The food can be one of the best parts of camping! Make these delicious foil packets at home to cook while in the great outdoors. I share many variations to make these vegan campfire foil dinners customizable to your liking.
Why Foil Dinners are A Great Camping Meal
My camping memories from my childhood are some of my most clear and treasured memories. My dad would say dirt and ashes were “camper’s pepper” and “hunger is the best spice.” He was right. Something about being outside all day makes you very hungry, and campfire food really hits the spot.
Tin foil dinners are easy to figure out when you use meat, but when you don’t….what do you eat besides vegetables? Here, I’m showing you how to use soy curls. You can use vegan sausage (Field Roast has pretty decent ingredients and is soy free if you need that option) or tofu, but soy curls are our favorite and I think you’d love them, too. They have a meatier texture than tofu, absorb whatever flavor you give them, and are super high in protein.
I have more information about soy curls in this post if you are new to it!
Why these vegan campfire foil dinners are so awesome:
- No dishes to wash. Eat out of the foil and then toss it in the fire or the trash.
- Easily customizable to your favorite proteins and vegetables, making it possible to make everyone happy. (!!!)
- Very filling and satisfying for a full stomach during your sleepless night. Haha. At least I never sleep well when camping. Worth it though.
- Can be prepared in advance so you can enjoy the great outdoors. And aren’t they great!!
The Secrets to Amazing Campfire Foil Dinners
There are bland, burned foil dinners and juicy, savory, packets of camping glory. Here’s how to make yours the latter.
- Steam the vegetables in advance so they don’t take as long to cook in the campfire. This also prevents the chopped potatoes from turning brown and drying out.
- Use LOTS of seasoning. I keep it simple wih heavy dashes of salt, pepper, garlic powder and onion powder. A little lemon pepper, steak seasoning, or Cajun seasoning is also yummy though. You want the flavors to pop!
- My favorite way to eat these is with a drizzle of sriracha sauce. If you don’t love heat, some BBQ sauce, ketchup or even some Italian dressing or ranch can be yummy. I’ve even made some homemade gravy and heated it over the fire to pour over our foil dinners.
- Double-wrap the food in foil so you don’t get dirt and ashes in your food if it tears open.
- I like to line ours with parchment paper as a precaution to not be eating little pieces of foil.
At the Campsite
Get your fire burning down to hot coals. Put the packets in the hot coals and surround them as evenly as possible with heat. Let them cook about 20 minutes. Take one out and open it to see if it’s golden brown, fragrant, and vegetables are tender when pierced with a fork.
My advice: always throw sriracha sauce into your cooler when you go camping.
An Ode to Camping Season
In Idaho, only summer is camping season, in my opinion. The nights are too cold any other time. I love summer so much that I wanted to name one of our daughters Summer, but it didn’t match the rest of our kids names very well. So I wrote a poem about my love for the season, instead.
Summer by Faith Ralphs
Plunging into chilly lakes
Birthday flames in ice cream cakes
Early runs while the day is cool
Children begging to go to the pool.
Peach juice streams from chin to elbow
Rafting down rivers, embracing the flow
Long road trips to scenic destinations,
Reuniting with many generations.
Chubby baby legs emerge from billowy sun dresses,
Homes abuzz with kids making all sorts of messes.
Probing bonfires with stringy marshmallow sticks
Cul-de-sac stands involving lemonade mix.
Patio dinners, too nice to eat inside.
Nodding sunflowers along every curbside.
Evening sunset light that lasts until ten,
Early mornings welcome the sun back again.
Garden tomatoes and fields of sweet corn,
Baby animals just recently born.
Mandatory popsicles each scorching afternoon,
Campsites set up under a beaming full moon.
Sunning, sailing, sipping, singing
Swimming, soaking, savoring, swinging
It seems that summer seems to show
That it’s good to enjoy and take it slow.
Family, friends, food and fun,
Freedom, festivities, fruit, and sun,
To me it feels that summer does insist,
That we enjoy life’s pleasures, and not resist.
But Wait, There’s More…
I have another post with my formula for filling everyone up when we go on outdoor outings, and tons of recipes. Here are more camping and picnic ideas. Here’s to brilliant starry skies, playing in the creek/river/lake, games, stories, songs, and amazing food by the fire!
Vegan Campfire Foil Dinners
Ingredients
- vegetable broth--1.5 cups for 2 cups soy curls (such as Not Chick'n Cubes)
- 1 oz dry soy curls per packet
- 2 small gold potatoes per packet
- 1 carrot per packet
- 1 small handful of fresh green beans per packet
- salt
- pepper
- garlic powder
- onion powder
- Cajun seasoningor steak seasoning optional
- olive oil
Other options to add
- sliced onion
- sliced mushrooms
- chopped bell pepper
- corn on the cob cut into thirds
- seasoned tofu or vegan sausage instead of soy curls
Instructions
- Put the soy curls in a bowl and barely cover with hot vegetable broth (or water, but then they are less flavorful). I prefer chicken-flavored vegetable broth for this, such as Not-Chick'n Cubes, but regular vegetable broth is fine, too. Let them sit while you prepare the vegetables.
- Calculate how many of each vegetable you need depending on how many packets you're making.
- Bring a large pot with 2 inches of water to a boil. Set a steaming basket in it if you have one.
- Chop the potatoes into 1-inch cubes or 1/4 inch round slices if you prefer. Peel and cut carrots into 1/2 inch rounds. Trim the ends of the green beans.
- Place the vegetables in the pot of water or in the steaming basket. Let them steam about 5-8 minutes, until still firm when pierced with a fork but almost tender. Green beans should be bright green. This will help them not brown in the time before cooking them in the campfire, and also speed up cooking time at the campsite.
- Drain any excess broth from the soy curls, and squeeze them a bit to get as much moisture out as possible so they are not soggy.
- Get out foil sheets. I like to line mine with parchment paper so we're not getting flecks of metal in our food. Put some steamed vegetables and some rehydrated soy curls onto each packet. Spray with some olive oil and sprinkle with lots of seasoning--salt, pepper, garlic powder, onion powder. You can use other spices you like but I usually just use those.
- You can skip tossing with oil for oil-free, but the soy curls don't brown as much and potatoes don't get crispy on the outside.
- Wrap tightly with foil, then wrap again in a second sheet. Roll up the sides and the top edges so no ashes or dirt can get in. Pack them for camping. Keep cool in a fridge or cooler until you put them in the fire.
At the Campfire
- At the campsite, get your fire down to hot burning coals. Set the packets in and surround them with hot ashes and coals. Let them cook about 20 minutes. Test one by opening it up. When the soy curls are golden brown and the vegetables are fragrant and look roasted, you're ready to eat! We like to bring sriracha sauce to put on ours. Ketchup or BBQ sauce are also yummy. Enjoy your no-dishes campfire meal. Follow up with our other camping favorites: bread on a stick, campfire popped popcorn, roasted fresh pineapple on a stick, and s'mores.
Would you like to save this?
We'll email this post to you, so you can come back to it later!