Camping Chicken Foil Dinner

Well, this was a new camping recipe we just tried on our vacation. I had done hamburger foil meals before, but not chicken and I don't like to deal with raw meat camping, so I was interested in how this would work.




Here you see the before picture. I used heavy duty oiled foil, then piled chopped potatoes and onions in the center with a half ear of corn-on-the-cob (frozen from last fall's harvest!). I rubbed the corn with melted butter and sprinkled with Basic Spice Rub, then sprinkled the vegetables with the rub, too. I layed a boneless, skinless chicken thigh on top and dusted it with more rub.

You could use chicken breast, too, but I thought they might take longer to cook because they are thicker, so I went with the thighs. Then I sealed the edges all nice and tight, but left a little room for steam.

This is the part I liked: Make them a couple days before you want to camp and throw them in the freezer. I wasn't sure how the potatoes would come out after being frozen, but they were great!

I did learn that next time I will put the pouches in ziplock baggies because a few leaked as they were defrosting in the ice box (luckily they didn't get on anything!).





They are supposed to cook 5 inches from the fire, 15 minutes on one side and 15 minutes on the other, but we had to use the stationary grate at the campsite, so they were closer than 5 inches. We just turned them a little more often, and had to move around because of hot spots - but it can be done, though I'll be honest and say the bottoms of the corn and a few potatoes were a bit charred.

In the end, they only took about 20-25 minutes (and they were still a little frozen when we put them on the fire). We're now going to be on the look-out for a cooking tripod with a grate so we can adjust the distance from the fire.

The finished meal was TASTY. I must say this was a fine way to start the trip, especially to be the first meal when you come into the campsite- all you have to do is get the fire going and dinner will be in 1/2 hour without any "cooking." I made a salad while they were cooking to round out the meal.

My husband enjoying the corn. Notice the funky bracelet he's wearing. We were being bothered by mosquitos, since we had our own little "swamp" right next to our site we didn't know about 'til after we set up camp. And these bracelets let off an odor (lemon euclyptus, I think) that keeps them away. They seem to work to a certain degree, believe it or not.

The kids really liked the meals and asked a number of times to make them every time we go camping. Success!

-Jami