On our October camping trip to Assateague State Park, the days had grown crisper and the fall air was brisk along the shore. It was the perfect opportunity to gather around a campfire while this smoky BBQ chicken and potatoes simmered in a dutch oven. The smell was tantalizing, and our little group of campers said it earned the “finger-lickin’ good” seal of approval.
The inspiration for our version of smoky BBQ came from here, but we tweaked things a bit and arrived at the following:
Ingredients:
- 6-8 chicken breasts
- 1 package of bacon (you can precook the bacon before you leave to speed up the cooking time, which is what we did)
- 6-8 large potatoes
- 1 red onion, diced
- 1 stick of butter
- 1 large bottle of barbecue sauce
- ~50 coals (we use a large dutch so you may need fewer coals if yours is smaller)
Begin by preparing your coals. (Never cooked with a dutch oven before? Check out this tutorial here.)
Place your dutch oven on top of about 20 burning coals. Once the dutch is heated on the bottom, fry up the bacon. (If you precooked your bacon, then skip to frying up the onions in the butter.) Once the bacon is crispy, remove from the dutch, cool a little bit, and then break it into smaller pieces. (At this point you can drain off the bacon fat, or if you like to cook with it, leave it in the pot but reduce how much butter you use.)
Next, saute the red onions in the butter.
Once the onions have caramelized and softened, add the potatoes, chicken, bacon, and BBQ sauce.
Put the lid on and cover the top with coals–I probably used about 30 here. Cook for about 45 minutes, but begin checking chicken and potatoes around 30 minutes to check for doneness. We also stirred the pot two or three times during the cooking process.
This smoky BBQ chicken and potatoes recipe is good ole’ campfire comfort food. Served with some country biscuits and corn, and you have the perfect stick-to-your-ribs meal.
Happy camping!
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