Cheesy Grilled Potatoes and Onions

This recipe for cheesy grilled potatoes and onions is perfect for a family dinner or picnic. Potatoes are mixed with onions and topped with barbecue sauce, cheese and bacon for a tasty BBQ side dish you can cook on the grill or in the oven.

These simple five ingredients grilled potatoes in foil are a delicious dish, with all the yummy flavor of classic loaded baked potatoes. They have gooey cheese, crispy bacon and a little of smokey flavor from the grill!

As an added bonus they are very simple to make, which makes them an effortless side dish, perfect for adding to your next summer cookout. They offer easy preparation and minimal cleanup with maximum taste!

Grilled Side Dish

Once warm weather is I am always looking for easy vegetable side dishes to serve when we grill. And potatoes are a staple for serving with a grilled dinner!

We frequently make salt potatoes, a traditional Syracuse dish or twice baked potatoes for serving with our grilled chicken or smoked pork.

But sometimes I want to cook everything outside. Let’s face it, some summer days are just too hot to turn the stove on and heat up the house.

And sometimes we go camping, or go to a state park for a summer cookout. Then we need to use the grill to its full potential and need a side dish we can cook entirely outside.

Foil Packet or Foil Roasting Pan?

These potatoes can be cooked on the grill in a foil roasting pan or just in an aluminum foil packet. So which works better? Well it depends.

These potatoes will cook a bit faster in a foil packet. The foil packet can be flipped over on the grill, which speeds the cooking.

In addition the tightly wrapped foil of the packet distributes the heat better because there is less air inside it. So foil packets are the way to go if you want speedy cooking.

And if you are camping foil packets are super easy and a great way to feed the family. However if you are cooking for a crowd foil packets become harder to manage.

You can’t fit more than about 4 servings in a packet. Plus they are easy to rip if you aren’t careful flipping them.

So if you are making this for a big cookout a foil roasting pan is easier to manage than multiple foil packets. But either way the potatoes taste delicious!

Best Potatoes for Grilling

I prefer to grill red potatoes because they are lower in starch than russet potatoes. This means they hold their shape better after cooking are less likely to get mushy.

I also just like the thin skin of red potatoes best. But I have made this with russet potatoes and yellow potatoes and they work fine in the recipe.

So just use whatever potatoes you have, it doesn’t make much difference. Some of the pictures in this post are of red potatoes and some are of russet potatoes, because I have made and photographed this recipe so may times!

How to Grilled Potatoes

1. Prepare

I like to mix everything for the grilled potatoes right in the foil or pan it will cook in. Why get an extra bowl dirty after all?

So if you are using foil lay out a layer of foil on the counter. Heavy duty aluminum foil works well, or just use two layers.

If you are using a foil roasting pan get it out. Spray the roasting pan or aluminum foil with a little bit of cooking spray so the potatoes don’t stick.

2. Wash and Slice

First wash the potatoes under cold water and scrub a little bit to get off any dirt. Then dry them off and slice the potatoes thinly.

I cut them about 1/8 of an inch thick. The thicker the potatoes the longer they will take to cook.

It works best to halve them and then sliced them. Don’t peel the potatoes since a lot of a potato’s nutritional value is found in the skin.

Just pile the potatoes up in the pan or on the foil. Slice up some onion too and add it on top of the potatoes.

3. Mix

To make the potatoes even tastier add some barbecue sauce on top. This adds a big bold flavor and a little bit of smokiness to the dish.

I used Dinosaur Bar-B-Que sauce, because that is our favorite local sauce, but I am sure it would taste great with whatever sauce you like best.

Finally I topped it all off with a generous helping of cheddar cheese. Because cheese makes everything taste better!

4. Cook

If you are using a foil packet fold the edges up around the ingredients. Then add a layer of foil on top of the potatoes and carefully crimp the edges to seal it all up. Again, you might want to use a double layer of foil.

If you are using a roasting pan add a layer of foil on top of it to cover the potatoes.

Put the foil packet or roasting pan on the grill to cook. If the grill is on medium heat a foil packet will take 15-20 minutes to cook and a roasting pan full of potatoes will take 45-60 minutes.

If using a foil packet flip it over once about halfway through the cooking time. If using a pan shake it halfway through to mix the ingredients.

The cooking time is difficult to specify because it can vary quite a bit based on your grill and how hot it gets. So if you are cooking ribs low and slow the potatoes will take longer to cook!

The potatoes are done once a fork passes easily into them. These potatoes will stay hot quite a while inside the foil, so you don’t need to time them perfectly with the rest of the dinner.

5. Top off with Extra Cheese and Bacon

I like to add extra cheese and bacon to the grilled potatoes after I take them off the grill. I open up the packet, sprinkle some cheese and bacon on, and close it back up to let it melt for 5 minutes.

This ensures that the potatoes are extra cheesy and the bacon is crispy and tasty.

Cooking in the Oven

If it starts pouring while you are cooking and you need to move inside you can still cook these potatoes! Set the oven at 400 F and it will take about 20 minutes to cook a foil packet and 45 minutes to cook a large roasting pan.

Pre-cook the Potatoes

It is possible to pre-cook or parboil the potatoes to make them cook more quickly. This isn’t necessary for a family dinner, but if I was making a large pan of potatoes for a pot luck or a big cookout I would pre-cook them.

To do this put the potatoes in the microwave and cook them for 4 minutes after washing them.

Then slice them and proceed as directed. This will cut the cooking time for a big foil pan to about 30 minutes.

How to Serve Grilled Potatoes

When they are done the potatoes are tender, the BBQ sauce is blended in and the cheese is nicely melted. These simple campfire potatoes are delicious!

I frequently pair these potatoes with grilled chicken leg quarters, and they would be great with steak or pork too. You can top them off with some chopped chives or green onions and sour cream just like a loaded baked potato.

Find More Potato Recipes

• Air Fryer Twice Baked Potatoes
• Syracuse Salt Potatoes
• Instant Pot Garlic Mashed Potatoes