actual flavor now 🙂

Unfortunately, neither of us really cared for the fingerlings, although I am absolutely certain they would be tasty if prepared in a better manner!

The Throwdown: Which Potato Won?

Be sure to watch the video to see us try all of the potatoes.
We each ranked our favorites below!

Jessica’s Ranking:
1. Yukon Gold
2. Red
3. Russet
4. Sweet
5. Fingerling

The Yukon Gold won first place for me! That slightly buttery flavor really shines through when comparing these plain.

Brian’s Ranking:
1. Red
2. Russet
3. Yukon Gold
4. Sweet
5. Fingerling

Brian went with the red potato as his winner, although the russet was a very close second in his book!

What is your favorite kind of potato?
Let us know in the comment section below!

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