Ginger-Orange Chicken Foil Packets

Also called “hobo packets”, foil packet meals are a great dinner option for camping - form aluminum foil packs around your choice of ingredients, and toss them on the grill or fire.

The whole family can usually customize their individual foil packets to their own tastes, and there’s minimal cleanup after the fact - what’s not to love?

We tend to go a little bit extra with our foil pack dinners, usually marinating the chicken ahead of time and freezing it before we hit the road.

It’s a great way to get flavourful, tender chicken with very little effort while actually on the campsite!

It’s an easy camping meal that’s naturally gluten free, and relatively low in carbs, too!

One thing I love about these chicken packets is that they kind of scratch the Chinese food craving itch, even way out in the middle of nowhere!

I like to have a nice selection of marinated chicken in the freezer, to be able to easily deal with random cravings like that.

Anyway, let’s look at what you’ll need to have on hand, to do up a batch of these ginger orange chicken foil dinners...

Ingredients

This recipe uses really basic ingredients, nothing really exotic. You should have no trouble finding everything you need in any grocery store.

As always, I have a few ingredient notes for you:

Boneless Skinless Chicken Breasts

I like to use boneless skinless chicken breasts in this chicken foil packets recipe, just because they’re easiest to deal with.

That said, if you’re more of a thigh person... feel free to use boneless skinless chicken thighs instead.

I recommend doing 2 thighs per person, in that case - trimmed before marinating.

Vegetables

I tend to use about 1 ½ lbs of fresh veggies in this recipe - generally fresh broccoli and/or snow peas.

Sometimes it’ll be one or the other, sometimes both - it’s all good.

That said, feel free to sub your favourite vegetables if you think they’ll work, flavour wise. For example, asparagus subs in well.

Green or red bell peppers would also work.

Basically, you want something that just needs to be heated through, rather than *cooked*, if that makes sense. So, I wouldn’t use potatoes instead, as they tend to need to cook much longer.

Also: If you have green onions on hand, they go well as a garnish, after cooking!

Fresh Oranges

You can use any kind of orange you like, but you’ll be using it a couple times.

When making the marinade, you’ll be using both juice and zest - so I like to use a large, juicy orange that’s easy to grate.

Then, when assembling, you’ll use orange slices. This is partially to prevent burning, and to steam some flavour into the chicken... so I recommend going with a juicy orange.

You don’t necessarily need to use seedless oranges, but be sure to remove the seeds before using them!

Soy Sauce, etc

If you don’t have any dietary restrictions, regular soy sauce works great.

If that doesn’t work for you, you can use reduced sodium soy sauce, tamari, or coconut aminos, as needed. We usually use coconut aminos, as it’s a naturally gluten-free soy sauce alternative!

Everything Else

Rounding out this recipe, you will need:

Rice Vinegar (or Apple Cider Vinegar)
Cooking Spray
Sesame Seeds
Ground Ginger
Olive Oil
Ginger Paste
Garlic Cloves
Honey

... I just don’t have anything to add, as far as these last few ingredients go. Pretty simple stuff!

How to Make Ginger Orange Chicken Pouches

The full recipe is in the printable recipe card at the end of this post, here is the visual walk through:

Marinated Chicken

Trim the chicken breasts, if needed, and place in a medium freezer baggie.

In a small bowl or measuring cup, whisk together the remaining marinated chicken ingredients.

Pour the marinade into the baggie of chicken, push most of the air out of the baggie, and seal. Gently massage the bag to coat the chicken pieces.

Chill for at least 2 hours - or Freeze until the day before you want to use it. (Thaw in the fridge)

Assembly

About 40 minutes before you plan to serve the meal, get a medium fire going. You can cook this on a charcoal grill, a BBQ, or on a grill plate over a campfire.

For each pouch:

Lay 2 good sized pieces of heavy duty foil crosswise to each other, then spray generously with nonstick cooking spray.

Place a slice or two of orange, top with one marinated chicken breast.

Fold the foil ends in, rolling to form a well sealed packet.

Place the chicken foil packets over your fire or on the grill, cook for 15 minutes.

Divide the broccoli and peas between the foil packets. For each packet, divide that packet’s portion of vegetables on either side of the chicken.

Drizzle a little olive oil over the veggies, season with a little salt and pepper to taste - you can also use a bit of onion and garlic powder, if you like.

Sprinkle Sesame Seeds over everything.

Re-wrap the foil packet and return to the heat.

Actual cook time will depend on your grill, and the thickness of your chicken, but expect another 5-10 minutes.

Open the packets, garnish with more sesame seeds if desired, and serve hot!

Leftovers

Leftovers can be cooled to room temperature, transferred to an airtight container, and chilled for up to 3 days. Reheat before serving.

More Grilling Recipes for Camping

Looking for some great meals to cook on a campfire or grill? Here's a few of my favourites!

Bison Burgers with Bacon and Caramelized Onions
Elk Burgers with Bacon & Sauteed Mushrooms
Fajita Chicken Kebabs
Greek Chicken Souvlaki
Grilled Chicken Fajitas
Lemon-Dill Fresh Salmon Burgers
Easy Grilled Shrimp Tacos
Grilled Tuna Tacos
Kielbasa & Perogies Foil Packets
Mediterranean Chicken Kebabs
Pie Iron Pizza Pockets
Venison Burgers with Bacon & Whiskey Caramelized Onions

Be sure to check out our other Camping Recipes, including Camping Desserts, Camping Snacks, Make-Ahead Camping Mix Recipes, and a ton of delicious Camping Main Dish Recipes.

Also, we had SO much fun designing gourmet jerky recipes for our camping trips, we started a whole new blog for them! Check out Dried & Tasty for all kinds of fun recipes to make in your food dehydrator!