Last updated:
This post may contain affiliate links. Read the full disclosure
Foil packet recipes for camping are the perfect way to enjoy your favourite homemade recipes, in a minimal mess and easy cook way. These easy foil packet meals are perfect for cooking in your campfire or grilling during your family camping trip.
The Best Foil Packet Recipes For Camping & Grilling
You can easily convert many of your favourite grilling and oven recipes into foil packet recipes for camping. Not only are these so easy to prepare ahead of time to make your camping meals minimal prep.
They also help make clean up quicker and easier too!
Prepare your individual foil packet meal servings while you are still at home so all you have to do during your camping trip is set up your camp kitchen and start cooking!
By combining foil packet dinners and make-ahead camping meals with a few no-cook camping recipes and quick pie iron meals, you can easily cut down the amount of time you spend cooking during your next camping trip, so you can spend more time enjoying the great outdoors and good company instead!
What Is Foil Packet Cooking?
Foil packet cooking is cooking food that is wrapped in aluminium foil.
The foil ‘packet’ is cooked in the campfire coals, on a grill or in an oven. The foil seals in moisture to help steam and cook your meal.
The best part of foil packet cooking is the fact that once you open your packet, your meal is ready to eat, right out of the foil!
There isn’t even a need to dirty plates usually, making them a low-mess, minimal prep camping meal idea.
To get started with foil packet camp meals you will need aluminium foil.
Tip: The best option is to use heavy-duty aluminium foil or grilling bags, especially if you are cooking foods with a lot of liquid or moisture. In such cases, you can double-wrap your meal to avoid leaks.
You will also need a pair of long handle tongs for placing, removing and turning your foil packets, so you don’t burn your fingers!
It really is that simple!
Easy Campfire Foil Packet Meals
The best place to start with campfire foil pack meals is to choose some easy meal ideas that the whole family will love.
If you are camping with kids, you will want to choose meals that are kid-friendly and easy to eat as well, since the best camping trip is a simple camping trip.
Here are a few simple campfire recipes for foil cooking:
- Grilled Italian Sausage & Veggies Foil Packets – Enjoy this easy camping meal idea with this delicious, savoury grilled feast wrapped in foil. Minimal cleanup and easy to prepare ahead with Italian sausage and vegetables! This is a complete meal and crowd favourite, complete with easy clean-up.
- Easy Hobo Tin Foil Dinner – A popular name for foil packet recipes is hobo packs and this dinner recipe idea is the ultimate hobo dinner foil packet idea with steak, veggies and sauce to create a complete flavour loaded meal easily.
- Tinfoil Packet Philly Cheesesteak – Tinfoil Packet Philly Cheesesteak is a camping meal that is not only delicious but also easy to prepare and clean up afterwards. Loaded with sirloin steak, green and red bell peppers, onion and cheese.
- Campfire Pizza Bake – Turn a loaf of French bread into a campfire pizza bake, perfect for enjoying your favourite pizza toppings while camping in the great outdoors. This is a kid-friendly camping recipe the whole family will love.
- Foil Stew (aka Hobo Dinner) – Foil Stew is the ultimate comfort food and there is no reason why you can’t enjoy a stew hobo packet meal while camping. Loaded with meat and veggies and rich juices.
- Sausage Pierogie Campfire Foil Packets – A combination of fully cooked chicken Sausage, pierogies, red pepper, onion and snap peas in a simple foil pack, ready for cooking over the campfire or grill, under the stars.
- Pizza Potato Packs – A fun twist on a foil-pack dinner, these Pizza Potato Packs are perfect for a meal everyone loves.
Chicken Foil Pack Recipes
Chicken foil packets are the perfect option for camp dinner recipes if you are looking to enjoy one of your favourite chicken recipes in the campfire hot coals or over the grill.
Make ahead foil packets for camping are a perfect way to have your meals ready for cooking before you leave home!
Try one of these delicious chicken foil packet recipes:
- Easy Chicken Fajita Foil Packets – These 5 ingredient Chicken Fajita Foil Packets are a pantry staple, minimal prep lunch or weeknight dinner that can be made on the grill or in the oven. The whole family will love these.
- Lemon Chicken & Asparagus Foil Packets – These simpleLemon Chicken foil packsare easy to prepare and even easier to cook, for a delicious 30-minute meal you can grill or bake any time of the year.This is a healthy meal idea for your camp trip.
- Chicken Bacon Ranch Foil Packets – These Chicken Bacon Ranch Foil Packetsare a quick and easy dinner idea with practically no cleanup afterwards. This recipe is a great make-ahead meal for camping trips, with delicious ranch dressing.
- Cheddar BBQ Chicken Foil Packets – These easyCheddar BBQ Chicken Foil Packets are a simple family-favourite campfire dinner recipe you can cook over a fire, on the grill or in your camp oven for an easy BBQ chicken dinner with veggies.
- Foil Packet Hawaiian BBQ Chicken – This Foil Packet Hawaiian BBQ Chicken is perfect for the grill, campfire, or in the camp oven. The whole family will enjoy the sweet, tangy combination flavours with pineapple and barbeque sauce.
- Bacon Ranch Chicken Foil Packet – These chicken packets are super juicy with the juices from the chicken flavouring the potatoes and green beans perfectly. This is a hearty meal wrapped in individual foil packets for easy dining.
- Foil Pack Mango Mojito Chicken – This foil packet mango mojito chicken recipe is so easy to prepare – just mix everything in a bowl with your chicken breast, place it into foil packs, and put it on the grill. This means less mess and clean-up for your camping trip.
- Easy Chicken Enchilada Foil Packet Meal – This simple chicken enchilada foil packet meal will be a hit for family camping trips! It is packed with moist chicken, cheese, beans and plenty of flavours!
Seafood Foil Pack Recipes For Camping
Enjoy freshly caught seafood from your morning fishing session during your camping trip or prepare one of these seafood foil packet recipes at home before you head off:
- Grilled Mahi Mahi Foil Packets – If you want to enjoy seafood during your camping trip, these healthygrilled mahi mahi foil packets grilled in foil with fresh vegetables, lime, and seasoning are a must-try. You could easily use this recipe to cook fish you catch during your camping trip as well, even if it isn’t mahi mahi.
- Lemon Garlic Butter Salmon – Baking a whole side of salmon fillet in a foil packet is so easy! A quick delicious dinner for the whole family for your next camp trip or at home.
- Thai Salmon in Tinfoil – Enjoy this tender and juicy Thai salmon recipe in the great outdoors by cooking it over your camp grill or in the hot coals instead.
- Grilled Shrimp Packets – Get ready for Grilled Shrimp on the barbie! Grilling with tinfoil pouch recipes is easy and has little cleanup! Simple ingredients for a simple and delicious meal.
- Foil-Baked Halibut with Chile Compound Butter and Black Beans – Foil-baked halibut with chile compound butter and black beans is an easy weeknight dinner that’s fancy enough for company or date night. Who needs messy pans to clean up on a busy weeknight!
- One Pan Lemon Dill Salmon & Asparagus – One pan lemon and dill salmon and asparagus is ready in under 20 minutes in the camp oven or easily adapted for grilling! Garlic, lemon, and dill make this dish taste fresh and delicious!
- Easy Foil Pack Grilled Shrimp Tacos – Enjoy your favourite shrimp tacos even while you are camping. This recipe requires a little more prep than some of the other foil packet recipes, however, making tacos is always an easy process so it is well worth adding to the meal rotation.
- Grilled Mediterranean Halibut – This easy foil packet grilled Mediterranean Halibut is simple and nutritious for cooking on the grill.
- Cajun Shrimp Foil Packets – TheseCajun Shrimp Foil Packetsare bursting with strong flavours of cajun seasoning and are ready to enjoy in under 30 minutes on the grill or campfire!
- Coconut Lime Shrimp Packets – These Coconut Lime Shrimp Packets take just minutes to prepare ahead of your camping trip and less than 15 minutes to cook on the grill, with a total flavour burst that is perfect for summer grilling.
- Baked Cod in Foil with Tomatoes, Potatoes & Lemon – 5 minutes of prep is all you need for this complete meal in a package. With cod, tomatoes, potatoes and lemon, you’ve got all you need for a great dinner!
- Cod, Chorizo, and Potatoes – Zesty and delicious Cod, Chorizo and Potato Foil Packs are perfect for an almost zero clean up meal.
- Foil-Baked Chilean Sea Bass with Lemon Parmesan Cream Sauce – Tender and moist Chilean Sea Bass baked in foil Chilean is paired with garlicky creamed spinach and taken up a notch once it’s topped with a generous portion of homemade lemon parmesan cream sauce!
- Silver Turtles – Let everyone make their own meal with these fun ham foil dinners. These are perfect for campfire cooking and eating.
FSide Dish & Veggie Camping Foil Packet Ideas
Camping meals are always better with side dishes and these grilled vegetable and side dish ideas are perfect for enjoying during your family camping trip.
Create individual vegetable packets per person or make a few larger foil packets to share between your group.
The best part is that most of these ideas are great kid friendly foil packet recipes for camping too, making them ideal for family camping trips.
- Foil Pack Grilled Red Potatoes – These 4 ingredient Foil Pack Grilled Red Potatoes are a pantry staple and minimal prep side dish that can be made on the grill or in a camp oven. You can prep them ahead and cook easily on the campfire.
- Grilled Cilantro Vegetables in Foil – This grilled Cilantro Vegetables in foil recipe is one of the easiest ways to cook fresh vegetables in the summer. This also means the smaller vegetables aren’t falling through the grill since they are safely wrapped in tinfoil.
- Curry Cauliflower Grill Packets – These grilled curried cauliflower grill packets are filled with amazing flavours and the yogurt sauce really puts it over the top!
- Whole Roasted Onions In Foil – Onions have never tasted so good! These whole roasted onions are wrapped in foil to be cooked and the result is the most buttery side dish that is loaded with flavour.
- Foil Packet Baked Loaded Potato – These foil pack loaded baked potatoes are a perfect meal idea for camping! They are packed with pepperoni, ham and cheese, with sour cream and chives for a camping recipe the whole family will enjoy.
- Barbeque Veggie Party Packs – Nothing easier than throwing your favourite veggies with some seasoning of your choice in a foil packet and have a meal ready on the grill!
- Grilled Parmesan Asparagus – These grilled parmesan asparagus packets are so easy to prepare. Just toss them on the grill and you’ve got a simple, yet tasty side dish of veggies for your camping trip!
- Grilled Potato Packets with Garlic and Thyme – Your whole family will love these grilled potato packets with garlic and thyme as a side dish to your main meal. You can also switch out the potatoes for sweet potatoes for a different flavour variety.
Foil Packet Dessert Recipes
Why should you miss out on dessert while you’re camping? Especially if you are camping in winter or during cooler weather when hot food is perfect for warming everyone up by the campfire at night.
Take your favourite toasted marshmallows to the next level and try one of these foil packet dessert recipes ideas.
- Campfire Apple Crisp Foil Packets – Easy campfire foil packets dessert recipe lovers, this one is for you. We have campfire apple crisp foil packs full of sweet juicy apples, cinnamon and granola. These grilled apple foil packets can be made on the campfire, grill or simply baked in the oven.
- Grilled Peach Crisp – Grilled Peach Crisp is a sweet and simple foil packet dessert recipe that can be grilled on a barbecue or cooked over the coals of a campfire during your camping trip. Don’t forget to pack the ice cream in your esky!
- Campfire Banana S’Mores – This foil packet dessert idea is a cross between smores and a banana split and is sure to impress the campers!
- Grilled Caramel Apple Crunch – These grilled caramel apple packets with granola are delicious topped with a dollop of ice cream!
- S’mores Cones – S’mores cones are the easiest make-ahead dessert idea, using ice cream cones with all your Smores ingredients inside, wrapped in foil until melted to perfection!
Camping Breakfast Foil Packet Recipes
They say breakfast is the most important meal of the day and camping shouldn’t change that fact!
Start the day with a hot meal by cooking up a hearty campfire breakfast with one of these tinfoil packet breakfast recipes in the morning:
- French Toast Foil Packet – Enjoy sweet French toast while camping with this foil packet recipe that includes cinnamon, strawberries and walnuts. It can be cooked in the oven, on a grill, or over the campfire for breakfast (or dessert)!
- Foil Packet Breakfast Bake – This foil packet breakfast bake is the perfect meal for camping. It’s super easy to make, totally yummy and simple to prepare ahead of time. It is also easily stored in a foil-wrapped pie tray in your camp esky, ready for cooking.
- Camping Breakfast Burritos – These make-ahead breakfast burritos are the perfect way to start a big day of outdoors fun. Simply reheat in your campfire or on the grill for a delicious camping breakfast meal.
Find more camping breakfast inspiration and recipes to try!
Tips For Preparing Tin Foil Packet Meals For Camping
Foil packet meals are the easiest prepare-ahead camping meals, so long as you do your prep right before you leave.
See Also
20 Easy Travel Lunch Ideas For Your Next Road Trip Or Travel Day
You can easily take all the ingredients and foil with you and prepare them at your campsite, however, why not save yourself time and do it the day before you leave!
Foil packet meals are a great option to add to your camping meal planner.
Here are some simple foil pack prep tips to get you started:
- Use heavy-duty foil
- Double wrap your foil packets if you are preparing meals with a lot of juices or liquid
- Clearly label your foil packets with a marker or by placing each different set of foil packets in large labelled ziplock bags
- Ensure you have a large enough cooler or esky to keep your meals chilled
- Eat foods that spoil quicker early in your trip, such as seafood and meat
- Pack your cooler in the order you plan to eat your meals i.e. the first meals you will eat on top and later meals down the bottom
- Take a spare roll of aluminium foil with you in case you have tears
- Cut foods into smaller pieces for a shorter cooking time
- Bring long-handled cooking utensils for placing and removing from grill or campfire
- Use paper or plastic plates beneath your foil packets to avoid burnt laps and hands
FAQs: Tin Foil Packet Camping Meals
Can you make foil packets ahead of time for camping?
Yes, you can make foil packets ahead of time for camping. Just be sure to seal them tightly so that they do not leak or dry out.
How long will foil packets keep in a cooler if made ahead?
If you seal the foil packets tightly, the food will stay fresh for up to 2 days. If you freeze them, they will keep for up to 3 months. When you’re ready to eat, just thaw and reheat over the campfire.
How many layers of foil should I use?
It is best to use 2-3 layers of heavy duty aluminium foil to avoid your food leaking out of the foil packets.
Not camping anytime soon? Why not have a staycation at home and try out some of these campfire meals in your own backyard instead!
These foil packet recipes for camping will make your camping meals much easier, with less mess, less prep and less time spent cooking so you can spend more time making memories and enjoying camping adventures!
GRAB OUR MAMMOTH PRINTABLE CAMPING PLANNER TO TAKE THE STRESS OUT OF PLANNING YOUR NEXT ADVENTURE:
Camping Trip Resources
Heading on a camping trip soon? Make your next outdoor adventure more fun than stress with some simple preparation tips and planning ideas so you can enjoy your time together. This resource list also includes tips for campervan and RV camping trips.
- Hacks for camping with kids
- Road trip meal planner and food ideas
- Camping with kids checklist
- RV camping essentials checklist
- Campervan cooking tips
- No-cook camping meal ideas
- Dutch oven recipes for camping trips
- How to plan a complete camping trip
- Non-perishable camping and road trip foods
- Lunch ideas for hiking
Do you have any fave tin foil camping meals? Tell us in the comments!
Pin It For Later
