Beef and Veggie Foil Dinner Packets
Simple, make-ahead beef and veggie foil dinners are perfect for camping, grilling, or cooking in the oven. They’re fun, completely customizable, hearty and delicious!
Our summer plans usually include plenty of camping, and so we enjoy foil dinner packets often. They’re one of my favorite camping dinners to make, and definitely my kids’ favorite to eat!
“Recipe” is rather a loose term for these beef and veggie tin foil dinners, as you can throw almost any combination of ingredients together into a foil packet and cook it, but this classic combo of ground beef, potatoes, and veggies is the one I come back to time and again.
Table of Contents
- What are foil dinner packets?
- Choose your ingredients
- Step-by-step foil packet assembly
- Make-ahead instructions
- How to cook foil dinner: fire, grill or oven
- How do you know when foil dinners are done?
- More camping recipes
What are foil dinner packets?
“Foil dinner packet“, “tin foil dinner“, “foil pack” or “hobo dinner” are all names for meals wrapped in aluminum foil and cooked over a campfire. It’s a complete meal-in-one, the packs are easy to assemble ahead of time, and clean-up is easy!
Choose your ingredients
- Choose a protein: Ground beef, ground turkey, chicken, sausage, cubed chicken or steak, salmon, or shrimp are all options.
- Add lots of veggies: For every 1 cup of protein, try to add 2 cups (or more) of veggies. Onions, potatoes, carrots, corn, and green beans are my go-to. Mushrooms, bell peppers, sweet potatoes, and zucchini are great too. And fresh or frozen vegetables work!
- Add seasoning: Keep it simple with just salt and pepper, or add garlic powder, Italian seasoning, paprika, or your favorite multi-purpose seasoning salt. Fresh herbs like rosemary, thyme or sage make a big impact too.
- Add butter or oil: Add a few pats of butter or a drizzle of olive oil for another boost of flavor.
- (Optional) Finish with cheese or sauce: Once foil packet dinners are done, open them up and top with sliced or grated cheddar cheese or a sauce like BBQ sauce.
Step-by-step foil packet assembly
- Prep ingredients. Cut meat and veggies into ½ to 1-inch pieces to cook evenly in about 20 minutes.
- Prep foil. Cut 18-inch sheets, lay them side by side, and spray with nonstick spray.
- Assemble. Layer meat, veggies and seasonings in the center of each foil sheet.
- Wrap them up. Fold the long ends of the foil together tightly, then do the same with each end. You want the foil to be tightly sealed so no juices escape.
- Double wrap, if needed. Optional if you’re cooking over a fire or grill cooking to prevent tears.
Make-ahead instructions
Assembled foil dinner packs will keep in a fridge or cooler for up to 48 hours. And I actually prefer to assemble them at home, as it makes cooking at camp so much easier. Tip: If you need them to last longer in a cooler, freeze completely ahead of time. Then move to your cooler, where they’ll thaw slowly and keep for up to 3 days or more.
How to cook foil dinner: fire, grill or oven
- Over a campfire: (My favorite way!) Let fire die down and cook on hot coals for 20 minutes, flipping over and rotating once.
- On the grill: Preheat grill to medium-high. Cook for 20 minutes, flipping once.
- In the oven: Preheat oven to 400°F. Bake on a sheet pan for 20 minutes, flipping once.
How do you know when foil dinners are done?
Cooking time for foil dinner packs will depend on the size of meat and veggies and how full the packets are. Aim for 1-inch pieces and the dinners should be done in about 20 minutes.
To test for doneness: Open a packet to see that meat is cooked through and veggies are tender and return it to the fire/grill/oven if needed.
More camping recipes
Beef and Veggie Tin Foil Dinners
Ingredients
- 1 lb ground beef
- 1 lb potatoes (about 4 medium), chopped in 1-inch pieces
- 1-2 cups chopped green beans
- 2 large carrots , sliced
- ½-1 cup corn (fresh, frozen or canned)
- ½-1 cup chopped onion
- ¼ cup salted butter , cubed (can also use ¼ cup olive oil)
- 1 tablespoon fresh chopper herbs (or 1 teaspoon dried)
- Salt and pepper , as needed
Instructions
- Measure 4 sheets of heavy duty aluminum foil to about 18 inches. Spray with nonstick cooking spray.
- Layer beef and veggies in a mound into the center of each sheet of foil, dividing ingredients evenly between all 4 sheets. Ground beef should be broken up into small 1-inch pieces.
- Top with butter or oil, herbs, and salt and pepper.
- Fold the long ends of the foil together, crimping tightly to seal, then fold the seam over itself until flush with the contents. Fold and crimp the sides the same way. You want the foil to be tightly sealed so no juices escape. If desired, wrap in another layer of foil to prevent tears if you're cooking over a fire.
- Cook immediately or store in the fridge or a cooler for up to 48 hours.
- To cook on fire: Wait till fire has turned to coals and spread logs out into an even layer. Cook for about 20 minutes, flipping and rotating as needed to promote even cooking, until meat is cooked through and veggies are soft.
- To cook on grill: Preheat grill to medium heat (about 400°) and cook for 20 minutes, flipping halfway through, until meat is cooked through and veggies are soft.
- To cook in oven: Preheat oven to 400°F and cook for 20 minutes or until meat is cooked through and veggies are soft.
- Carefully open up foil packets as the steam inside is very hot. You can eat straight out of the foil or dump contents onto a plate.
Video
Notes
How to customize your foil dinner:
-
- Use other proteins like ground turkey, chicken, sausage, cubed chicken or steak, salmon, or shrimp.
- You can use fresh or frozen vegetables. Mushrooms, bell peppers, sweet potatoes, and zucchini are great options.
- Other seasonings: Add garlic powder, Italian seasoning, paprika, or your favorite multi-purpose seasoning salt.
- Finish with cheese or sauce: Once foil packet dinners are done, open them up and top with sliced or grated cheddar cheese or a sauce like BBQ sauce.
I decided over the weekend tonight was the night I would try this recipe. I used ground beef, colored fingerling potatoes and acorn squash.
Seasoned as you suggested, but changed the butter to beef tallow instead.
It was very flavorful and my Husband said this one’s a keeper.
What’s even better, I have leftovers (2 foil packets) for one more dinner this week. Thanks Annalise!
Thanks for the feedback Nancy! So happy to hear you and your husband enjoyed the recipe!
Just want to know your receipt how many does that feed
It makes 4 foil packets. The serving amount is always in the top of my recipe card!
Could you put these also in the crock and if so what temp and time?
Love this! Delicious, healthy, and easy clean-up. I had a bunch of small quantities of veggies and this was perfect to use them up. Admittedly, I originally came across a similar recipe called “Veggie Beef Bundles” in an old Taste of Home cookbook of mine. Before making it, I Googled it for reviews. Your version showed up on the first page of results. I ended up doing a combination of theirs and yours. I liked the veggies you used and the addition of fresh herbs and crumbling the beef for quicker cooking (versus making patties in ToH’s version). Any veggies can be used to one’s preference, but your version helped guide me to quantity and size. ToH’s version calls for an envelope of onion soup mix mixed with water for the flavoring agent. Honestly, I don’t buy that pre-packaged stuff, but I do make my own “onion soup mix” with dried minced onion, garlic powder, onion powder, and other spices and dried herbs so that I can control what goes in it. The flavor of this in my packets was very good. This might also be a convenient option for camping since it could be mixed up into baggies in advance. But your suggestion of sprinkling salt, pepper, etc. directly into the packets is just as easy. Really, you can’t go wrong with this. I am happy I came across your version. The instructions for various cooking methods is also very helpful. I did my foil packets in the oven, but will definitely try the grill. Thank you!
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Just in time! We’re going camping for 4th of July and now I know what I’ll be making!
Yes!! I hope they turned out great!
Did you make the tin foil dinners? If so, how were they?