Bacon-Wrapped Chicken Bites, Dutch Oven
Chunked chicken in bacon jackets, fried on coals then finished in teriyaki under the lid.
- calories
- 430
- weight
- 9 oz
- cal / oz
- 48
- protein
- 38 g
- serves
- 6, scales
- prep
- 25 min
- cook
- 35 min
- total time
- 60 min
- water
- none
- cost
- $$
Calorie and protein figures are my own estimates, good enough for planning a food bag and not meant as precise nutrition data.
- Dinner
- Dutch oven
- Campfire coals
- Car camping
- Basecamp
- Gluten free
- Dairy free
- Nut free
- One pot
- Pre-mix at home
- Needs a cooler
- Actual cooking
Ingredients
| Boneless skinless chicken breasts | 4 | cut at home, kept cold in the cooler |
|---|---|---|
| Bacon | 1 lb (16 slices) | |
| Teriyaki marinade | 1 cup | barbecue sauce works the same way |
| Toothpicks | 32 | plain wood, no colored tips |
Method
- Halve each bacon slice crosswise so you have 32 short strips about six inches long.
- Split each breast lengthwise, then cut each half into four chunks. Thirty-two pieces total, one per bacon strip.
- Wrap a strip snug around each chunk and pin it with a toothpick. Lay them in a 12-inch dutch oven in a single layer.
- Set the oven over coals at frying heat, roughly 375F, all heat underneath. Fry 15 minutes, turning the pieces every three or four minutes so the bacon renders on every side.
- Pour the teriyaki over and stir to coat.
- Put the lid on and move most of the coals up top for baking heat, about 350F. Bake 20 minutes.
- Pull a piece and cut it open. Chicken should be opaque through the center. Count the toothpicks back out before anyone eats.
Chicken breast dries out over a fire faster than anything else you might cook on one. The bacon is the fix. It bastes each chunk from the outside while the fat renders, and it renders into the pot rather than into a fire pan, so the sauce that follows has something to hold onto.
The two-stage heat matters. Frying with all the coals underneath renders bacon fat and browns the outside. Only then does the sauce go in, because teriyaki is mostly sugar and sugar over direct heat turns black before the chicken is done. Moving coals to the lid finishes the inside with gentler heat from above. This one needs a cooler, so it is a first-night or car-camping dinner, not a backpacking one.
Packing
Cube the chicken at home and bag it flat in the cooler bottom. Bacon stays in its own bag. Sauce in a leakproof bottle, toothpicks in a film canister or a corner of the spice kit.
Variations
- No lid heat available: skip the bake and keep rolling the pieces in the sauce over the coals for another eight to ten minutes. The sugar in teriyaki scorches fast with all the heat underneath.
- A 10-inch oven takes about two thirds of everything. Same coals, same clock.
https://www.boyscouttrail.com/content/recipe/bacon_chicken_nuggets-2428.asp