Backyard camping with Southwest Chicken Foil Dinners

Posted on July 12, 2016November 29, 2016 by Matt Todd

This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone. #KingOfFlavor #CollectiveBias

Thanks to the youth organization I participated in during my middle school and high school years, I used to go camping. A lot. Not counting our backpacking treks in New Mexico and the week-long summer camps that we ran ourselves, I could generally plan on going on eight or nine different campouts throughout the year. When you add that up over the course of seven-plus years, that’s a lot of camping.

I still love to camp. I still love to make memories. I love being outdoors. There’s nothing like sitting outside on a clear night and getting lost in the stars as they canvas the sky. There’s really nothing like camping with family and friends.

Of course, you don’t really have to go anywhere to camp. If you have a any size of backyard at all, you can pitch a tent without leaving home. That’s what we’ve started doing. And as you can see, our youngest is a big fan of hanging out and playing in “her” tent.

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One of my favorite things about camping is the food. There’s just something special about sharing a meal around a campfire. In order to make sure the meal is bursting with flavor, you want to have the right tools on hand. El Yucateco® Hot Sauces are a great way to enhance the flavor of your camp meal.

Available at retailers nationwide, El Yucateco^® Hot Sauces are available in a variety of flavors. El Yucateco® is a fun, accessible brand of sauce that encourages me to get outside and make the most of these great Summer months. Of course, it is a must-have for camping because it is great at bringing out the flavors of other foods. And the bottle is small enough that it’s easily portable. You can bring it to neighborhood block parties, family barbecues, and even your neighborhood restaurant, taking advantage of its great food-enhancing flavor.

I love the variety of flavors of El Yucateco^® Hot Sauces. There’s Black Label Reserve, which is made from fire-grilled habaneros and has a unique smoky flavor. There’s also the Red Habanero Hot Sauce, a combination of habanero peppers, tomatoes, and spices. It’s the perfect “all-purpose” sauce. There’s also the XXX Habanero Sauce from the Mayan vault, Chipotle Hot Sauce, and Caribbean Hot Sauce. And, of course, there’s the Green Chile Habanero Hot Sauce, which is their national bestseller.

I found El Yucateco^® Hot Sauces in the “Hispanic Foods” section of my neighborhood Walmart.

I have discovered some amazing campfire recipes during my camping excursions. Some of my favorites include Peach Cobbler, Spaghetti Creole, Racin’ Eggs, and Foil Dinners. Foil Dinners are a great meal for any campout. They’re easy to make and each camper makes his or her own foil package and fills it up with favorite veggies and meat. After cooking them in the campfire, they’re ready to eat. While you can use any meat you’d like: shrimp, pork, chicken, ground beef, a family favorite of ours is chicken. Southwest Chicken Foil Dinners, to be precise. They’re so easy to make and each bite is full of flavor thanks to the El Yucateco^® Red Habanero Hot Sauce that’s part of this recipe.

How to make Southwest Chicken Foil Dinners

What you’ll need:

2 Sheets Aluminum Foil per camper
2 Chicken Breasts, cubed
1 Can of Corn, drained
1 Can of Black Beans, drained and rinsed
1 Medium Onion, chopped
1 Zucchini, chopped
2 Large Potatoes, cubed
2 Tablespoons of El Yucateco^® Red Habanero Hot Sauce

What to do:

Build a fire.
You can cook these Foil DInners in the oven at home or on a grill if you’d like. But the most fun way is on a campfire. So let’s talk about campfires for a minute. Roaring bonfires are not the best for cooking. The flames will burn the food without really cooking it. You want a fire that will generate hot “coals” that will evenly cook your food. So you want your fire to burn low and slow. Instead of piling logs on top of each other, I’ve learned that a log cabin style firewood arrangement is the best for cooking.

Once the flames die down, you have a nice bed of hot “coals” in the middle, ready to provide a perfect cooking surface for your Foil Dinners.

Cut the zucchini, potatoes, onions, and chicken into bite-sized cubes.
I recommend cutting the chicken at home before you leave for camp. It’s less messy that way. Cut it into bite-sized cubes and place it in a resealable bag. Store in a cooler until you’re ready to assemble the Foil Dinners.

Place food on sheet of aluminum foil.
Here’s the fun part. Each person takes a sheet of aluminum foil and piles it high with their favorite ingredients. Do you like more zucchini than potatoes? That’s OK. Do you want a lot of beans and very little corn? Perfect! Foil Dinners are highly customized, personalized, and individualized. Each camper puts together his or her own foil pack so it’s custom-made to each person’s preferences.

Fold in the edges of the aluminum foil.

Add El Yucateco^® Red Habanero Hot Sauce

The sauce is what makes this dish so amazing. I could have used any of the different flavors of El Yucateco^®Hot Sauces for this recipe. Any of them would have taken the southwest flavor of this dish to another level. I chose the Red Habanero because it has tomato mixed with the fresh red habanero peppers. It packs a punch with its true pepper flavor.

Cover with another sheet of foil.

Tightly wrap the edges of the two foil sheets together. Make sure there are no openings for the juices to ooze out.

Place Foil Dinner packets on hot “coals.”

Cook for approximately 40 minutes.

All fires are different. So the times could be different. Check the foil packets after 40 minutes. Remove from the fire when the potatoes are tender and the chicken juices run clear.

Be careful when opening the foil packets! Hot steam will come pouring out!

Add more El Yucateco® Red Habanero Hot Sauce and EAT!

Place the pack on a paper plate. Remember that the foil packet will be very hot. Carefully open the Foil Dinner packet and add more El Yucateco^® Red Habanero Hot Sauce.

Enjoy!

Foil Dinners are so great. They’re easy to put together and they’re so full of flavor! You can always put your own twist to this recipe by adding tomatoes or squash or bell peppers or even carrots or mushrooms! This dish can be made exactly how you want it. And thanks to El Yucateco^® Red Habanero Hot Sauce, you’re sure to have a mouthful of flavor with every bite.

What’s your favorite camping recipe? Please share your recipe in the comments below. I bet El Yucateco^® will make it even better!

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Matt Todd

Howdy. I'm Matt. My wife, Christy, and I have four kids and two dogs, I'm passionate about orphan care. I'm a die-hard fan of the Evansville Aces, the Indiana Hoosiers, and Star Wars. I'm trying to live life by the Todd family motto: "It behooves us to live!"