Dutch Oven Chicken Quesadillas
Canned chicken, chili powder, and a stack of tortillas baked in foil over coals.
- calories
- 620
- weight
- 9 oz
- cal / oz
- 69
- protein
- 38 g
- serves
- 6, scales
- prep
- 10 min
- cook
- 25 min
- total time
- 35 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
- Lunch
- Dutch oven
- Campfire coals
- Grill grate
- Car camping
- Basecamp
- Nut free
- Foil packet
- Grab and go
- Needs a cooler
- Basic
Ingredients
| Canned white chicken | 2 cans (10 oz each) | do not drain, the liquid carries the spice |
|---|---|---|
| Chili powder | 2 tbsp | |
| Minced garlic | 2 tsp | jarred keeps for the trip once opened if it stays cold |
| Large flour tortillas | 12 | |
| Shredded Mexican-blend cheese | 8 oz | rides in the cooler |
| Salsa | to taste | a jar or single-serve cups |
Method
- Get a 12-inch dutch oven up to about 400 degrees: roughly 17 coals on the lid, 8 underneath.
- Dump both cans of chicken with their liquid into a small pot over the stove or a few spare coals. Add the chili powder and garlic.
- Break the chicken apart with a fork and stir until it is evenly colored and steaming, about five minutes.
- Lay a tortilla on a square of foil. Spread a sixth of the chicken over it, scatter cheese on top, cap it with a second tortilla.
- Set the foil and quesadilla in the dutch oven. A second one on its own sheet of foil can stack on top of the first.
- Bake ten minutes, then lift the whole thing out by the corners of the foil. Cut into quarters and eat with salsa.
This is a scout troop recipe and it stays one: it feeds six off two cans and a bag of cheese, and nobody has to touch raw meat. Canned chicken is already cooked, so the pot step is only about getting the chili powder and garlic to bloom into the canning liquid. Skip it and the spice sits on the outside of the shreds instead of through them.
The foil is the whole trick. Building each quesadilla on its own square means you can stack two in the oven and pull them out by the corners without reaching into a 400-degree pot. It also means the dutch oven comes home with nothing baked onto it. Cheese is the one thing here that needs a cooler, which is why this is a car-camping meal and not a backpacking one.
Packing
Cans, spices, and tortillas are shelf-stable and can live in the food bin all trip. Cheese and any opened garlic go in the cooler. Cut foil into squares at home so you are not fighting a roll of it in the wind.
Variations
- No dutch oven: flip the lid upside down over the coals and use it as a griddle, or heat tortillas on a grill grate and spoon the chicken in as a soft taco.
- Fold one large tortilla in half instead of stacking two. Half the cheese, half the fuss.
- Chopped onion and red pepper stirred into the chicken adds bulk. Sour cream on top if the cooler has room.
https://www.boyscouttrail.com/content/recipe/chicken_quesadillas-2183.asp