8 Fast & Flavorful Foil Packet Recipes (for When You Don’t Want to Do the Dishes)

This past year, we’ve been cooking more than usual. Sometimes that meant project cooking, like learning how to make sourdough, because, well, why not? Other times, it just meant figuring out how to get dinner on the table night after night after night.) Now, with the weather heating up and restrictions loosening, we are all about quick and easy meals that taste amazing and have minimal clean-up. Foil packets for the win! Foil packet recipes are fast and flavorful; they can be cooked on the grill or in the oven (with the AC turned up high). And they can be a main, a side, a dessert, or an entire meal in one. 

Dive into our list of easy and delicious foil packet recipes to make your next meal (and clean-up) a breeze. 

1. Smoky Grilled Salmon with Avocado Salad from The Modern Proper

This is about as swoon-worthy a salmon presentation as we’ve ever seen. It’s also loaded with flavor, thanks to homemade taco seasoning, olive oil, and limes — and it comes together in less than 30 minutes. Get ready to impress your guests.

2. Parmesan Garlic Potato Foil Packets from The Recipe Critic

Sorry potato salad; these super-flavorful Parmesan-garlic potatoes make the perfect summer side dish. They take about 30 minutes from start-to-finish and are guaranteed to be a crowd-pleaser.

3. Quick Cajun Shrimp Foil Packets from Healthy Little Peach

Got a bag of frozen shrimp in the freezer? This is what to make. Add in a bunch of veggies and Cajun seasoning, wrap in foil, and pop in the oven for 15-20 minutes. Dinner, done!

4. Shrimp Boil Foil Packets from Damn Delicious

A shrimp boil in a foil packet? Believe it. Plus, everyone gets their own foil packet, which is perfect for these post-vaccine times, but also for little kids who want to feel grown-up.

5. Easy Baked Italian Chicken and Veggie Foil Packets from Gimme Delicious

If you’re looking for the *perfect* lazy weeknight dinner that’s also healthy and delicious, this is it. This recipe is for two, but could easily be scaled up or down depending on how many people you’re feeding.

6. Grain-Free Apple Crisp Foil Packs from Healthy Delicious

Serve these 5-ingredient apple crisps with ice cream for dessert or with yogurt for a decadent breakfast.

7. Coconut Curried Mussels Foil Packs from Tbsp.

In our opinion, mussels don’t get the love that they deserve; they’re sustainable, clean, and nutritious. Make them extra-delicious by topping them with coconut curry and cooking them on the grill.

8. Southwest Veggie Foil Packets from Kitchn

Serve these veggies over rice for an easy and tasty vegetarian meal. Or make them a side dish to whatever else you’re cooking on the grill: Steak? Chicken? Pork? These will go well.