How to Make Smoked Potatoes: Everything You Need to Know

You’ve got your brisket all planned. You stuffed some hot-link sausages and did an initial smoke on them. Cornbread? sorted. You’re all set for your weekend cookout, right? Hmmmm … Seems like you may have forgotten your potatoes. The smoker is going to be going … why not toss in a few taters while your brisket rests? Or heck, even without all those other delicious things to eat, you could just load up your smoker with some spuds, smoke-bake them, and call it dinner. But for the lightest, fluffiest potatoes, you need to know about the temps to hit. No worries—we’ve got you covered. Read on to learn how to BBQ-smoke some potatoes for your next dinner or gathering.

Key temps for smoked baked potatoes

We’ve already done the legwork on potato doneness on this blog. (Go there for a deeper understanding of starches and their activity in cooking potatoes!) We found that potatoes get done at 203°F (95°C)—just like a brisket! By the time you get to that temp, the starches have all expanded and gelatinized into maximum tenderness, which is exactly what we want for our potatoes! Use a leave-in probe thermometer like RFX MEAT to monitor the potato temperature as it cooks, with your high alarm set to 203°F (95°C). (But keep an eye on the potatoes every so often to make sure that internal steam pressure and various shifting internal forces aren’t pushing your probes out, exposing the probe portion to temps that are too high.) Verify the temperature and tenderness with your Thermapen ONE when the alarm sounds, of course.

But what about the smoker (or oven) temp? Just because we’re trying to get some smoke on these tatties doesn’t mean we’re going full low-and-slow BBQ. For better skin texture (and because we want to eat sooner), we recommend bumping your smoker up to 375°F (191°C). At that temp, you get done (relatively … see below) quickly and the skin gets a nice texture. You could experiment with higher temps for even crisper skin, if you like; just monitor the internal temp of your taters and record your results for future applicability.

We used a pellet smoker with an additional wood-basket for making smoke at higher temperatures. Whatever smoker you use, try to get some smoke even though it’s running on the hot side. But even if you can’t, this is a great way to bake potatoes without heating your house in the summertime.

How long does it take to smoke potatoes?

The question we find people asking all over the internet is how long it takes to smoke (or even just bake) a potato. And the answer, of course, is until it’s done—but that’s pedantic and unhelpful. Plan cooking your potatoes for about an hour, plus or minus 15 minutes based on potato size, at this temperature.

Is foil-wrapped or naked better?

We wanted to know if there was an advantage to wrapping your potatoes in foil to bake them, so we gave it a try. We wrapped half of ours, trying to keep the size-distribution even between jackets and skins, and ran the cook.

We found that, at least anecdotally, they seemed to cook at about the same speed. The main difference was the texture of the skin and the presence (or absence) of “bark.” Our oil-rubbed, rub-coated potatoes came out crackly and just shy of crisp when we smoked them bare. The ones we wrapped in foil had a sort of rub-paste all over them when we opened them up. They were no fluffier, more buttery, or faster than naked ones. So, in our opinion, it’s not worth it to wrap your potatoes in foil. Save it for your ribs!

Do I need to poke my potatoes with a fork before baking?

No. The idea here is that poking your potatoes relieves pressure, preventing your potatoes from exploding while they cook. And while that may be true if you’re microwaving a potato, if you’re actually baking them it isn’t really necessary. In fact, it will dry your potato out by letting even more water vapor and steam escape during cooking. As we saw with the wrapped potatoes, potato skin is not water-tight enough to keep steam in completely. Don’t poke them and they’ll end up fluffier and moister, which is what we want!

Double-smoking bacon for your potatoes

While we’re at the smoker with some potatoes, we may as well make our own bacon bits, yes? Yes! Bacon that is cooked to crisp on the smoker is possibly the best bacon. Just lay the individual slices out on a rack and let them smoke until crisp. Check them starting at 15 minutes and go for your desired doneness. How long it takes will depend on the thickness of your bacon and how you like it done. Bonus: if you lay it on a rack above your potatoes, they will baste in bacon juice as they cook. (Though that will yield some weird spotting in the spice rub on the potatoes. A tough choice to make!)

Smoke your baked potatoes!

Get out your RFX MEAT wireless thermometer, heat up the smoker, rub your tubers with some oil and seasoning, and smoke ’em. It’s a grand accompaniment to any BBQ feast and can be done in the time it takes to rest a large cut. They were the best potatoes we’ve had in a long time, and we can’t wait to do it again soon! Happy cooking!