Foil dinners are a popular in the summer when camping but did you ever think about making Instant Pot foil dinners? If you have a craving for this campfire dinner you can make it much easier and faster in the Instant Pot at home. You can also make these foil dinners in your slow cooker, grill, oven or over a campfire. This version has onions, carrots, potatoes, cabbage, peppers and sausage.
Instant Pot Foil Dinners
When I went camping as a kid I always remember making “tin foil dinners.” We’d put a little bit of raw ground beef, potatoes, carrots and salt and pepper. It always seemed to take so long for the meal to cook over the fire. Then you’d pull it out and half the potatoes would be hard still 😂.
My recipe for foil dinners has fully cooked sausage so you don’t have to worry about eating raw meat. And I used baby red potatoes and quartered them so that they would cook quicker. I added in some orange bell pepper for color and also some chopped cabbage for more veggies. Really my recipe is just one example of how to make foil dinners. There are so many variations you could use.
Foil Dinner Ingredient Ideas
Some ideas of items to add to your Instant Pot foil dinners are:
- Andouille sausage, beef smoked sausage, turkey smoked sausage, kielbasa and Hillshire Farm Garlic Smoked Chicken Sausage
- Red potatoes, yellow potatoes, Russet potatoes
- Carrots, parsnips, rutabagas
- Green beans, asparagus, broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, zucchini, squash
- Bell peppers–red, orange, yellow or green
- Seasonings–lemon pepper, cajun seasoning, steak seasoning, seasoned salt, lemon juice, etc.
- Butter, olive oil, vegetable oil
How to make a foil packet:
- Center the ingredients on a very long piece of foil.
- Bring up the long edges and double fold the ends. Leave a bit of room for the air to circulate.
- Double fold the two short ends to seal the packet.
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Instant Pot Foil Dinners
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 20 minutes
- Total Time: 35 minutes
- Yield: 4–6 servings 1x
Ingredients
- 1 medium onion, thinly sliced
- 16 baby carrots
- 12 baby red potatoes, quartered or cubed
- 1/2 small head of cabbage, cored and sliced
- 1 bell pepper (your choice of color), cored and sliced
- 1 tsp seasoned salt
- 1 tsp black pepper
- 1 tsp onion powder
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- 4 Tbsp butter, cut into 8 pieces
- 1 (12 oz) package fully cooked smoked sausage, cut into quarter inch rounds
Instructions
- Add 1 cup of water into bottom of Instant Pot. Place trivet in your pot.
- On a 25 inch piece of foil add onions, carrots, potatoes, cabbage, pepper, salt, pepper, onion powder, garlic powder, and butter. Toss so that all the vegetables are seasoned. Toss in the sliced sausage.
- Bring up edges of foil and crimp together to make a foil packet. Use 2 more layers of foil to ensure packet is sealed. Form the packet so that it will fit inside your Instant Pot. Place packet on top of trivet.
- Cover Instant Pot and make sure it is sealed. Set the manual/pressure cook button to 30 minutes. When time is up perform a quick release by moving the valve to venting.
- Remove the lid and with hot pads place the packet on a tray. Carefully open the packet and scoop contents onto plates. Serve and enjoy! Salt and pepper to taste.
Notes
I used my 6 quart Instant Pot Duo 60 7 in 1*. You can make this in your 8 quart pot. Add 1.5 cups water into bottom of the pot.
Instead of making one huge foil packet you can make 4 smaller packets with each individual making their own packet with their own favorite ingredients. Potatoes and carrots take the longest to cook so cooking will take less time when they are chopped or cut into smaller pieces.
There are many different types of sausage you can use. I like andouille sausage, beef smoked sausage, turkey smoked sausage, kielbasa and Hillshire Farm Garlic Smoked Chicken Sausage. You can also use uncooked sausage, if you prefer. Just brown it before adding it into the packet.
To make without foil: Use the pot-in-pot method. Pour 1 cup water into Instant Pot. In a large dish that fits inside your Instant Pot add all the ingredients and toss well. I use this 3 quart dish* inside my 6 quart Instant Pot. Place dish on top of trivet and lower into the pot. Pressure cook for 20 minutes.
To make on the grill: Grill covered over medium heat for 30 minutes. Turn packet over. Grill for another 30 minutes.
To make in the slow cooker: Add 1 cup of water to slow cooker. Place a trivet or rack in bottom of slow cooker. Place packet on top of rack. Cover the slow cooker and cook on low for 6-8 hours, or until vegetables are tender.
To make over the campfire: Build your fire and give it time to turn into hot coals. The foil needs to form a tight seal. If you are unable to roll the edges down at least two folds, remove some of the food and re-seal. If any holes or tears form in the foil, start over with a fresh sheet. Spread your hot coals out evenly and place the optional cooking grate over the coals. You may also cook directly on the coals if you do not have a cooking grate. Using the grilling gloves, gently place the foil packet over the heat and cook for 20-30 minutes, gently turn and then cook for 20-30 more minutes. The foil packets should swell as steam forms inside, cooking the contents evenly. Using the grilling gloves, carefully remove the packet and open the foil.
To make in the oven: Heat oven to 375°F. Bake for 60 minutes, or until vegetables are tender.
- Method: Instant Pot
*Karen Petersen is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com.
I can’t get my potatoes to cook. I’ve tried 2 or 3 times and no luck. They gotta be in there for an hour and no luck. I can cook all sorts of meat no issues but potatoes is a brick wall 😢
Weird! Are the potatoes whole? Cut into cubes?
Sliced like you would for scallop potatoes!
Like the Margarine wasn’t even melted hardly. Once we opened the fold pack and cooked for another 30 minutes they cooked but that meant they’d cooked for a whole hour
Hi! I have also added frozen mini ears of corn cut into 2 or 3 pieces to add color and more veggies. Good luck everyone!
★★★★★
That sounds like a great idea!
Karen, I really like your blog, easily most of my instant pot recipes come from you.
I do want to point out there are concerns with heating aluminum. The first selling point of the instant pot for me was that it’s stainless steel and not aluminum. https://www.worldhealth.net/news/dangers-aluminum-foil/
>Take away is that aluminum foil is not fully inert, the dangers occur most when it is heated to high temperatures, and when exposed to certain foods it has been shown to leach a portion of its metallic compounds into food where it is then ingested; after being ingested it can build up in the blood, muscles, and organs to contribute to all manners of health problems that science is starting to understand how negative these consequences may be.
I see you also included a method without foil, thank you!
★★★★
Thanks Dax. I did include the method without foil in case people want to use that instead 😊
Please read below article with references from both autism and other nervous system disease organization that aluminum in all forms is NOT connected to disease or malady and is a normal part of life.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/factcheck/2020/06/23/fact-check-aluminum-exposure-through-food-wont-cause-health-issues/3239457001/
Genius Idea! No Clean up! Instant Pot easy & fast! I loved these as a kid….68 years ago! I’ll make microwave S’mores too! YUMM! Thank You!
★★★★★
You’re welcome Judy!