When you're in need of a comforting yet delicious lunch or dinner, you really can't go wrong with a jacket potato. This UK classic is a firm favourite for a reason, with so many ways to enjoy them.

Whether your filling of choice is chilli, cheese, beans or a combination of them all, you can't deny that they're one of the most versatile foods around. But achieving that perfectly crispy jacket with a fluffy interior isn't always easy. Thankfully, domestic goddess Nigella Lawson has shared her techinque for the best jacket potatoes, and it couldn't be easier.

Although it does take the longest amount of time, you often get the best baked potato results from cooking them in the oven. This is what you'll need to do for Nigella's recipe, but she includes a little-known trick that really transforms spuds from limp to crispy, and it takes seconds.

Her potatoes are a combination of baked and roasted, as she described in the recipe notes: "The tops crisp and cook to a beautiful gold, but you still have the fluffiness underneath."

By cutting the potatoes in half and scoring a criss cross pattern on top, this creates more surface area, which means more texture when they're baked with olive oil and salt. Although they don't have quite the same depth as a normal jacket potato, you can still pile on all your favourite toppings just like you usually would, and the flat surface makes this easy.

Here's how you can make them at home.

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Ingredients

• 4 baking potatoes


• Two x 15ml tablespoons regular olive oil


• Teaspoon Maldon sea salt flakes (or to taste)

Method

Preheat the oven to 220°C/gas mark 7/425F.

Cut the potatoes lengthways so that you have shallow halves. Cut a diamond pattern of grooves into the flat flesh of each potato. Don't go to deep - you just want to score them, not cut right through.

On a baking tray, place the potatoes cut-side up. Drizzle each of the potato halves with some oil and a sprinkle of sea salt flakes.

Bake for 45 minutes, or until the tops of the potatoes are golden and the insides soft. Add your favourite toppings, such as tuna mayo, cheese, chilli or just butter.