Foil-Roasted Sweet Potato Boats
Whole sweet potatoes buried in coals, split open and loaded with milk powder cream, honey, and pecans.
- calories
- 430
- weight
- 9 oz
- cal / oz
- 48
- protein
- 6 g
- serves
- 2, scales
- prep
- 8 min
- cook
- 40 min
- total time
- 48 min
- water
- 60 ml cold
- cost
- $
Calorie and protein figures are my own estimates, good enough for planning a food bag and not meant as precise nutrition data.
- Breakfast
- Campfire coals
- Car camping
- Basecamp
- Canoe / raft
- Vegetarian
- Gluten free
- Foil packet
- Grab and go
- Shelf stable
- Basic
Ingredients
| Sweet potatoes | 2 medium | scrubbed at home, packed dry |
|---|---|---|
| Whole milk powder | 1/4 cup | stands in for the Greek yogurt |
| Cold water | 3 tbsp | to loosen the milk powder |
| Honey | 2 tbsp | squeeze bottle, not a jar |
| Pecans | 1/4 cup | toasted and chopped at home |
| Ground cinnamon | 1/2 tsp | |
| Salt | a pinch | |
| Heavy-duty foil | 2 sheets |
Method
- Poke each sweet potato a half dozen times with a fork. Wrap tight in heavy-duty foil, seams up.
- Let the fire burn down. Nestle the packets into the coals, not the flames.
- Roast 35 to 40 minutes, rolling them a quarter turn every ten with tongs. A fork should slide in with no resistance.
- While they cook, stir the milk powder with the cold water in a cup until it is thick, then add the pinch of salt.
- Pull the packets out and open them carefully. Steam comes off hard. Split each potato lengthwise and mash the inside with a fork.
- Spoon on the milk cream, drizzle the honey, then the cinnamon. Pecans go on last so they stay crisp.
The source built this on Greek yogurt out of a cooler. That works for one morning and fails for the rest of the trip, so this version uses whole milk powder mixed thick with a little cold water. It is tangier than yogurt is not, but it carries the same job: fat and body against a potato that is otherwise all starch and sugar.
Foil is doing two things. It keeps the skin off the coals so the outside does not carbonize before the middle gives, and it becomes the bowl, which means no pot to scrub. Toppings stay out of the packet until the potato is open. Steam softens pecans in about a minute, and a soft pecan is just a piece of fat with no crunch to it.
Packing
Potatoes ride loose in a dry sack; they bruise less than they look like they will. Pre-wrap them in foil at home if you want camp to be faster. Pecans in a rigid container, milk powder and cinnamon premixed in a small bag, honey in a squeeze bottle.
Variations
- Skip the milk powder and the whole thing is vegan, assuming you swap the honey for brown sugar.
- Coconut milk powder makes a richer topping and needs less water.
- A stove works too: wrap and set on low heat in a covered pot, turning often.
https://camprecipes.com/foil-baked-campfire-sweet-potato-boats