Mediterranean roasted vegetables in foil are an easy to prepare side dish for any camping meal or summer barbecue. The vegetables are roasted to perfection on the grill, packed with delicious Mediterranean flavours like garlic, rosemary, basil, oregano and a good drizzle of extra virgin olive oil.
Lots of people might wonder how to best roast vegetables on an open campfire or on the barbecue. It is very easy to burn veggies on the barbecue if they are not constantly monitored and turned. Using foil packets for cooking on a campfire or barbecue is a great solution and a nice way of cooking vegetables. The veggies become nice and tender during roasting and have the time to soak up all the lovely Mediterranean flavours from the spice mix in the foil packet.
Why roasting vegetables in foil packets?
I’m a big fan of cooking vegetables in foil packets when camping, especially when cooking on an open campfire or on a barbecue. The best thing is that all these foil packet recipes can also be prepared in a normal electric or gas oven at home or if you have one available in a trailer/caravan or RV.
So, why do I love cooking vegetables in foil packets (or hobo packets as they are also known)?
- Foil packet vegetables can be made in advance. So while preparing the rest of the dishes, they can just sit and wait until they are ready to be put on the fire or grill.
- These foil packets can be used on the fire, barbecue or in the oven.
- The packets can be put on the fire and be forgotten for the amount of time they need to be ready. You might just have to turn them once for even cooking, but that’s about it.
- No need to serve them in a bowl or plate, so the cleaning up is easy and fast.
- By adding nice seasoning they have all the time to soak up these lovely flavours while cooking on the heat.
- When the veggie foil packets are ready, they can just be taken off the fire and served when the rest of the dishes are ready. They won’t be overcooked and stay nice and warm in the packet.
- If prepared properly with the right ingredients and cooking time, the vegetables will be cooked perfectly with the right seasoning and flavour.
Useful tips for grilling vegetables in foil packs?
- Combine vegetables that have a similar cooking time. For this recipe I have used a mix of Mediterranean vegetables like zucchini, red bell pepper, red onion and cocktail tomatoes. Don’t add veggies that need a different cooking time, as all the ingredients in the packet need to be ready at the same time.
- If you do want to roast vegetables with different cooking time, rather make a separate foil packet and adjust the cooking time accordingly. For instance, you can make a separate batch of these BBQ grilled foil packet potatoes and put them on the grill alongside the veggies.
- Combine the right flavours and seasoning. Make sure the selection of veggies go together flavour wise. And use aromatics that will add a nice taste to the veggies but will not overpower them too much.
- If your veggies will be ready much earlier than for instance your meat, you might want to slightly undercook them so they can continue steaming in the hot foil packets while the rest of the dishes are being prepared.
- Make sure to coat everything evenly with olive oil so the veggies don’t stick to the foil after cooking.
How to make Mediterranean foil packet vegetables
Note: All the exact quantities of the ingredients can be found in the recipe card at the bottom of this post.
Preparation:
Start by lighting the campfire, the charcoal for the BBQ or preheating the oven. Please note that the cooking time mentioned is for cooking on a fire or BBQ grill, not for cooking in the oven.
First of all, chop the veggies in similar bite size chunks of about ½ inch or 1.5 cm. No need to cut the tomatoes, otherwise they will dissolve and the veggies will become too watery. Use them whole and during the roasting process they will slightly burst open and loose just a bit of their juice and flavour in the packet.
Make the vegetable foil packets:
Combine all the chopped veggies and tomatoes in a mixing bowl and drizzle with some olive oil. I’ve used some dried Mediterranean herbs like oregano and basil to mix through the veggies together with some salt and pepper. Feel free to use other Mediterranean herbs or mixes like thyme or sage, which goes really well with these veggies. Make sure everything is evenly coated with the olive oil and seasoning.
Tear off a sheet of heavy duty aluminium foil of around 50 cm or 18 inch in length. Place the vegetable in the middle of the sheet. Add the fresh rosemary sprigs and crushed garlic on top of the veggies. Fold the opposite sides of the foil in towards the middle until the edges meet. Crimp the edges together so the foil packet is sealed properly to prevent the steam from escaping while cooking. Leave enough space for the steam and heat to circulate inside the foil packet. The packet will look like a little purse, which is easy to handle when moving around the grill. Just be careful, they will be hot, so use tongs to pick them up again.
For this recipe, I have made 1 large foil packet for the vegetables to be shared while serving. You can also decide to give every person their own hobo foil packets, for which you just use a smaller size sheet and divide the vegetables evenly over the individual foil sheets.
Roast the vegetables:
Place the packets on the grill over the fire or hot charcoal. Try and avoid putting the packets directly over the biggest flames. If you don’t have a grill, you can put the packets directly in the coals, in which case try and avoid putting them in the middle of the fire but more to the side. Either way, using 2 layers of foil will mean less chance of your veggies getting charred to a crisp.
Count around 20 minutes cooking time for this recipe.
How to serve grilled veggies in foil
These grilled vegetables can easily be served directly in the foil on a small peace of wood or cutting board, so no need to place them on a nice plate or in a bowl that will need to be washed. You can opt to serve each person their individual foil packet or make one larger one to share. I have made one larger one for the both of us, since I like to serve other dishes to share as well.
More side dishes to serve while camping or BBQ
- Homemade Greek Tzatziki sauce
- Roasted Eggplant dip (Baba Ganoush)
- Watermelon salad with cucumber and feta cheese
- BBQ Grilled potatoes in foil packets
- Shaved fennel salad with honey mustard vinaigrette
- Dill pickle potato salad
- Little gem with anchovy and bell pepper salsa
Mediterranean roasted vegetables in foil
Equipment
- A roll of heavy duty tin foil.
- A sharp knife.
- A cutting board.
- A hot fire. (Do they come any other way?)
Ingredients
- ½ zucchini cut into pieces (½ inch or 1.5 cm)
- 1 red bell pepper seeded and cut into pieces (½ inch or 1.5 cm)
- 1 red onion cut into pieces (½ inch or 1.5 cm)
- 4 cocktail tomatoes whole
- 2 cloves garlic crushed
- 2 rosemary sprigs
- 2 tablespoons olive oil extra virgin
- ½ teaspoon dried oregano
- ½ teaspoon dried basil
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon freshly ground pepper
Instructions
- Chop the zucchini, red onion and red bell pepper into pieces of ½ inch or 1.5 cm. Place the chopped veggies in a mixing bowl together with the tomatoes (not chopped). Toss with olive oil, dried oregano, dried basil, salt and pepper until everything is well coated.
- Tear off a 50cm/18 inch piece of heavy duty aluminium foil. Put the coated vegetables in the middle of the foil sheet. Place the crushed garlic and rosemary sprigs over the veggies.
- Fold the opposite sides of the foil in towards the middle until the edges meet. Crimp around all the edges to seal. Leave enough room for the steam and heat to move inside the foil packet. The packet will look like a little purse.
- Place the foil packet on the gas grill or wood/charcoal fire and cook for 20 minutes, or until soft. When cooked, remove the packet from the grill and let it cool for a few minutes. Open the foil packets carefully, the steam inside will be hot.
Nutrition
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