Make a Baked Potato on the Grill

The delicious flavor and texture of a grilled potato is a great addition to summer BBQs, family dinners, or evening snacks. It may seem tricky to get the inside of the potato to cook before the outside burns, but potatoes are actually incredibly easy to grill. There are many ways you can grill potatoes. Cook as whole potatoes, halves, slices, or wedges. Grill potatoes with or without the skin. Cook potatoes with foil or without foil. Try any of the cooking options in this tutorial and become a pro potato griller in no time.

Steps

Grilling Whole Potatoes Wrapped in Foil

  1. Wash the potatoes. Run each potato under cool water and use your hands or a soft sponge to scrub it clean of dirt.
  2. Prepare each potato. Using a sharp knife or vegetable peeler, remove any blemishes or green spots.
  3. Pat the potatoes dry. Dry potato skins absorb oil, butter and seasonings better, making the potatoes more flavorful.
  4. Poke holes in the potatoes. Before wrapping your potatoes in foil, use a fork to poke a few holes across the skin. This allows the heat to vent from the potatoes for even cooking.
  5. Wrap your potato in aluminum foil. Tear off sheets of foil for all the potatoes you plan to cook and wrap them tightly in the foil. Be sure the potatoes are covered completely.
    • You can roll them in the foil and pinch the sides closed or fold the foil over them and fold the sides.
  6. Place your potatoes on the grill. Turn on your grill and adjust the heat to high. Spread your foil wrapped potatoes out over the grill. Place them close together and on the hottest part of the grill.
    • If you are cooking many potatoes, you can pile them in even thickness over the hottest part of the grill. This way, once the bottom row begins to char, it will be time to flip them.
  7. Cover and cook. Close the grill lid and let the potatoes cook for 40 minutes. If cooking multiple rows of potatoes, flip half way through cooking time. When you first try this method, you might want to use slightly shorter cooking times and check the potatoes (unfold the foil with tongs; the steam will be hot enough to burn). If they are not fully cooked, rewrap them and grill for a few more minutes.
    • If they're too charred but not done in the middle, put them back on, away from the hottest part of the grill, and cover the grill.
    • The amount of heat and the size of the potatoes determine their cooking time. Generally, when grilled with the lid down, whole foil wrapped potatoes take 30 to 45 minutes to cook through.[1]
    • In the last 5 to 10 minutes of cooking, you can remove the potatoes from the foil and return them to the grill, unwrapped. This will brown the skins.

Grilling Whole Potatoes Without Foil

  1. Wash the potatoes. Rinse your potatoes in cool or cold water to wash away any dirt. Scrub them gently with a soft sponge to clean them.
  2. Prepare each potato. You may have to cut away some green or brown spots. Use a sharp knife or vegetable peeler to carefully slice away the blemishes.
  3. Pat the potatoes dry. If you plan to season the skins, dry potatoes are much better at absorbing seasonings.
    • Do not pierce the skins of the potatoes if you are not wrapping them. Piercing allows the moisture to escape, which will dry out the potato.
  4. Brush the skins with oil. This will prevent the potatoes from sticking to the grill and create a crispier skin.
    • In a small bowl, mix cooking oil with a small amount of butter, salt, pepper, and garlic for a tasty seasoning spread.
  5. Place potatoes on metal skewers. Placing your potatoes on skewers makes the grilling process easier. Place 3 to 4 potatoes on each skewer depending on size.
    • You can also place your potatoes directly onto the grill if you prefer.
  6. Put your potatoes on the grill. Using indirect heat, place the skewered potatoes on the edge furthest from the direct heat source.
  7. Cook your potatoes. Cook over the indirect heat for 30 to 40 minutes with the grill lid down. Gradually roll the potatoes toward the direct heat.[2]

Cooking Wedges or Potato Slices

  1. Wash your potatoes. Rinse your potatoes with cool water and scrub them with a soft sponge.
  2. Remove the blemishes. Most potatoes have a few green or brown spots. Use a sharp knife or vegetable peeler to cut these parts away.
  3. Peel and soak the potatoes (optional). Remove the skin by peeling with a vegetable peeler or using a sharp utility knife. Remove all the skin and then remove any green spots or blemishes that remain. When the potato is completely peeled, place it in cold water immediately until ready to cook or ready to cut to desired size.
    • The cold water will prevent the outer surface of the potato from discoloring.
    • Always peel or cut away from your hand when skinning potatoes.
  4. Cut the potatoes. Cut lengthwise into 3/8 to 1/2 inch thick slices. Leave your potatoes in slices to make wedges or cut again into chunks.
  5. Brush the potato pieces. Brush your potatoes immediately with cooking oil and seasonings.
    • Brushing potatoes right away prevents them from turning brown and sticking to the grate when placed on the grill.
    • In a small bowl, mix cooking oil with a small amount of butter, salt, pepper, and garlic for a tasty seasoning spread.
  6. Place the potato pieces directly on the grill. Place them toward the center of the grill with one of the cut sides down. If you cut your potato pieces into chunks, you can place them on a piece of foil or on skewers before putting them on the grill to keep from loosing them in-between the grates.
  7. Cook your potatoes. Adjust your grill to medium heat and cook for 5 to 6 minutes and turn to the other cut side. Cook on second side for 5 to 6 minutes and then turn wedges so the skin side is down. Finish cooking until tender. Potato wedges should be nicely brown. Serve while hot.

Seasoning Grilled Potatoes

  1. Toss your potatoes in a seasoning mix before grilling. Try olive oil with coarse salt, freshly ground pepper or a few hot red pepper flakes and chopped hardy herbs, such as rosemary, thyme, or sage.
    • You can also try garlic, butter, seasoning salt, or anything you prefer.
  2. Create a sauce and coat your potatoes before grilling. Try mustard, mayonnaise, and herbs. Save some of the sauce and use it as a dip for your cooked potatoes.
  3. Create a dry rub. Coat the potatoes well with olive oil before sprinkling your favorite dried spices over the potatoes. Rub the spices all over the outside and edges.
    • Try salt, cumin, coriander, paprika, chili powder, allspice, freshly ground black pepper, and dried thyme with about 1-1/2 tsp. salt and a little sugar, if you like.
  4. Combine your potatoes with other vegetables. If grilling in a packet, try adding other cut up vegetables to the same package to create unique taste combinations. Sliced onions, carrots or squash are good combinations for grilling with potatoes.

Tips

  • Sweet potatoes are also great on the grill and can be done either wrapped or unwrapped.
  • Make individual serving size foil packages of cut or sliced potatoes for grilling. This makes it easy for your guests to take a package from the grill.
  • To get a crispy potato skin on a whole potato, take your grilled baked potatoes out of the foil after 20-30 minutes and put them directly on the grill for the last 10 minutes of cooking time.
  • To speed up the baked potato grilling process, parboil your whole potatoes for 10 minutes, and then put them on the grill for 5-10 minutes.
  • You can also speed up the process of grilling baked potatoes by microwaving each whole potato for about 2-4 minutes per side (without the foil, of course) before finishing the baking on the grill for 5-10 minutes.[3]

Warnings

  • If more than half of the potato is green, throw it away. It will be bitter and slightly toxic (because the green portion contains solanine).[4]

Things You'll Need

  • Knife or vegetable peeler
  • Aluminum foil
  • Basting brush
  • Bowls
  • Skewers

Related Articles

Sources and Citations

  1. ↑ http://www.grillingbakedpotatoes.com/grill-potatoes/
  2. ↑ http://www.finecooking.com/articles/how-to/grilled-potatoes.aspx?pg=0
  3. ↑ http://www.recipetips.com/kitchen-tips/t--1420/grilling-potatoes.asp
  4. ↑ http://www.accessdata.fda.gov/scripts/plantox/detail.cfm?id=1364

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