Foil Packet Sheet Pan Dinner
Sausage, potato flakes skipped: real vegetables, one packet, coals or a grate.
- calories
- 640
- weight
- 11 oz
- cal / oz
- 58
- protein
- 26 g
- serves
- 2, scales
- prep
- 12 min
- cook
- 25 min
- total time
- 37 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
- Campfire coals
- Grill grate
- Car camping
- Basecamp
- Canoe / raft
- Gluten free
- Dairy free
- Nut free
- Foil packet
- Grab and go
- Needs a cooler
- Basic
Ingredients
| Smoked sausage or precooked chicken sausage | 12 oz | already cooked, so it only needs to heat through |
|---|---|---|
| Small potatoes | 3/4 lb | cut into 1/2-inch dice |
| Carrots | 2 medium | small dice, they are the slowest thing in the packet |
| Bell pepper | 1 | cut in wide strips |
| Red onion | 1/2 | thick wedges |
| Cherry tomatoes | 1 cup | left whole |
| Olive oil | 3 tbsp | |
| Fajita or taco seasoning | 2 tsp | |
| Salt and pepper | to taste | |
| Lime | 1 | cut in wedges at camp |
| Fresh cilantro | a small handful | added after cooking |
Method
- Build a fire and let it burn down, or set a grate over medium coals. Flames will scorch the foil before the carrots are done.
- Cut everything at home if you can. Potatoes and carrots go small, pepper and onion go large, tomatoes stay whole. Matching cook times is the whole job here.
- Toss potatoes, carrots, onion, and pepper with the oil and seasoning. Season the sausage separately so the flavors do not blur.
- Lay a double layer of heavy foil, pile in the vegetables, and set the sausage on top. Fold into a sealed packet with room for steam.
- Set the packet on the grate or on coals raked flat. Cook 20 to 25 minutes, turning once around the halfway mark.
- Open a corner and stab a carrot. If it gives, add the tomatoes, close it, and give it three more minutes.
- Top with cilantro and squeeze lime over it. Eat from the foil.
This is a sheet pan dinner moved onto a fire. The oven version works because everything on the tray finishes at once; over coals you get less control, so the knife does the work instead. Carrots and potatoes go small, peppers and onions go big, tomatoes go in whole and late. Cut them all the same size and you get raw carrot next to collapsed tomato.
Seasoning the sausage apart from the vegetables costs nothing and keeps two flavors on the plate instead of one. The lime and cilantro go on after the packet opens — heat flattens both. This one needs a cooler, so it is a car-camping or first-night meal, not something to carry on day four.
Packing
Vegetables get cut and bagged at home; they ride in the cooler with the sausage. Oil and seasoning go in a small bottle and a film canister. Carry two sheets of heavy-duty foil per packet, plus one spare.
Variations
- Swap sausage for a firm white fish, but add it for the last ten minutes only or it dries out.
- Pineapple chunks and jalapeno in place of the tomatoes push it toward fajita territory.
- Crumbled feta over the top after cooking, if the cooler is holding.
https://www.matprat.no/artikler/tema/tray-bake---enkel-middag-pa-et-brett