Smoked baked potatoes and meat cooking on racks inside a smoker, with arrows pointing to the potatoes.

During the summertime we use our smoker a lot! If you’ve never used one or tasted smoked meat or potatoes before you will be amazed at how tasty everything turns out. In just a few hours you’ll have the best meal. It’s one of our favorite Traeger smoker recipes.

How Long to Smoke Potatoes

This time we made some smoked taters in about 2 hours. I will say I will never make them in the barbecue again because they were totally amazing with a crispy skin but still fluffy and tender on the inside! Id have to say this is the best way to make baked potatoes without foil probably ever.

I bought an inexpensive electric smoker years ago but then we upgraded! You don’t have to have a really large version for this idea, or a brand name. Certainly one of our favorite recipe ideas that is super cheap and can be filled with all the things for dinner.

Should baked potatoes be wrapped in foil?

No it’s not great a great option when smoking. Foil holds in the steam and moisture which will make them soft and almost a boiled taste. If you love crispy potato skins you will NOT want this result for sure. When baking in the oven Baked Potato Wrapped in Foil works better in the first step to heat to the center but I always take it off to crisp up.

Since the heat circulates well through the underside of the grate, the skins turn out great without any effort at all. Same goes when making our air fryer baked potatoes too because the skins come out amazingly tasty.

Do you have to bake potatoes whole?

This go around we are keeping them whole, if you want a faster cook time you can make diced smoked cheesy potatoes that are diced really with the same ingredients + we add a bit of butter too. Here’s the printable recipe for smoked baked potatoes as well:

Can you smoke meat at the same time? Yes, if you want to try smoking meats and other foods this is a great food to start with. As you can see in this video and photos we also madesmoked bacon wrapped pork chops with them and they took the same amount of time so if you’re game go for both!!

A smoked baked potato with its skin on, split open and fluffed inside, is served on a white plate. In the background, there is a small bowl of chopped green onions and a partially visible fork. The setting is on a wooden table.

How do you know when smoked baked potatoes are done?

It is all about texture, you want the center to be super tender. Best way to do this is to slide a knife into the middle. If it slides in easily without any effort than it is done. The outside skins should be golden brown and wrinkled as well.

I will say the Traeger brand typically is better keeping an even temperature that doesn’t sway a lot. This is most important if you live in colder areas like we do. You can get a blanket to put over it too that will help keep it steady too. For this style or Green Mountain the directions stay the same though.

Best Baked Potato Toppings

Salt and pepper with a little butter
Sour cream and bacon bits
Stuffed with our 5 ingredient chili and cheese is probably our favorite way to go.

When you’re ready to start dinner look at our meat smoking chart linked above to determine how long each meat will take. Our smoked meatloaf recipe is great with this easy side dish

Other baked potato recipes you’ll love

Pressure cooker baked potatoes is the quickest way to get them cooked for sure, but not the ideal texture for sure. If I do make them this way for time purposes I will spray with some olive oil and air fry them at the end. Making them this way gets both textures you want without moving them at all.

Crockpot baked potatoes don’t get that crisp skin I love but is a great hands off potato recipe idea for sure.

Baked potatoes on the barbecue taste similar to this and great if you’re smoking hamburgers this way. Just throw everything on at once.