Foil Stew, the Ultimate Camping Meal

Foil Stew (aka Hobo Dinner, Campfire Stew, Tin Foil Dinner) is easy, fun, and so good that you'll want to make it even when you aren't camping!

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• What's the Story Behind this Recipe?
• What Goes into this Recipe
• How to Make this Recipe
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• Foil Stew

What's the Story Behind this Recipe?

Foil Stew is my ultimate comfort food; each bite bringing to mind countless nights under the stars. Like some culinary scrapbook, just the scent of its exquisite, savory, caramelized deliciousness makes my mind dance through cherished memories of past camping trips - with dad and mom, Campfire Girls, my Girl Scouts, my CITs, Mr B and Em....

It is extraordinary that such a simple meal can hold so much.

What Goes into this Recipe

There really isn't much to making a great foil stew: just mix, wrap, and cook. Let me break it down for you.

What follows is a basic list of ingredients; however, there are more variations and combinations for foil stew than we can possibly list. You can add your favorite veggies (lots of people like corn), mix up your proteins, and use any "Cream of" soup your heart desires.

Basic Foil Stew Ingredients

Once you get the process down, you can change it up as much as you want to make it your own.

For each serving/packet of foil stew, you will need:

★ 1 medium potato: Use russets or Yukon golds for the best results. Potatoes should be sliced about ⅛-inch thick. Peeling is optional.

I use a mixture of regular and white-fleshed sweet potatoes. The sweet potatoes are a relatively recent addition for me, and I love what they bring to the party.

★ 1 large carrot: Slice it about ⅛-inch thick. Once again, peeling is optional.

★ ½ large onion: Slice it about ⅛-inch thick.

★ 3-4 ounces of Protein: Ground beef is our protein of choice; however, ground chicken, boneless chicken pieces, sausage, and vegetarian/ alternative "meats" all work well.

DO NOT PRECOOK ANYTHING!! Put animal-based proteins into the stew RAW, breaking up any ground meats and distributing them evenly throughout your stew.

Some people do like to make a pattie with their ground meat and put it on top, but we are not fans.

★ ⅓ to ½ cup Cream of Mushroom Soup: Dump it on straight out of the can.

Any Cream of... soup will work fine. We also enjoy using Cream of Celery.

★ Seasoning as desired: Salt, pepper, garlic salt, etc.

PLEASE keep in mind that these amounts are estimates. Adjust them to your own tastes and appetite.

How to Make this Recipe

As you put it together, you may look at your uncooked foil stew and think, "Oh my gosh, I will never be able to eat all of that!" Which might be true - but remember, everything will cook down by at least a third; and when you are camping, you tend to be hungrier than when you are at home. Plus, Foil Stew makes great leftovers!

Mix the Stew

If everyone is eating the same thing, you can mix your foil stew up in a big bowl for everyone, and then just wrap them individually.

However, if there are any vegetarians in our group, we usually mix the basic veggies together in a bowl, and then mix in the protein and soup right on the foil.

Be generous with the soup - that's what provides the moist base for your stew to, well... stew in. Once you have your stew ingredients all together, toss it well with your hands to mix everything together. If it isn't very goopy, you don't have enough soup in it.

Wrap It Up

Use Heavy Duty aluminum foil. Try to keep the stew in the middle of the foil as you wrap it.

A. Put your mixed foil stew ingredients in the middle of a large piece of aluminum foil, and then bring the foil up so that the ingredients are resting inside in a slightly elongated pile.

B. Fold the top edges down together about one inch and crease. Fold the crease over and then fold it again, and then once again.

It helps to hold the foil stew up as you do this, because this allows you to keep some extra space in the packet, which helps in the cooking process. In other words, the folds themselves need to be very tight, but the foil stew inside should have a little wiggle room.

C. Push the two ends down so that your foil stew is safely in the middle of the packet.

D. Fold or roll the ends tightly.

E. Get a second piece of foil and repeat steps A-D.

F. The double-wrapped foil stew is ready to go on the coals.

Cook Over an Open Fire

To bake over an open fire, first allow the fire to burn long enough to create some substantial coals.

Once you have a nice bed of coals burning, place your prepared foil stew on a bed of coals for 25-50 minutes, turning every 10-15 minutes or so. 

The time required to cook a foil stew depends upon many factors: the size of your foil stew, how hot your coals are, how cold it is outside, etc. It will start to sizzle after awhile.

I usually check my stew after 20-30 minutes or about 5 minutes after I first start smelling it, whichever comes first.

The trick is to take it off after the vegetables have started to caramelize, but before they start to burn.

This is where the double-wrapping helps immensely. When you think your foil stew has cooked enough, carefully use the tongs to lift it out and away from the fire. Set the packet, seam side up, on a solid, heat resistant surface. Carefully open the foil packet at check. Vegetables should be tender and proteins completely cooked. 

If it needs more time, simply recrimp and seal the foil on the top and pop it back onto the coals, seam-side up.

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