So if any of you are fans of Modern Family, you probably know about Phil and Claire’s ongoing silent feud about the broken stair, right? And the fact that it never gets fixed? Well, the “broken stair” in my house is the hole in our deck that used to contain a dead tree until my husband cut the tree down, so it was a hole full of spiky dead tree branches. This afternoon, I went out on the deck with my brother-in-law and, after cautioning him about the hole, I walked backwards right into said hole. This resulted in a nice, tree branch-inflicting stab wound on my hamstring right as I was about to snap a picture of my ice cream that was set to go today. By the time it had been determined that I wouldn’t die from this painful and highly embarassing incident, my light was gone. This is a roundabout way of telling y’all that I’ll have to save my dad’s favorite Tutti Fruitti ice cream for another day. The upside is that I get to highlight an older recipe inspired by my dad. The other upside is that it took my husband about an hour after my spill into the depths of hell (okay, that might be a little dramatic) to fix the deck. A true miracle, right?
One day, I walked into Williams-Sonoma not knowing that my life would be changed forever. And no, I’m not overly dramatic. They gave me a sample of potatoes they’d been cooking and they tasted JUST like the Dutch oven potatoes I’d grown up eating. The secret? Smoked paprika .
.
Paprika itself is very mild; it’s basically dried, ground sweet red peppers. Well, with smoked paprika, the peppers are smoked on some kind of flavorful wood before they’re dried and ground, adding an incredible sweet, natural smokey flavor (not like that artificial-tasting hickory flavor powder stuff). However, at Williams-Sonoma, it was about $15 for a little can of the stuff, imported straight from Spain. Scratch that; I went to the grocery store and found some in the spice aisle. In fact, the bottle pictured is huge and it was about $3 at Sam’s club. Whatever you do, though, don’t leave it out; it adds awesome bacon-y flavor, sans the fat and the inherent ickiness of steamed bacon.
Anyway, give these a try at all of your summer barbecues! I honestly think if I had to pick a last meal, it would be straight from the grill; some of my happiest memories include grilled meat, potatoes and onions, corn on the cob, and lots of cold watermelon on warm summer nights.
Grilled Potatoes and Onions
1 potato per person (any kind of potatoes work; for the sake of sentimentality, I’m partial to Russetts, although red and Yukon Gold potatoes are so smooth and delicious)
1/2 small onion per person (the one pictured is a little large because I used some onions in the corn)
1 Tbsp. butter per person, cut into pieces
1/4 tsp. salt per person
Freshly-ground black pepper
Smoked paprika
Aluminum foil
Tear sheets (1 per person) of aluminum foil into about 16″ pieces. Fold each in half into a sqaure-ish and set aside.
Preheat grill. Slice potatoes into pieces about 1/8-1/4″ thick
. 
Slice onions about 1/8″ thick
. 
Place 1 potato in the middle of each foil square and dot with butter pieces
Sprinkle with salt and pepper and then sprinkle generously with smoked paprika. Remember, paprika is super mild, so it’s hard to add too much. Top each pile with onions.
Fold edges in and secure tightly. It’s important to get a good seal because the moisture will cook the potatoes and onions and you want all those yummy juices, so if it seems like there’s not quite enough foil, wrap packet in another layer.
Turn heat on grill to low. Place each packet on the grill. Close lid for 15 minutes. Turn and allow to cook for another 15 minutes. Remove from heat and carefully open each packet
(or, even better, let each person open their own packet–hey, less work for you, right??)
These can also be cooked in the oven at 400 for about 15-20 minutes (just check on them to see how they’re doing) or in a panini press for about the same amount of time.
Grilled Potatoes and Onions
Recipe by Our Best Bites
Ingredients:
1 potato per person (any kind of potatoes work; for the sake of sentimentality, I’m partial to Russetts, although red and Yukon Gold potatoes are so smooth and delicious)
1/2 small onion per person (the one pictured is a little large because I used some onions in the corn)
1 Tbsp. butter per person, cut into pieces
1/4 tsp. salt per person
Freshly-ground black pepper
Smoked paprika
Aluminum foil
Ingredients:
Tear sheets (1 per person) of aluminum foil into about 16″ pieces. Fold each in half into a sqaure-ish and set aside.
Preheat grill. Slice potatoes into pieces about 1/8-1/4″ thick. Slice onions about 1/8″ thick. Place 1 potato in the middle of each foil square and dot with butter pieces.
Sprinkle with salt and pepper and then sprinkle generously with smoked paprika. Remember, paprika is super mild, so it’s hard to add too much. Top each pile with onions.
Fold edges in and secure tightly. It’s important to get a good seal because the moisture will cook the potatoes and onions and you want all those yummy juices, so if it seems like there’s not quite enough foil, wrap packet in another layer.
Turn heat on grill to low. Place each packet on the grill. Close lid for 15 minutes. Turn and allow to cook for another 15 minutes. Remove from heat and carefully open each packet (or, even better, let each person open their own packet–hey, less work for you, right??)
These can also be cooked in the oven at 400 for about 15-20 minutes (just check on them to see how they’re doing) or in a panini press for about the same amount of time.
Questions & Reviews
my daughter brought me smoked paprika or pimenton from spain it was like 70 cents! it did cause a little hiccup in customs though:)
i can't wait to try these!
Wow sorry to hear about your accident…yikes! Love your recipe and it is similar to what I just posted about last week on Foodie Friday…your photos are much better though 😀 Also I like the paprika tip…I'll have to try that next time. Also I'm in the habit of chopping up the onions real small cause our kids use to fuss if I sliced them like yours…any hoot they are always delicous…have a great weekend, fondly, Roberta
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PS – so sorry to hear about your fall, but I'm glad it facilitated the long over due repair!
Smoked Paprika is one of my favorite spices. I buy mine from Penzey's… never looked for it at the grocery store. Thanks for posting oven instructions for there. I'll definitely be giving them a try!
🙂
ButterYum
That's it – I've been curious about smoked paprika for awhile now, but have never had a compelling reason to buy it – now I do!! I can't wait to try these!
MM I can't wait to try this!! Would it work just as good if we added chicken in there? maybe just cook it longer?
Hahhaha. I have to say I you guys are hilarious. I love reading the posts just as much as eating the food. Thanks for being totally awesome!
I just made these for the first time a few weeks ago (I know, why did I wait so long??) and my whole family and our company loved them. Great summer side dish. We did however go a *little* overboard on the paprika in a few of the packets so I will say it IS possible to add too much! lol. Still fantastic though, we loved the smokey flavor.
Thank you so much for this timely post! I was planning on making the potato packets on the grill tonight and have never added smoked paprika. I will now!
I used Smoked Paprika when I grill fish and it is delicious. We are camping next week so this will be on my menu for sure! I always said if I had to have a last meal it would be fried potatoes and onions…can't wait to try these!