Grilled Red Potatoes

Grilled red potatoes will quickly become a staple in your home when you are making dinner on the grill. Instead of turning on the oven too, these grilled potatoes are the answer. Served with easy grilled vegetables or grilled broccoli and your sides are ready.

When I grill a meal, I don't want to have to turn on the oven, too. That's where this simple grilled red potato side dish comes in to save the day. The potatoes and onions are packed into aluminum foil packets and cooked right on the grill with a touch of butter and any spices you like. Simple salt and pepper are delicious. Also, consider mixing things up with Cajun spices, paprika, oregano, or Italian seasoning to match whatever you are serving.

Less is more, or so goes the saying. Grilled red potatoes are a simple side dish designed to accompany any meal. The great thing about grilled potatoes is that the skin stays on, which is where all the nutritional value of the potato lies, as opposed to peeling it off as commonly seen with mashed potatoes. The skin contains fiber, B vitamins, iron and potassium.

A clever way to cook potatoes on the grill is with a foil packet recipe. If you haven’t tried this cooking method out yet, you’ll love how foil packet dinners require no clean up and are super easy to prepare!

How To Grill Potatoes

Why grill instead of baking? While the oven is always an option, the grill is perfect for steamy days. Who wants to turn the oven on to 400 degrees and heat the whole kitchen up when its a hundred degrees outside. Instead, have the resident grill master, or master in training, stoke the fire.

Using heavy-duty aluminum foil is a best practice with a grilled red potato dish. You’ll want to double wrap the potatoes and onion to prevent liquids from leaking through during the cooking process. Additionally, the tighter the seal, the hotter the contents in the foil packet dinner will get.

Avoid the huge flame if possible when grilling. You want an even application of heat and scorching a foil packet will alter the way it cooks. Even heat is the goal.

Onion Advice

Speaking of onions, do you cry when you cut? To minimize the annoying effects they cause, try soaking the onion in cold water before cutting. The cold will chill the gases enough to lessen their impact.

You can also wear contact or glasses when you cut onions. The lenses block the gases and make it sting less. For those who don’t wear contacts or glasses, there is one more trick that may work. It sounds crazy but many people swear by it. Try sticking a piece of bread in your mouth while you slice. The bread will absorb some the gases before they rise up to your nose and eyes. Strange but true!

While the grilled potatoes in this recipe call for an onion, butter, salt and pepper – which is a delicious combination – don’t be afraid to experiment with any variety of other flavors based on your likes and the meal you are preparing.

Spice Ideas for Grilled Potatoes

Don’t be timid when it comes to throwing in new flavors with your grilled red potatoes. It’s okay to experiment. Sometimes you get it right, other times it’s so–so. By trying new things, you’ll discover all kinds of new recipes and turn the basic side dish of grilled potatoes into a potential new favorite.

A note on spices: Ounce for ounce, dried herbs are more potent than fresh. If you grow your own herbs, of course go ahead and use them when cooking. One part dried herb to three parts fresh is a good rule to follow.

Purchasing new spices gets expensive. And if you aren’t sure you’ll use them in the future, start slowly. Buy what you think might be applicable to other dishes you like to cook and add on little by little.

• Rosemary and Garlic: Substitute minced garlic for onion. Along with the garlic add a healthy dash of fresh rosemary. On another occasion try thyme or sage.
• Indian Spices: A long roster of the basics include cumin, coriander, mustard seeds, ginger, garam masala (a blend of spices), turmeric, cinnamon, cardamom, spicy red chile pepper. A note on the mustard seeds: These need a little prep work to release their flavor as it’s meant to be. Add seeds to hot oil and heat them until they split. Then you can use the oil with the seeds to flavor your red potatoes. A note on the ginger: Buy fresh ginger. It can’t be kept at room temperature. Instead, freeze it and shave off what you need from the frozen block with a potato peeler.
• Buffalo or hot sauce: If you or the people eating your meal happen to love hot and spicy dishes go ahead and throw hot sauce or buffalo sauce on the cooked potatoes. But wait until after they’re cooked and off the grill to drizzle on the hot sauce. The grilled potatoes can take it. Can you?
• Moroccan Spices: Salt, pepper, ginger and turmeric are mainstays in Moroccan cuisine. That being said adding any combination of saffron, paprika, cumin, white pepper or cinnamon are options that will yield the flavors reminiscent of vegetable tagines. This combination of spices is meant to invoke a combination of sweet and savory flavor.

These Grilled Red Potatoes couldn't be any more delicious and are so easy. After spending way too many years making potatoes inside while I grilled the rest of dinner, I am excited to finally move our entire meal outside. 

Here is a photo of what they will look like if you don't place them on the grill after to brown the edges. They are delicious both ways.