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
Can these be done over a fire?
Lindy
Absolutely Lindy- that would be great!
Thanks for the yummy, easy recipe! We love smoked paprika on potatoes. We’ve usually done them fried or baked w/ it, but this was the first time on the grill, tin foil style. Made them w/ your smokey honey mustard pork and my own baked asparagus.
These were a big hit with my family. I've never made potato packets on the grill, but they were so easy & good, we'll definitely make them again.
Made these potatoes for dinner this evening along with the spicy honey chicken. Both were delicious!!! Thank you for all your wonderful recipes!
One more question: Does anyone know how far in advanced these can be prepared? I'd like to take them camping with us (all ready to put on the grill), but I'm wondering if the potatoes would get brown…
Another tasty recipe! We tried these tonight and oh so good! I would've never come across smoked paprika on my own. I loved it.
And thanks for the tips w/ frosting the cupcakes earlier this week. Our little party is Friday, and I'm hoping they're a success!
Oh this is so simple but looks so delicious I'll have to try is ASAP! I'm always for using my grill as much as possible.
For all of you wondering about the meat, you could definitely add some in there! Just season some chunks of chicken ground beef patties, or add some sliced sausage and you'd have a super yummy tin foil dinner! 🙂
I made these tonight! Really liked them. They are going to be a summer favorite … thanks again.
Perfect timing! I was just searching for some camping food, and this will be perfect. Could we add in some meat to make it a complete meal? I've had something similar with sausage before. Thanks, as always!