This next recipe is man-food to the max. Well, at least it is for my man. He is a true meat and potato lover. I gotta admit, so am I. Hey, it just goes together so well. So when I decided that I would combine some steak with the usual Potato Packets that we love to eat, my husband was over the moon excited. This isn’t exactly a new concept. Folks have been making these for years as camping meals. Hence the name, Hobo Packets. You can pop your meat and veggie in a foil packet, cook it over a campfire and you got a delicious and easy meal. A lot of us learned how to make this in the Girl or Boy Scouts. Of course, when I was younger, we always just made it with ground beef. That works great too. Add in onions and green peppers for a fun twist of flavor!
Ingredients:2-3 steaks (ribeye or flat iron steaks work well, about 2 pounds)
olive oil
1 small onion, diced (optional)
2 large russet potatoes
2 cloves garlic, minced
8 tbsp. butter
salt & pepper to taste
your favorite steak seasoning (optional)
Directions:
Tear off 4 large square sheets of aluminum foil. Drizzle all 4 foil aluminum square pieces with olive oil. Put 1 tbsp. of butter on each foil sheet. Dice potatoes into cubes (about 1-inch). Leaving the skin on. Divide up the cubed potatoes and place on top of the butter on each aluminum foil square.
Evenly sprinkle minced garlic and diced onion over each of the four servings. Then sprinkle with kosher salt & pepper. Drizzle with a bit more olive oil.
Put steak pieces on top of potatoes. Season with a bit more salt & pepper or your favorite steak seasoning.
Drizzle with a bit more olive oil and put another pat of butter on top. Also, another good tip to keep your meat from getting dried out while cooking is to add a large ice cube on top of the meat!
(Um, I got a bit carried away with the butter…)Fold up each of the sides to make a nice little bed for the potatoes, making a square, so none of the butter and oil can escape while cooking.
Preheat grill to medium-high heat (or oven to 350 degrees). Grill packets for about 35-45 minutes. Check periodically for doneness. Be careful when opening the packets because the steam is gonna come outta there fast and furious. Now dig in!
Cook’s Note: I try to get the better cuts of steaks when they are cheap. When a really great sale is going on, I grab up what I can afford and pop it into the freezer for uses like this. But if you want to make this and just can’t afford the steak, just substitute with ground beef. It will still be a satisfying and filling meal!
Enjoy!
Hobo Packets
Prep Time
15 mins
Cook Time
45 mins
Total Time
1 hrs
Servings: 4
Calories: 772 kcal
Ingredients
- 2-3 pounds steaks (cubed ribeye or flat iron steaks work well, make sure there is some fat on them, about 2 )
- olive oil
- 1 small onion diced or sliced
- 2 large russet potatoes
- 2 cloves garlic minced
- 8 tbsp butter
- salt and pepper to taste
- steak seasoning optional
Instructions
- Tear off 4 large square sheets of aluminum foil.
- Drizzle all 4 foil aluminum square pieces with olive oil.
- Put 1 tbsp .of butter on each foil sheet.
- Dice potatoes into cubes (about 1-inch). Leaving the skin on.
- Divide up the cubed potatoes and place on top of the butter on each aluminum foil square.
- Evenly sprinkle minced garlic and diced onion over each of the four servings.
- Then sprinkle with kosher salt & pepper.
- Drizzle with a bit more olive oil.
- Put steak pieces on top of potatoes.
- Season with a bit more salt & pepper or your favorite steak seasoning.
- Drizzle with a bit more olive oil and put another pat of butter on top.
- Also, another good tip to keep your meat from getting dried while cooking is to add a large ice cube on top of the meat.
- Fold up each of the sides to make a nice little bed for the potatoes, making a square.
- So none of the butter and oil can escape while cooking.
- Preheat grill to medium-high heat.
- Grill packets for about 35-45 minutes.
- Check periodically for doneness.
Recipe Notes
Be careful when opening the packets because the steam is gonna come outta there fast and furious.
Nutrition Facts
Hobo Packets
Amount Per Serving
Calories 772 Calories from Fat 495
% Daily Value*
Total Fat 55g 85%
Saturated Fat 28g 140%
Cholesterol 199mg 66%
Sodium 327mg 14%
Potassium 1092mg 31%
Total Carbohydrates 22g 7%
Dietary Fiber 1g 4%
Sugars 1g
Protein 48g 96%
Vitamin A 14.9%
Vitamin C 10.4%
Calcium 4.6%
Iron 27.1%
* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.
My hubby would be over the moon, too (they are so much alike…LOL). Great idea~
Mmmm looks delish! I need to make these soon!
This sounds delicious..your second photo from the top gave me an illusion that you tossed it in the air:)) looks awesome and great idea!
Ummm. Is it dinner time yet? I want these!
Wow do I love packets. Yours just looks fantastic as always. Come over and visit. We have a great grilled squash recipe today in a packet. We must think alike right?
What a great idea! Wow I bet those potatoes are so flavorful, yum! 🙂
What a great and easy recipe. I think everyone loves the potato/meat combo. The butter reminds me of Paula Deen, she gets carried away with butter as well!
Hey, delicious food and no washing up. Who'd say no that?
Oh my goodness! This looks so good and so easy!! I'm from Tennessee and we love our meat and potatoes down here!!
God bless.
Ella
Brandie-I have made these packets before using ground beef, but yours using steak look pretty good. The meat and potatoes have a wonderful flavor, when cooked together. Thanks for sharing.
Kind of makes me wish I liked camping! Looks like a great recipe for at home too!
What an awesome idea! Oh an you can never use too much butter, no really, you can't.
😉 Mandy
My inner cavegirl is telling me Yum! I remember these when I was camping. Why is it food tastes so good when you are camping?
Look really Yumm! gloria
As a Girl Scout we used to do this with chicken and it was delish- I am trying your version on our next camping trip!
My mom made these with hamburger patties and added carrots. Hm…I think I have dinner for tonight. Thanks!
Oh Brandie I love the name of these! You make me laugh and I love the whole inner cave man part! He he :). These look delicious by the way
Looks yummy! We make something similar to this at our house, except we use chicken and mesquite seasoning (the dry mix by Grill Mates). We throw some onions and green beans in there too, as well as the potatoes, and it's rather heavenly. My hubby just calls it "campfire chicken". It's a favorite at our house.
This sounds amazing. My husband would love it. More the Merrier Monday will be open until Wednesday at midnight. I would love for you to stop by and link up your recipe. http://diyhshp.blogspot.com/
I like that idea so much and so excited not to wash any pot and pans…so excited in fact, it's getting served up right in the foil! Now, I just need to stock up on the plastic cutlery and I'm all set.
Cute idea! I'm going to make this for our next bbq 😀
-Carrie
I made these the other night, and the meat was AWESOME. So much better than I've ever managed before. My only problem was that the potatoes were still hard, even after I extended the cooking time. Comparing to your picture, I don't think I diced them up small enough so I will try that next time. But it got me thinking..have you ever used the precooked/frozen ones, like Ore-Idas, for this recipe? Do you think those would work or would they get too mushy?
I'm loving your blog! I've got cube steaks in the crock pot right now, the 3rd recipe of yours this week. 🙂
Hi Nicole! That is so awesome to hear! So glad you liked how it turned out. I guess I should have been more specific in the post about what size to cut up the potatoes. I'll get that corrected. It's a good question about the frozen potatoes. I haven't actually tried them with this. They just might work. Gotta be real careful about the mush factor though. Would be a fun experiment to try!
Hello
I camp LOTS!!! what a great thing to cook quickly and looks like you could predo them and put in a zip bag then it is just cook it wow love it Thanks
Hey, I love camping and I love these meaty packets, too. I also like to put carrots in them. With the issue of the under-cooked potatoes, what I usually do is throw the potatoes in the microwave for a few minutes to soften them before I cut them up and add them to the packets (assuming I'm making the packets while I'm camping, I cook the potatoes and carrots a bit in the micro before I leave, and then cut and create the packets at camp). Otherwise, I've had the same issue; under-cooked potatoes and perfectly cooked meat. And meat-wise, you GOTTA try the marinade mix on the side of the Montreal Steak Seasoning jar. Soy sauce, MSSeasoning, and a little veg or olive oil. Perfection. Yum! b
We use to do this camping making 2 hamburger patties and putting thinly sliced potatoes slice of onion and slice of tomato on one patty and crimp two patties together and wrap in foil and let cook while we set up camp site and dinner was finished when campsite set up. Delicious.
We add some cut up carrots and call it hunters stew. We cooked it in coals on an open fire. Next to it we would add another foil pouch with a peach half, pat of butter, a dab of brown sugar, a few mini marshmallows and a few chocolate chips. Fold up just like the hobo pockets and heat on the grill or in hot coals. Makes a yummy dessert.
Do you think these could be done in the crock pot? That's my favorite way to cook.
Thanks for the recipe! Pinning it!
Made this tonight with cut up round steak YUM!! Thanks for sharing!!
Made this tonight with cut up round steak YUM!! Thanks for sharing!!
I sometimes use sliced potatoes in the can along with canned sliced carrots drained well. I make my seasoned hamburger patty or turkey burger with a lot of sliced Viidalia onions, then add the potatoes & carrots. Season with salt and pepper & no waiting for veggies to cook so long when in a hurry. Yummy!
These look delicious and easy and by the way, there's no such thing as too much butter!
This meal looks delicious!! I can't wait to try it out for my man and I. Have you ever cooked it in the oven – during winter months?
I've made these in the oven a few times at 350° start checking after 30 minutes
I'm making this tonight! I've made variations of it before, but I like your order and especially the fact that you dice the potatoes!! I can't wait to chow down!
Do you think this would cook well in the oven?! Apartment living gets the best of our cooking experiences 🙁
Hi Jen! Yes, of course you could do it in the oven 🙂
Great idea! I made this with elk steak. The ice cube is a good idea since elk is so lean. I did toss the potatoes with season salt before adding to the packets and I marinated the steak beforehand as well. We love to grill but were getting bored with just grilling meat so this will help shake things up a bit.
Hi Brandie,
Ok I have to say that this looks so delicious and so easy, my family will think that I have cooked all day! Lol. I do have 2 questions, you said that you could cook these in the oven, how long would I cook them and also you talked about an ice cube on top of the meat to keep it moist. Would I use that instead of the butter? Thanks!