Cola BBQ Chicken, Camp Version
Canned chicken simmered down in cola, honey, and barbecue sauce until it turns into a glaze.
- calories
- 420
- weight
- 9 oz
- cal / oz
- 47
- protein
- 26 g
- serves
- 4, scales
- prep
- 5 min
- cook
- 25 min
- total time
- 30 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
- Canister stove
- Campfire coals
- Liquid fuel
- Car camping
- Basecamp
- Canoe / raft
- Dairy free
- Gluten free
- Nut free
- One pot
- Grab and go
- Shelf stable
- Basic
Ingredients
| Canned chicken | 3 cans, 12.5 oz each | drained; replaces the raw bone-in chicken |
|---|---|---|
| Cola | 16 oz | one can, not diet |
| Barbecue sauce | 2 cups | check the label if you need it gluten-free |
| Honey | 1/2 cup | |
| Salt | 1/2 tsp | |
| Black pepper | 1/2 tsp |
Method
- Drain the chicken cans over a spare pot or off to the side of camp, not into your dinner.
- Pour the cola into the pot alone and boil it hard for about ten minutes, until it drops to roughly half and starts to look syrupy.
- Stir in the barbecue sauce, honey, salt, and pepper. Add the chicken and break it up with the spoon.
- Drop to a low simmer for fifteen minutes, stirring often. The sugar will scorch the bottom if you walk away.
- Pull it off when the sauce coats the chicken instead of pooling around it.
The original called for two hours of simmering bone-in chicken, which is a fine backyard project and a bad idea on a canister. Canned chicken is already cooked, so the only thing that still needs time is the sauce. Reducing the cola first is the whole trick: it concentrates the sugar into something that clings, and it means you are not trying to boil off a can of soda while the meat sits in it turning to threads.
This is heavy, and the cans make it car camping or paddle food, not pack food. Watch the heat once the honey goes in. Sugar on a thin aluminum pot over an unregulated flame goes from glaze to carbon in about a minute.
Packing
Sauce and honey travel in one leakproof bottle, premeasured. Cans go on the bottom of the crate. Bring foil to cover the pot if the wind is up.
Variations
- Serve over instant rice or in tortillas if you want to stretch it to six.
- A can of drained black beans adds bulk and another 7 g of protein per serving.
- Swap the cola for root beer if you want the flavor to lean darker.
https://camprecipes.com/classic-recipes/honey-bbq-coca-cola-chicken