Ranch and Cola Braised Chicken
Bottled dressing, barbecue sauce, and a can of cola braised over coals until the chicken shreds.
- calories
- 620
- weight
- 11 oz
- cal / oz
- 56
- protein
- 45 g
- serves
- 6, scales
- prep
- 15 min
- cook
- 120 min
- total time
- 135 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
- Dutch oven
- Campfire coals
- Car camping
- Basecamp
- Nut free
- One pot
- Grab and go
- Needs a cooler
- Basic
Ingredients
| Boneless chicken breast | 4 pieces | |
|---|---|---|
| Chicken thighs | 6 pieces | bone-in is fine and stays juicier |
| Ranch dressing | 1 cup | |
| Italian dressing | 1 cup | |
| BBQ sauce | 1/2 cup | |
| Cola | 1 can (12 oz) | not diet, the sugar is doing the work |
Method
- At home, put the chicken and all four liquids in a gallon freezer bag. Press the air out and seal it. Keep it flat and cold in the cooler overnight.
- At camp, burn a fire down to coals. You want a bed of embers, not flames.
- Pour the whole bag, chicken and marinade both, into a 12-inch dutch oven and set the lid on.
- Set the oven on a shallow bed of coals and shovel more on the lid. Roughly a third of the coals underneath, two thirds on top.
- Cook about 2 hours. Refresh the coals every 30 to 40 minutes and rotate the oven and the lid a quarter turn each time so it does not scorch on one side.
- Check that the thighs pull off the bone and the breast reads done at the thickest part. If the sauce is still thin, pull the lid and let it reduce over the coals for ten minutes.
- Shred the meat into the sauce and serve over rice, in tortillas, or straight out of the pot.
This is a car-camping recipe and it stays one. The chicken has to ride cold, and there is no dehydrated version of a cup of ranch dressing that behaves the same way. What it buys you is a dinner for six that needs no chopping, no measuring at camp, and one pot.
The four liquids each do a different job. Both dressings are oil and acid, so they tenderize and keep the meat from drying out over two hours of dry heat. The cola contributes sugar that reduces into a glaze and a little acid alongside it. The barbecue sauce is the only thing here with real spice and smoke, so it carries the flavor. Coals on the lid matter more than coals underneath — heat from the bottom alone will scorch the sugars long before the thighs are done.
Packing
Marinate in the bag at home, then that bag is the whole meal. It rides flat under the ice. Carry the dutch oven, a lid lifter, and gloves. Double-bag the chicken; a leak in a cooler is a bad day.
Variations
- Root beer in place of cola gives it a darker, less sharp finish.
- Add a sliced onion and a couple of quartered potatoes at the start and it becomes a one-pot dinner.
- No dutch oven: cook it covered in a deep skillet on a grill grate, lower and slower, closer to 60 minutes.
https://camprecipes.com/classic-recipes/ranch-chicken