This easy summer side dish is one of my favorite grilling recipes! I love it as a side to the grilled chicken breast with bourbon peaches.
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❤️ Why you'll love it
- Almost no clean up! Everything cooks in the foil and then you just throw the foil into recycling when you're done.
- They cook right along with your burgers or steaks.
- Kids love them - they can make their own packets to suit their own tastes. Grilling veggies in foil is a great way to get them to eat those often snubbed vegetables!
Irresistible cheese and Ranch seasoned potatoes grilled in foil are a summer standard! They keep dinner quick and easy and cleanup to a minimum so you can relax with a glass of wine and watch the fireflies come out!
🧾 Ingredients
🔪 Instructions
Note: This is an overview of the instructions. The full instructions are in the green recipe card below.
Step one
- Preheat the grill.
- Wash the potatoes.
- Put the potatoes and chopped onions into a large mixing bowl.
Step two
- Add the olive oil and the Ranch seasoning, plus salt and pepper if desired.
- Mix with your hands until all the potatoes are covered with the olive oil mixture. You can use a wooden spoon if you want but hands work better.
Step three
- Divide the potato mixture evenly between the six sheets of aluminum foil.
- Place some of the cheese and a whole peeled garlic clove on top of each.
- Bring the foil packet up to cover the potatoes and fold on all sides to seal completely.
- Repeat until all the potatoes are in foil packets.
Step four
- Place packets on the grill, seam side down.
- Cook for about 5 to 10 minutes depending on the size of the potatoes.
- Using tongs, flip the packets over and cook on the other side for 10 minutes or until done.
- Remove from grill and set aside until ready to eat. Be careful when opening - they are hot!
🎥 Video
Click on the image to watch me make this recipe from start to finish with extra tips! (Video opens in a new tab).
🥄 Equipment
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You'll need the following items to make this recipe successfully.
- Grill
- Aluminum foil
- Large mixing bowl
- Tongs
🥫 Storage
Leftover potato packets can be put right in the refrigerator - no need to open them. When you're ready to eat just pop in the oven or back on the grill for a few minutes.
They'll stay fresh in the fridge for up to 5 days. This delicious summer side dish does not freeze well so after 5 days throw them out.
💭 Tips
Expert Tip: Be very very very careful when opening the foil packet. The potatoes are hot and there will be a lot of steam. You could easily get a steam burn so be cautious.
- The heavy duty foil works best for this technique but you can use two layers of regular foil in a pinch.
- Use the baby Yukon Gold, red, or other small, thin skinned potatoes. It saves time because there's no need to peel them. If you use russets you'll need to peel them and dice them.
- If some of the potatoes are larger than the others cut them in half to keep all of them as close to the same size as possible.
- Foil grilled potatoes are so perfect for camping because you can put the packets right on the coals of the campfire.
- Assemble these up to 2 days ahead of time and keep in the refrigerator until they're ready to grill.
👩🍳 FAQs
They will. That's why it's important to cover them in the olive oil mixture and also spray the foil with no-stick spray.
Bring the two long sides up over the potatoes with edges together. Fold over once and squeeze tightly. Fold over once or twice more. Now, fold up the end two or three times in the same way, pressing tightly together on each fold. Repeat with the other end.
Yes, see the recipe card for details.
You can use peeled and diced Russet potatoes, fingerling potatoes, special baby potato mixes, peeled and diced sweet potatoes, or peeled and diced yams.
📖 Variations
- Add crumbled, cooked bacon to the packet along with the cheese.
- Cook the packet without the cheese, then open it up and put the cheese on. It's less likely to stick to the aluminum foil but you don't get the crispy cheese bits, either.
- Make this low carb by substituting cauliflower for the potatoes.
- Use dry Italian dressing mix and Parmesan cheese instead of the ingredients called for in this recipe.
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- Southern Cornbread Salad Recipe
- Old Fashioned Macaroni Salad with Hellmann's
- Green Beans and Potatoes with Bacon
- Italian Tortellini Pasta Salad Recipe with Asparagus
- Easy Summer Fruit Salad with Honey Lime Dressing
📞 The last word
We always made these grilled potatoes in foil on camping trips. In fact, a lot of times we'd add sliced up smoked sausage or hot dogs to the packets, along with some other vegetables.
It's one of those traditions that makes wonderful memories that last forever.
I like to put the cheese on the potatoes before I add them to the grill but honestly it WILL stick to the aluminum foil. I am a weirdo that likes those crunchy, cheesy bits. If you prefer you can leave to cheese off, seal and cook as directed, then open the foil packet and add the cheese just before serving.
If you click on the number of servings in the recipe card you can adjust the measurements up or down for the exact number of servings you need. Don't forget that you can click on "add to collection" to save it to your own, private recipe box!
If you love this recipe please give it 5 stars! ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
📖 Recipe
Cheesy Ranch Foil Grilled Potatoes
Equipment Needed
Ingredients
- 1 ½ pounds baby potatoes, Yukon Gold or red potatoes
- 1 cup onion, chopped
- 2 tablespoons olive oil, or melted butter
- 1 ounce Ranch seasoning mix
- 6 garlic cloves, peeled but left whole
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt, use ¼ teaspoon if using regular table salt
- ½ teaspoon cracked black pepper
- 1 ½ cups Cheddar, or Pepper Jack, shredded
Instructions
Step one
- Preheat the grill to medium high heat.
- Wash the potatoes and cut any bigger ones in half.
- Spray a rectangle of aluminum foil with no-stick cooking spray.
Step two
- Put the potatoes and onions into a large mixing bowl.
- Add the olive oil and the Ranch seasoning, plus salt and pepper if desired.
- Mix with your hands until all the potatoes are covered with the olive oil mixture.
Step three
- Divide the potato mixture evenly between the six sheets of aluminum foil.
- Place some of the cheese and a garlic clove on top of each.
- Bring the foil packet up to cover the potatoes and fold on all sides to seal completely.
- Repeat until all the potatoes are in foil packets.
Step four
- Place packets on the grill, seam side down.
- Cook for about 5 to 10 minutes depending on the size of the potatoes.
- Using tongs, flip the packets over and cook on the other side for 10 minutes or until done.
- Remove from grill and set aside until ready to eat. Be careful when opening - they are hot!
Oven instructions
- Prepare the grilled potato packets as above.
- Preheat the oven to 425°.
- Place the packets on a baking sheet, seam side down.
- Bake for 10 minutes then flip and cook for 10 to 15 minutes more.
- Remove from the oven and serve.
Notes
- The heavy duty foil works best for this technique but you can use two layers of regular foil in a pinch.
- Use the baby Yukon Gold or other thin skinned potatoes. It saves time because there's no need to peel them. If you use russets you'll need to peel them and dice them.
- If some of the potatoes are larger than the others cut them in half to keep all of them as close to the same size as possible.
- Foil grilled potatoes are so perfect for camping because you can put the packets right in the coals of the fire.
- Assemble these up to 2 days ahead of time and keep in the refrigerator until they're ready to grill.
Helen
This is on my menu for tonight.