Grilled Red Potatoes

What You’ll Need

I’ve outlined the ingredients you’ll need for these grilled potatoes below. Scroll to the printable recipe card at the end of this post for the exact ingredient amounts.

• Potatoes – I usually use red potatoes in this recipe. See my notes below about using other potatoes.
• Olive oil – This offers extra flavor and helps the seasoning stick to the potatoes. Plus it helps the potatoes turn golden and charred, and keeps the potatoes from sticking on the grill.
• Salt & pepper – This recipe is great as-is, with super simple seasoning.
• Dill – I love combining herby dill with lemon and feta!
• Feta – Crumbled feta adds delightful bites of creamy texture and salty flavor.
• Lemon – Squeeze some fresh lemon over the potatoes right before serving for a bright punch of flavor. LOVE!

The best type of potatoes for grilling are waxy potatoes, such as red or yellow potatoes, because they hold up well to high heat.

However, my family also likes to grill Yukon Golds, because of their buttery texture and flavor. Yukon Golds are a cross between starchy North American white potatoes and waxier South American yellow potatoes, which gives them a texture that’s creamy and doesn’t crumble.

I just really avoid using Russets when grilling potato slices directly on the grill grates, as I find that they get crumbly and break up.

How To Make Grilled Red Potatoes

I just know you’re going to love these grilled potato slices! Follow along with the photos below to see how we make this recipe. Find the detailed instructions in the recipe card lower down.

• Finish. Transfer the grilled potatoes to a serving platter and sprinkle dill and feta over the top.
• Serve! Right before serving, squeeze some fresh lemon juice over the top of the potatoes. Tuck a few lemon wedges into the potatoes, for those who want to squeeze on even more lemon brightness.

Do You Have To Boil Potatoes Before Grilling?

You don’t have to boil potatoes before you grill them, but I do like this method best. This step is called parboiling, as it almost fully boils the potato. This ensures that the inside of the potatoes will be fully cooked and wonderfully creamy when you remove them from the grill. I do NOT like even the slightest bit of raw bite when it comes to potatoes – how about you?!

As a bonus, you can parboil the potatoes a day before grilling them, so then all you have to do is season them and grill them when you’re ready to enjoy this dish. If you parboil the potatoes ahead of time, let them cool, then place them in an airtight container in the fridge.

Tips & Variations

I have just a few simple tips to share, plus some ideas for how you can change up this recipe:

• Parboil the potatoes. For the best, creamiest interior to the potato slices, I recommend partially cooking (parboiling) the potatoes before grilling them. In case you missed it, I just explained how this works in the previous section.
• Try another cheese. Feel free to try another cheese, such as crumbled goat cheese. My family really likes a salty, crumbly aged Parmesan or cheddar, so sometimes we use one of those. Big Parmesan shavings would also be great!
• Use different herbs. If you’re not a fan of dill, try fresh rosemary, thyme, oregano, or basil instead – or use a combination of your favorites. Dried herbs can be used in a pinch, but I mush prefer fresh herbs.
• Add garlic. When you drizzle the parboiled potato slices with oil, try sprinkling a couple minced fresh garlic cloves over the potatoes before folding everything together. Or simply sprinkle some garlic powder along with the salt and pepper.

Serving Suggestions

Grilled red potatoes are fantastic alongside a variety of mains and other vegetable sides, and they make a delightful tapas-style appetizer. Here are a few ideas for how to serve these grilled potatoes:

• As tapas. Add these fun little grilled potatoes to a tapas (small plates)-inspired meal, along with dishes like classic ceviche, garlic butter steak bites, and super simple grilled shrimp. Glasses of bubbly tinto de verano bring this altogether in the most beautiful way!
• Salad. Serve grilled red potatoes alongside fresh salads, like crunchy jalapeño coleslaw, Italian chopped salad, or roasted beet salad.
• Grilled meat, fish & seafood. Lemony grilled potatoes are a natural pairing for grilled main proteins. Some of our favorites include grilled pork chops, honey mustard chicken kabobs, sugar grilled steak, and grilled scallops.
• With other vegetables. Round out your plate with extra veggies, like a grilled vegetable salad or roasted asparagus. Or place a jar of pickled beets on the table, irresistible!

Proper Storage

Place leftover cooled potatoes in an airtight container and store them in the fridge for up to 4 days. Gently reheat the potatoes in the microwave until warmed to your liking.

Red Potatoes and My Trip to Black Gold Farms

A behind-the-scenes look at my experience with harvesting red potatoes!

Back in 2012, Black Gold Farms invited me to take in their red potato harvest near Arbyrd, Missouri. The photos below are from that trip, which they sponsored.

Driving through Tennessee, Arkansas, and Missouri

After my plane landed in Memphis, I set foot in 3 states in less than 24 hours. From Tennessee, I rode with Leah, a Black Gold Farms family business member, across the Tennessee line to our hotel in Arkansas, and then on to their family farm in Missouri, which is operated by her brother John.

As we were driving, I kept looking for big bold Southern sights to pop out at me. But, truthfully, it looked just like where I came from, for a very long time.

But then, further down the line, fields of cotton (top left photo), watermelons (bottom right photo), sorghum, rice, and sweet potatoes were pointed out to me. And stands of pecan trees. And further still, barbecue joints with people feasting on grits and collard greens. Plus, I saw the largest cotton gin in Arkansas (bottom left photo).

“Brenda, we’re definitely not in the Midwest anymore!”

About Black Gold FarmS

Black Gold Farms was in full swing when I arrived at their Arbryd, Missouri farm, harvesting both red potatoes and white chipper (as in, potato chips!) potatoes. I jumped at the chance to climb the steps of the John Deere tractor, for my first-ever experience of harvesting red potatoes without a potato fork in the garden.

* top left photo: Lance (tractor operator), Leah (family business member & Marketing Specialist), myself, and Glen (National Director of Produce Sales)

The Arbyrd farm is one of 11 farms scattered throughout the country operated by Black Gold Farms. This enables them to have staggered harvest times throughout the year, for a consistent supply of fresh potatoes for consumers.

A little family history: The roots of Black Gold Farms can be traced back to John’s and Leah’s (and their brother, Eric’s) great-grandfather in the fertile Red River Valley of North Dakota. Black Gold Farms is a multi-generation family-owned operation. Since its inception in 1928, the Halverson family has grown their small North Dakota farm into a global company. While still firmly planted in the rich black soil of the Red River Valley, they are also wholly committed to the additional communities where Black Gold Farms employees live and work throughout the country. 

And this is what initially drew me in when Black Gold Farms contacted me. Because I grew up in a farming family, on the southern fringe of the Red River Valley. And my husband grew up farming just to the west of Wahpeton, North Dakota (where I also lived for almost 10 years), where the Red River forms and runs north, past the Black Gold Farms original homestead, into Canada.

What I Experienced

I’ll never look at a bag of potatoes the same way ever again!

It was super interesting to learn about the Black Gold Farms operation. I saw the whole process, from potatoes being harvested in the field, to being hauled away in a semi truck, all cleaned, sorted by size, and packaged according to each customer’s preference in a variety of bags, boxes, and bulk packaging.

Black Gold Farms is very proud of their practices. I was amazed by their numerous inspections and the huge amount of documentation and paperwork necessary to achieve their own personal goals of exceeding the required food safety standards.

I enjoyed spending time with John and Leah (far left photo), learning about each of their jobs with the family farm. It was also fun to see the family dynamics of these siblings at work…so full of respect for each other, but not without the uncontrollable urge to just be brother and sister!

Black Gold Farms is constantly striving to provide the very best product with the very best practices. And that means they are always testing new potato varieties and procedures – which is no small undertaking, as trials take several years to complete. Guided by their own agronomist, Black Gold Farms harvested 34 new varieties of potatoes that summer (some are shown in the photo above).

And I can’t possibly end my trip recap without talking about potato chips!

Black Gold Farms is the largest supplier of chipper potatoes to Frito-Lay. And you just have to know that means a LOT of potatoes come out of Black Gold Farms! Over half a billion pounds annually, in fact (2012 stats). It was great fun to watch the maze of conveyers traveling the potatoes to the trucks at the end of the line, headed for Frito-Lay. It takes just 10 minutes to fill a semi trailer with 45,000 pounds of potatoes bound for crispy salted chips!