Dutch Oven Creole Chicken and Rice
Chicken, rice, tomatoes, and a hard shake of Cajun seasoning. One pot, one hour, no stirring.
- calories
- 620
- weight
- 11 oz
- cal / oz
- 56
- protein
- 42 g
- serves
- 6, scales
- prep
- 10 min
- cook
- 60 min
- total time
- 70 min
- water
- 700 ml boiled
- 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
- Dairy free
- Nut free
- Gluten free
- One pot
- Pre-mix at home
- Needs a cooler
- Basic
Ingredients
| Boneless chicken breasts | 4 | cut into strips at home, kept cold |
|---|---|---|
| Petite diced tomatoes | 1 can (15 oz) | the can doubles as your water measure |
| Long grain white rice | 2 cups | uncooked, not instant |
| Water | about 4 cups | |
| Cajun seasoning | 3 to 4 tbsp | store blend or the mix below |
| Honey | 1 cup | squeeze bottle, not a jar |
Method
- Bank a bed of coals or light a chimney of briquettes. You want a 12-inch dutch oven holding around 350°F: eight coals under, sixteen on the lid.
- Cut each chicken breast lengthwise into three strips if you did not do it at home.
- Dump the tomatoes and their juice into the cold oven, then the dry rice. Fill the empty can with water and pour it in. Add another half can, then enough water to total roughly 4 cups.
- Shake Cajun seasoning across the rice and stir once to spread it.
- Lay the chicken strips flat on top of the rice. Do not bury them.
- Squeeze honey over the chicken and hit it with more seasoning.
- Lid on. Hold the heat for an hour, replacing spent coals around the 30 minute mark. Do not lift the lid before 45 minutes.
- Check that the rice has taken up the liquid and the chicken pulls apart. Serve straight from the oven.
This is a layered bake, not a stew, and the order matters. Rice and tomatoes go on the bottom where the liquid pools, the chicken sits on top and steams while its juices run down into the grain. Nothing gets stirred, which is the whole point of a dutch oven meal: you set it and then go do something else for an hour.
The honey is doing more than sweetening. Cajun blends are mostly salt and cayenne, and a cup of honey over four breasts is what keeps the heat from flattening the dish. It also caramelizes on the exposed tops of the chicken. Season twice, once on the rice and once over the honey, or the bottom layer comes out bland. A 10-inch oven takes about two thirds of everything at the same temperature and time.
Packing
Premix the Cajun blend at home in a jar so you are shaking one thing, not eight. Chicken travels in the cooler in a sealed bag, cut and ready. Rice goes in a bag with a mark at the 2 cup line.
Variations
- Swap the chicken for two foil pouches of cooked chicken and cut the bake to 35 minutes, once the rice is done. That makes it a shelf-stable version with no cooler.
- Andouille or any hard smoked sausage in place of half the chicken adds fat and holds without ice.
- Homemade Cajun mix: blend 5 tbsp cayenne, 3 tbsp each black pepper, onion powder, garlic powder, and chili powder, and 1 tbsp each thyme, sweet basil, and bay leaf, then stir into a 26 oz container of table salt. Let the dust settle before opening the blender.
https://www.boyscouttrail.com/content/recipe/chicken_creole-1244.asp