Kielbasa and Potato Foil Packs
Sausage, potatoes, carrots, and onion buried in coals for half an hour.
- calories
- 720
- weight
- 14 oz
- cal / oz
- 51
- protein
- 24 g
- serves
- 5, scales
- prep
- 20 min
- cook
- 30 min
- total time
- 50 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
- Gluten free
- Nut free
- Foil packet
- Grab and go
- Needs a cooler
- Basic
Ingredients
| Beef kielbasa | 2 packages | sliced into coins |
|---|---|---|
| Yellow onions | 2 to 3 | cut in thick wedges |
| Garlic | 1 bulb | 1 or 2 cloves per pack |
| Baby carrots | 1 bag | |
| Potatoes | 8 to 10 large | cut small, they set the cook time |
| Butter | 1 tbsp per pack |
Method
- Build a fire early and let it burn down. You want a bed of coals, not flames.
- For each pack, cross two sheets of heavy foil. One sheet tears under this much weight.
- Cut potatoes into half-inch pieces. Slice the kielbasa, wedge the onions, peel a couple of garlic cloves.
- Divide everything across five packs. Drop a pat of butter on each, then fold the foil closed with a tight seam on top.
- Set the packs on the coals or a grate. Flip them at 15 minutes, then again at 25.
- At 30 minutes, pull one and check a potato with a knife. If it resists, seal it back up for another 5.
- Open the packs away from your face. The steam inside is hotter than the food.
This is a car-camp dinner, not a trail dinner. Potatoes and onions are heavy and wet, and the sausage wants a cooler. That is fine at a site you drove to, and the payoff is a full meal with no pot to scrub.
The potato size is the whole recipe. Everything else in the pack is either already cooked or cooks fast, so half-inch cubes are what keeps the pack at thirty minutes instead of an hour. Doubling the foil matters too: a loaded pack is a couple of pounds, and a torn one dumps dinner into the coals.
Packing
Cut potatoes at home and hold them in a bag of cold water in the cooler so they do not brown. Kielbasa and butter stay in the cooler. Pre-tear the foil sheets and stack them flat.
Variations
- Swap the butter for olive oil and it keeps without a cooler.
- Smoked sausage or a shelf-stable summer sausage works if cooler space is short.
- A handful of dried onion flakes replaces the fresh onion and saves a pound of pack weight.
https://camprecipes.com/classic-recipes/kielbasa-foil-packs