Foil Wrapped Grilled Sweet Potatoes make the perfect healthy side dish for your BBQ. It takes just three ingredients and is virtually a set-and-forget recipe.
This is a super easy side dish we are all craving to make. You know the one that everyone loves and wants to eat. Sweet potatoes are tender and sweet and fortunately, don’t need a lot of extras to make them taste out of this world.
When you are short on time but still want a badass dinner, make the A1 Marinated Steak or the Grilled Blackened Dover Sole along with these simple sweet potatoes for a complete meal with almost no effort.
📝 Why You’ll Love This Recipe
- They are healthy and loaded with nutrients. This is perfect for folks trying to reduce their carbs.
- The preparation for this recipe is super simple! It only takes five minutes to prepare the sweet potatoes and get them on the grill. You don’t even need to boil them before getting them on the grill, saving even more time.
- You need just three ingredients to make this recipe and you probably have them all at home already.
- This recipe has amazing flavor! Baking sweet potatoes on the grill adds a lovely smokiness that makes them a real treat.
- Cleanup is a breeze. You don’t need to dirty any dishes and the aluminum foil is easy to just throw away when the grilling is done.
🍠 Ingredients
Sweet Potato | The serving size is one sweet potato, but you can make as many as you need. They are perfectly sweet and delicious. I recommend making several at a time. It doesn’t take much extra time to prepare them, and they store wonderfully in the fridge. For the foil recipe, it doesn’t matter how many potatoes are in a pound you can cook one per person, especially if they are large.
Olive Oil | A little bit of olive oil will help the skin crisp up beautifully.
Sea Salt | Add a pinch to the potatoes to really get an amazing flavor. Stay away from table salt as it is so finely ground that it doesn’t work well. Stick with Coarse Ground Sea Salt or Kosher Salt.
⏲️ Equipment and Tools
Aluminum Foil Packet – Because this recipe uses indirect heat, you don’t need a heavy-duty foil. Stick with your kitchen foil.
BBQ Tongs – I highly recommend some dedicated BBQ tongs. The key is to get a long-handled version so your arms aren’t over the hot coal. Trust me, I learned that the hard way!
🔥 Instructions
Step One: Cut off a piece of foil and lay it out on the counter. This is not the kind of recipe that requires you to slice the potatoes, since we’ll be grilling them whole. We also won’t be peeling them as they will bake with the skin on. Poke a few holes in a clean sweet potato with a fork. The holes will help the steam escape easily.
Step Two: Use a little bit of olive oil spray to provide a very light coat on the sweet potato. Sprinkle with sea salt or kosher salt. If you’re grilling a lot of sweet potatoes, just place them in a large bowl and toss them with the oil and seasonings.
Note: I find the combination of the coarse salt and the oil helps the skin get a little crispy when it is done grilling.
Step Three: Wrap the sweet potato up and seal the aluminum foil tight.
Step Four: Place the wrapped sweet potato on a heated grill set to 350°F (or a medium-high heat setting). I used indirect heat by adding the plate setter to the grill.
Note: For gas grills, turn off the burners immediately under the potato. This creates an indirect heat zone that will serve the same purpose.
Step Five: Grill for about 40 minutes, turning halfway for a medium-sized potato. My sweet potatoes were quite large, and I needed another 20 minutes until they were fork-tender. You’ll know they are done when a fork easily sticks into the sweet potato.
Step Six: Serve with your favorite toppings. For this one, we added a pat of butter and some pepper.
💡 Recipe Tips and Tricks
Skip the foil for a crispy skin. Place it straight on the grill grate. The outside will become very crispy but the inside will still be soft and fluffy. Make sure to watch it closely as it is very easy for the potato to burn. Either way, you can make this yummy side with minimal effort and yet, a high return on flavor!
This is a perfect recipe to serve at a cookout. Prepare and wrap the sweet potatoes at home and throw them on the grill at your BBQ. I keep them off to the side while I am grilling the rest of the dishes.
For this recipe, I called for using olive oil, but if you have avocado oil, I would use that instead. It isn’t worth an extra trip to the store to grab it, but avocado oil is a bit healthier and has a more mild, smooth flavor.
🧑🍳 Storage and Reheating
If you make a few extras (and WHY WOULDN’T YOU?), they store great in the refrigerator for up to about three days.
After you remove them from the grill, let them cool completely and simply set them in the refrigerator. Since they are already wrapped in foil, you don’t need to add them to an airtight container but please do if you already removed the foil.
You can freeze the sweet potato leftovers as long as they are cooked. Don’t try to freeze uncooked sweet potatoes – it just doesn’t work well.
After the grilled baked sweet potatoes have cooled completely, remove them from the foil and wrap them in Saran or Press N Seal. Place them inside a freezer-safe Ziploc bag and store them for up to 90 days.
To reheat them, you can put them back on the grill, in the microwave, or in the oven. But, my favorite solution is to throw them in the Air Fryer. The outside will crisp up and the results are amazing!
🌶️Additions and Substitutions
- Change up the seasonings. I used a simple salt and olive oil combo, but try to add some smoky paprika, rosemary, thyme, basil, garlic powder, or even add some heat with red pepper flakes or chili powder. If you are serving kids, make sure they don’t mind a little heat with their sweet potato.
- Serve with some fun dipping sauce as well and it doesn’t have to be as basic as ketchup. I recommend a honey sriracha sauce, a beer and smoked cheese dip, or even a black garlic aioli like we made with the grilled skirt steak.
- One of my favorite alternate toppings is whipped butter and candied pecans or walnuts. This adds a very light buttery flavor and I can’t seem to get enough of the crunch from the nuts. You might also love butter and brown sugar or butter and sour cream as partners for your sweet potato.
- Top them with a simple vinaigrette made from olive oil and lime juice or lemon juice.
- Make it taco stuffed by using black beans, corn, red onions, and topping with sour cream or guacamole.
- Make cowboy caviar and top the sweet potatoes with it.
- Use these for breakfast meal prep and add scrambled eggs, bacon chunks, and tomatoes.
- Top with homemade salsa, green onions, and a dollop of sour cream.
- Load it with homemade chili, cheese, and sour cream.
- Alternatively, bake them on the grill, remove the insides, and whip them into a mashed sweet potato – all done without ever having to use your oven.
🥗Serving Suggestions
Nothing goes better with a nice buttery grilled sweet potato than a juicy steak! Try this Grilled Teres Major recipe, Grilled Ribeye Cap, or even a nice big Grilled T-bone Steak. These grilled baked sweet potatoes will also pair wonderfully with these mouthwatering smoked Tomahawk pork chops.
Nice juicy burgers are another good main course to consider. Try our Travis Scott Burger, or if you don’t have much time, consider grilling frozen burgers which will give you a fast and delicious meal.
Don’t forget your veggies! I typically move the sweet potatoes to the side of the grill when I am making other dishes, so focus on ones that won’t take a lot of time. Grilled Parsnips only take about 15 minutes to whip up, and offer a tangy flavor that complements the sweetness of these potatoes. For a more traditional veggie, go for Grilled Broccolini. They only take 15 minutes as well.
You have got to love these fast recipes!
Do You Need to Poke Holes in Sweet Potatoes Before Grilling?
I have heard stories about potatoes bursting when the steam accumulates inside the skin and can’t escape fast enough, but I have never had that happen to me. It takes just a second or two to use a fork to poke holes in the skin which will allow the steam to escape, so it is worth the time.
🍽️More Sweet Potato Recipes
Looking for more ways to enjoy sweet potatoes for your BBQ cookouts? With some time on your hands, you won’t regret making the smoked version of this recipe, aka smoked sweet potatoes.
When you need a last-minute meal, grilled sweet potato wedges will save you in a pinch! Those yummy sweet potato slices will be ready in 15 minutes and in terms of flavor, they are even better than the classic sweet potato fries.
Grilled parmesan sweet potatoes have some special magic of their own, as we cooked them in a cast iron pan over direct heat and the flavors were just amazing!
You can even fancy up your Thanksgiving dinner with a hearty grilled sweet potato casserole but don’t let it stop you from making it any other time.
Recipe FAQs
Rub the outside lightly with oil, sprinkle with sea salt, wrap in foil, and grill at medium-high heat for about 40 minutes or until it is easy for a fork to poke it.
If you are grilling these whole, then there is no need to soak them. If you are slicing them, then soaking will help remove the starches from the cut areas and will help those surfaces get crispy.
Yes! The skin of sweet potatoes is both delicious and nutritious whether they are the orange, purple, or white variety. As long as you find it enjoyable, there’s no reason not to eat it.
From our grilling experience, wrapping sweet potatoes in foil makes for easier cooking. There’s a lower chance of the outside charring before the inside softens up. If you choose to grill whole sweet potatoes directly on the grill grates monitor them constantly to make sure they don’t burn.
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Grilled Sweet Potatoes in Foil
Ingredients
- 1 Sweet Potato medium
- ¼ tsp Olive Oil sprayed
- Sea Salt pinch
Instructions
Prepare the Grill
- Set the grill to 350°F and use indirect heat. For gas grills, turn off the burners immediately under the sweet potato.
Prepare the Sweet Potatoes for the Grill
- Cut a piece of aluminum foil large enough to wrap around the sweet potato.
- Spray with a little bit of olive oil to help the skin become crispy.
- Sprinkle a pinch of sea salt.
- Use a fork to poke a few holes through the skin. Wrap the sweet potato tightly with the foil.
Grill the Baked Sweet Potatoes
- Place the foil wrapped potato on the grill.
- Grill on indirect heat for approximatley 40 minutes. The sweet potatoes should be fork-tender. Larger potatoes will need additional time.
Notes
Nutrition
Jason’s been firing up the grill for over 30 years after graduating from the US Coast Guard Academy. His love of finely-grilled steak and chicken led him to buy his first Weber grill to put on his apartment patio in 1992. Each military move led to a new grill (a mixture of gas and charcoal) until he fell in love with the Big Green Egg in 2008. Since then, he has added another 4 grills to the collection. Yes, he has a problem. Jason loves smoking in the ceramic BGE with exotic woods including olive wood from Egypt and hard to find varieties such as sassafras and orange wood. Jason takes the term “foodie” to a whole new level, jumping at the chance to take food tours and cooking classes during foreign travels. These have provided inspiration to incorporate new ideas into recipes when he gets back home. He has been featured in Fox News, Parade, Yahoo News, Kansas City Living and more. After retiring from the military and moving to southwest Florida, he has focused grilling and smoking locally sourced meats and fish (read: he likes to catch his own fish!)
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