Sometimes it can be hard to eat your veggies while camping but with these Grilled Veggies in a Foil Pack it can be delicious!
These versatile packs make whipping up main courses, sides, and desserts a breeze. We appreciate their adaptability when it comes to making a side dish that everyone will eat. Each one of us can put the veggies we want into our own foil packet, and we can season them exactly the way we want.
Please note that this article contains affiliate links, and we may earn commissions from qualifying purchases made through links in this post. You can read our full disclosure on our disclosure page.
Who doesn’t love food cooked over a campfire? Actually, we know a lot of people who don’t, and we just have to feel sorry for them. Because we love to cook over a campfire, especially in foil packets. These are easy to use, easy to customize, and easy to clean up. Since there are hundreds of recipes out there for things to cook inside a foil pack, you are sure to find something that will be extremely delicious when cooked over the campfire.
What we love about Grilled Veggies in a Foil Pack:
- An easy way to add vegetables to your meal
- Adds color to your camping diet
- Tasty and simple
The Ingredients for Grilled Veggies in a Foil Pack:
- Onion (any color you want)
- Squash (we recommend zucchini or summer)
- Bell Pepper (go for a mix of colors)
- Sugar Snap Peas (or any similar legume)
- Olive Oil (we use this all the time)
- Seasonings (salt and pepper at a minimum)
The Process Part One:
- Cut four large pieces of foil (about 18 inches) and four slightly smaller pieces of parchment paper (about 16 inches). Place one piece of parchment paper on top of each piece of foil.
- Slice your peppers and onions into wedges. Slice your squash into coins. String your pea pods if necessary.
- Divide your vegetables across the four packets, then drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with seasonings.
- Fold the long sides together and form a seam. Then roll the short sides up to form additional seams.
- Refrigerate until ready to cook, up to three days. Be careful not to freeze them as the vegetables become soggy as they thaw and cook.
The Process Part Two:
- Start your campfire or heat up your grill so that your heat source is ready. If using wood or charcoal, let the flames die out prior to cooking your food.
- Place your foil packets over heat for 15-20 minutes, flipping about halfway through.
- Carefully pull the packets off and let them cool for a minute or two.
- Open them up and add additional seasonings if you wish before serving with your meal.
FAQ and How to Customize:
Q: We don’t have sugar snap peas available. What should we use instead?
A: You don’t have to use anything unless you want to. If you do, we can recommend snow peas, garden peas, or green peas. Or, if you are just looking to include something green, we like broccoli or asparagus.
Q: This is great. What other vegetables do you suggest?
A: You can add pretty much any veggie you would roast or grill. Some ideas include cauliflower, mushrooms, sweet corn, and even carrots. We also love cherry tomatoes but that will add extra liquid to the pack so be extra careful when opening if you use any juicy vegetables.
Q: What seasonings do you recommend?
A: We typically keep to just salt and pepper for the young ones who have picky palettes. As for us, we adore garlic so will use fresh or powdered. Then we might use a variety of other seasonings depending on the rest of the meal. Red pepper flakes, lemon pepper, cumin, or chili powder are all good ones to try.
Suggested Main Dish:
This is one we like to make to go along with a nice steak, especially if we are going to use leftovers for some pie iron philly cheesesteaks the next night.
Suggested Dessert(s):
Any dessert you enjoy over the fire would be great to make with this dish. Although, if you are making a foil pack dessert – don’t mix them up! We enjoy some Campfire Cones any time we are camping.
Got Leftovers?
We love to add leftover grilled veggies to a simple quesadilla or stir them into buttered pasta for an easy lunch the next day!
General Tips for Cooking in Foil:
- You will definitely want to use heavy duty foil. It only takes one time of losing your food into the fire from cheap aluminum foil to realize it is worth the cost to purchase quality aluminum foil.
- Not everyone feels the need to line their foil with parchment paper, but we prefer to do so. We can’t cook over the fire with paper alone, but we also don’t like to eat food cooked directly in foil. Doing this allows us to use the foil more than once or as a bowl for eating making for fewer dishes to wash.
- Be careful when it comes to opening your foil packet. Steam builds up inside of them, which is good because that is how your food cooks, but you can injure yourself upon opening if you are not careful.
Equipment Needed:
- Cutting board and knife: Unless you prepare your foil packets at home, you will need a clean surface and sharp knife to prepare these at the campsite. We love our GSI Outdoors Santoku Knife Set and it stays with our camping kitchen kit.
- Aluminum Foil: We use heavy duty aluminum foil for all of our foil packet recipes. It only takes one time for your foil to fall apart during the process of cooking to realize the importance of quality foil.
- Parchment Paper: Some people don’t like to cook over high heat with aluminum. Parchment paper is the way to go here. Line the inside of the foil with the paper and everything cooks the same, just without touching the foil. Bonus-the foil stays clean and can be recycled.
- Heat resistant gloves: If you are going to be working around a fire, at some point you will probably get burned. These gloves can help prevent that.
More Side Dish Recipes to Enjoy:
- Campfire Potatoes
- Pie Iron Cheesy Tots
- Cheesy Ranch Potatoes
Foil packets are definitely our friend when it comes to cooking outdoors.
They are such a convenient way to prepare main dishes, sides, and desserts. We love how adaptable they are and how each family member can create their own with the ingredients they prefer. It makes them perfect for any picky eaters. And, the food cooks quickly and is typically seasoned to perfection with little to no effort. What’s not to love?