A hobo dinner (also called a tin foil dinner, hobo pack or campfire packet) is the foil packet most of us made at scout camp: a hamburger patty, sliced potatoes, carrots and onion, sealed in foil and buried in the coals. It's still one of the best first-night camping dinners. Everyone builds their own, it cooks while you sit around the fire, and there are no pots to wash. Here's the classic recipe, the tricks that stop the bottom from burning, oven directions for a rainy night, and ten variations.

The classic hobo dinner

Recipe · Dinner

Classic Hobo Dinner

A seasoned beef patty on a bed of onion, with sliced potatoes and carrots, sealed in foil and cooked on campfire coals.

Prep
20 min
Cook
40 min
Total
1 hr
Serves
4
Cooked on
Campfire coals

Ingredients

  • 1 lb ground beef (80/20)
  • 2 tsp salt, divided
  • 3/4 tsp black pepper, divided
  • 1/2 tsp garlic powder
  • 1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
  • 1 large onion (about 12 oz), sliced into rings
  • 4 medium potatoes (about 1 1/2 lb), sliced 1/4 inch thick
  • 3 carrots, sliced 1/4 inch thick
  • 4 tbsp butter

Steps

  1. Mix the beef with 1/2 tsp of the salt, 1/4 tsp of the pepper, the garlic powder and the Worcestershire. Shape into 4 patties about 1/2 inch thick.
  2. Lay out 4 double sheets of heavy-duty foil about 18 inches long. On each, lay a few onion rings, then a patty, then a quarter of the potatoes and carrots, spread in an overlapping layer rather than stacked.
  3. Season the vegetables in each packet with the rest of the salt and pepper and top with 1 tbsp butter.
  4. Bring the long sides of the foil together, fold them down twice, and fold in the ends tightly, leaving a little room for steam.
  5. Cook on a grate over medium coals for 35–45 minutes, turning once or twice with tongs.
  6. Open one packet carefully, away from your face. The potatoes should be tender and the beef at 160°F, with the thermometer pushed sideways into the patty. If not, reseal and cook 5–10 minutes more.

Three tricks for a hobo dinner that isn't burnt or raw

  • Onion on the bottom. A layer of onion rings between the foil and the patty keeps the meat from scorching, and it melts into the juices.
  • Slice thin. Potatoes cut a quarter inch thick cook through in the time the patty takes. Thick chunks will still be crunchy.
  • Coals, not flames. Wait until the fire has burned down to glowing coals, and cook on a grate over them. Packets set straight into flames burn on the outside before the middle is hot. If you put them directly on the coals, use a double layer of foil and turn them every 10 minutes.

Pack out the foil. It doesn't burn; don't leave it in the fire ring.

Use a thermometer. USDA says color isn't a reliable sign that ground beef is done, and it's especially hard to judge by firelight. The safe minimum for ground beef is 160°F.

Hobo dinner in the oven

Rain, a fire ban, or a test run at home: the same packets bake well in the oven.

  1. Heat the oven to 400°F.
  2. Build the packets exactly as above and set them on a rimmed baking sheet.
  3. Bake 40–50 minutes, until the potatoes are tender and the beef reaches 160°F. No need to turn them. Packets that went into the cooler frozen solid need longer, so thaw them first or plan on an hour or more.

On a covered charcoal or gas grill over medium heat, they take about as long as on the campfire.

Hobo dinner ideas

Swap the filling, keep the method:

  • Turkey or chicken: use ground turkey or chicken instead of beef, and cook to 165°F, the USDA minimum for poultry.
  • Sausage and cabbage: sliced, fully cooked smoked sausage on a bed of shredded cabbage and potatoes, with a spoon of mustard. Cook until the potatoes are tender and the sausage is steaming hot.
  • Cheeseburger: add a slice of cheddar on the patty for the last 5 minutes, and eat it with ketchup and pickles.
  • Tex-Mex: season the beef with chili powder and cumin, swap carrots for corn and black beans, and top with salsa.
  • Onion soup mix: the scout-camp shortcut. Skip the salt and garlic powder and sprinkle a quarter of a packet of dry onion soup mix over each packet's vegetables.
  • Cream of mushroom: spoon 2 tablespoons of condensed cream of mushroom soup over each patty before sealing, for a gravy-style hobo dinner.
  • Chicken thigh: a boneless chicken thigh instead of the patty, with the same potatoes and carrots, cooked to 165°F.
  • Pork chop: a boneless chop about 3/4 inch thick, with sliced apples and onion; pork is safe at 145°F after a 3-minute rest.
  • Vegetarian: a thick slice of portobello mushroom or a veggie burger patty with the same vegetables, plus a handful of corn and a spoon of butter.
  • Breakfast hobo (assemble at camp): frozen hash browns, cooked crumbled sausage, and a beaten egg poured in just before sealing. Cook until the egg is set, at 160°F. Don't carry raw egg in a packet from home.

Make them ahead

Assemble the packets at home, label each with a marker, put each in a zip bag, and lay them on the ice at the bottom of the cooler, below ready-to-eat food. Cook them within 24 hours, on the first night.

For more dinners in foil, see our foil packet camping recipes, and for nights you'd rather use a stove, our easy camping dinners.