Jacket potatoes will be 'crispy and moreish' if you do 1 thing before putting them in the oven

Jacket potatoes will be 'crispy and moreish' if you do 1 thing before putting them in the oven The 'potato queen' Poppy O'Toole's viral jacket potato recipe uses a clever technique for extra crispy skin and a creamy garlic filling — and it's surprisingly simple to make at home There are few lunches that can beat a truly great jacket potato. When cooked to perfection, the outside should be gloriously crispy and crunchy, while the inside should have a fluffy and flavoursome filling. Despite being a relatively straightforward dish to prepare, many people struggle to get their jacket potatoes just right. They can often turn out bland or dry, but a clever technique from Poppy O'Toole promises to change all that. The self-proclaimed 'potato queen', renowned for her viral spud recipes, claims this simple method makes your potatoes 'extra delicious and crispy'. This particular recipe is among her most viral, and it's easy to see why. Poppy even demonstrated it on This Morning for Dermot O'Leary and Josie Gibson, who couldn't contain their excitement, exclaiming 'wow' as they tucked in. The potatoes have a creamy garlic filling that melts beautifully during cooking, but the real star of the show is the cutting technique. Rather than the traditional cross, Poppy scores a star shape into the potato using three or four lines to create greater surface area. The result is crispier skin with room for even more of that mouth-watering filling. She said: "It's a formidable potato. It's absolutely gorgeous and it's so moreish. Those little star crosses make it extra delicious and crispy." Here's how to recreate them at home. Star-crossed jacket potatoes Ingredients - 2 large Maris Pipers or Russet potatoes - 80g cream cheese - 100g salted butter - 1 bulb garlic - Small bunch parsley, roughly chopped - Salt, ground white pepper, fine sugar and neutral oil Method Preheat your oven to 200oc fan/220oc/440of, or 200oc/400of for the air fryer. Pierce your potatoes all over with a fork and coat with a drizzle of oil. Season well with salt, then roast for 45 minutes to an hour until fully cooked and crispy on the outside. Once the potatoes are in, slice the top off a whole garlic bulb and drizzle over some olive oil. Season it, then wrap the bulb tightly in tin foil and place it in the oven or air fryer alongside the potatoes. With 10 minutes remaining on the potatoes, unwrap the garlic bulb and squeeze the roasted cloves into the butter. Melt them together in the microwave, then season with salt and stir in the parsley, putting it to one side for later. In a separate bowl, combine the cream cheese with another pinch of salt, ground white pepper and a touch of fine sugar, and set that aside as well. Once the jacket potatoes are cool enough to handle, score a line down the centre, then make two more cuts crossing over it. Carefully open up the cuts using a knife and spoon some of the cream cheese mixture into each one, filling it around the edges. Arrange them on an oven tray or in an air fryer basket and spoon the garlic butter generously over the top. Increase the oven temperature slightly to 210oc fan/230oc/450of, or keep the air fryer at the same temperature. Return them to the oven for 10-15 minutes, or until gloriously golden, bubbling and buttery. Finish with a pinch of flaky sea salt and tuck in.