How to Grill Foil Packets, Plus 5 Easy Recipes for Great Taste

Enjoy delicious eats with less mess thanks to these foil pack recipes. We've got grill foil packets for chicken steak, vegetables, and dessert.

We love foil packs for their wrap-it and cook-it ease (not to mention the fast cleanup—even faster than one-pan recipes because zero pans are required). We also appreciate the way cooking foil packs on the grill keeps what's inside moist and flavorful. Just about anything you can cook on a grill can be grilled in a foil pack, including meat, fish, vegetables, and seafood. Make these grilled foil pack meals to enjoy throughout grilling season.

Green onions and slices of shallot on a large piece of foil to make a foil pack for grilling.
Andy Lyons

How to Make Foil Packs

Use these three steps as your master plan for making all kinds of foil packs for dinner. Entrées, side dishes, and even desserts all follow these basic guidelines.

1. Precook if Needed

Cooking hobo packs on the grill is easiest when you choose ingredients that require the same amount of cooking time. That way you can wrap all ingredients together and toss them on the grill. However, some ingredients in foil pack grilling recipes will take longer to cook than others. This is often true with potatoes, which you may have to precook if you're wrapping them up with other quicker-cooking ingredients such as fish.

2. Divide Food Among Foil Sheets

Place one portion of the recipe in the center of a foil sheet that's been cut to the size directed in your recipe. Often, recipes will call for at least a 12-inch square sheet of foil to make foil packs.

Folding ends of foil pack on a light wooden surface
Blaine Moats

3. Wrap and Grill

To wrap and seal your hobo foil pack, bring up two opposite edges of foil; seal with a double fold. Fold the remaining edges together to enclose, leaving space for steam to build. Grill as directed in your recipe.

Grilled Foil Pack Recipes

01 of 05

Grilled Foil-Pack Philly Cheesesteak Hash

Grilled Foil Pack Philly Cheesesteak Hash

We'll start with our current favorite, grilled steak and potato foil packs. It's our favorite because your entire meal is inside. No need to worry about cooking up veggie kabobs or other grilled side dishes. Plus, cheese. You can never go wrong when you add a slice of cheese.

02 of 05

Luau BBQ Chicken Foil Packs

Luau BBQ Chicken Foil Packs
Matthew Clark

Sure, grilled chicken is great, but pineapple chicken foil packs add an enticing tropical twist to your grilled dinner. With plenty of veggies packed inside, simply add a side of grilled bread or another starch to round out the meal.

03 of 05

Red Snapper and Vegetables

Red Snapper and Vegetables
Scott Little

Here's one of those foil pack dinner ideas we mentioned earlier where a bit of precooking comes in handy. Even though you're cutting tiny new potatoes into quarters, the snapper still cooks much faster. Use the recipe directions for cooking potatoes in the microwave before adding to the foil packs.

04 of 05

Lemon-Veggie Foil Pack

Lemon-Veggie Foil Pack
Andy Lyons

Sprinkle your favorite veggies with lemon-pepper seasoning and wrap in foil for a perfectly grilled and smoked side dish of veggies.

05 of 05

Pineapple Berry Hobo Pack

Pineapple Berry Hobo
Blaine Moats

This five-ingredient dessert recipe will convince you that grilled fruit can indeed constitute dessert. For those with an even bigger sweet tooth, serve the fruit mixture over slices of pound cake or with a scoop of ice cream.

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