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Anyone ever have a baked potato explode?

Idle question. I've always heard that you need to prick the skins before baking a potato. The potential consequence for failure to do so is a catastrophic potato explosion.

Has anyone had this happen to them?

57 comments
  • Yep! One of the worst burns I’ve ever gotten too. The potato sticks to you like glue and doesn’t come off right away.

    Really sucks.

  • I used to work in a bar that made baked potatoes all the time

    It was a fast way to sober up a bit when one would pop in the oven

  • In the oven, really hot and it blew open and "baked" all over the inside. Hell to clean up. I was sure I poked it, but... couldn't remember.
    Now I go all serial killer on them before baking.

  • No. But I did have one catch on fire in a big way, because it was already fully cooked (low moisture at that point) and too close to the broiler element. I had never used a broiler before. The starch and sugar in a potato is quite flammable.

  • It's never happened to me, but it happened to someone I knew in college. They spent a while cleaning the oven after that lol.

57 comments