Dutch Oven Chicken Pot Pie
Canned chicken, canned vegetables, and biscuit dough baked under coals.
- calories
- 620
- weight
- 14 oz
- cal / oz
- 44
- protein
- 30 g
- serves
- 4, scales
- prep
- 10 min
- cook
- 35 min
- total time
- 45 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
- One pot
- Grab and go
- Shelf stable
- Basic
Ingredients
| Canned chicken breast | 2 cans, about 10 oz each | drained; the original used cooked fresh chicken |
|---|---|---|
| Canned mixed vegetables with potatoes | 2 large cans | do not drain, the liquid is the sauce |
| Cream of chicken soup | 1 can, condensed | |
| Cream of mushroom soup | 1 can, condensed | |
| Shelf-stable biscuit mix | 2 cups | just-add-water type, replaces the refrigerated tube |
| Water for the biscuit mix | about 1/2 cup | |
| Black pepper | 1/2 tsp |
Method
- Burn a fire down to coals well before you want to eat. You need about 20 briquette-sized coals or the equivalent.
- Dump the chicken, both cans of vegetables with their liquid, and both cans of soup into a 12-inch dutch oven. Add pepper and stir until the soup is no longer in lumps.
- Set the oven on 8 coals and heat until the filling steams and the edges just move. Do not let it boil or the bottom scorches.
- Stir the biscuit mix with water until it comes together as a stiff dough. Drop it over the filling in eight rough lumps.
- Put the lid on and move 12 coals onto it. Bake 15 minutes, then check.
- The biscuits are done when the tops are dry and a stick pushed into one comes out clean. Usually 30 minutes total. Rotate the oven and the lid a quarter turn every 10 minutes if one side is running hot.
This started as a home casserole and it survives the trip because almost all of it is already shelf-stable. The only swap that matters is the topping. Refrigerated biscuit tubes need a cooler and pop open on their own in the heat, so dry biscuit mix and a half cup of water does the same job out of a bin.
The canning liquid in the vegetables is not waste. Condensed soup straight from the can is thick enough to seize and burn against the cast iron, and that liquid thins it into a gravy without adding any water you had to carry. Heat gently before the lid goes on so the bottom is not already set when the biscuits start baking.
Packing
Cans and biscuit mix all ride in the food bin. Pre-measure the biscuit mix into a bag at home so you are not hauling the box.
Variations
- A foil pouch of chicken works in place of the cans and weighs less.
- Stir in a spoonful of poultry seasoning or dried thyme; canned soup is salty but flat.
- No biscuit mix means no lid coals: skip the topping and eat it as a stew over instant potatoes.
https://camprecipes.com/classic-recipes/chicken-pot-pie