The Dutch Oven! A great way to take your camp cooking to the next lesson. They’re pretty heavy and involve some extra gear but for car camping it’s totally worth it. I broke in my new 12″ dutch oven with these awesome Chicken and Red Bean Enchiladas!
The first step is to make the filling. Fry up some onions and chicken with seasonings until cooked through.
Add a can of red kidney beans and diced chilies. Your pan maaaay get a little full. No worries, you’re just getting it all warmed through at this point. If some falls out of the pan consider it a sacrifice to the fire gods.
You can totally use the dutch oven over the fire but a cleaner and more precise way to cook is with charcoal. A charcoal chimney is a great investment. Just start your coals before you start cooking the filling and by the time the filling is done the coals should be ready to go!
Fill your tortillas with the chicken mixture and some shredded cheese. Pour a bit of enchilada sauce around the bottom of the dutch oven and place filled tortillas seam side down. Top with the remaining sauce and cheese.
Time for the dutch oven to work it’s magic! Place it on top of a pile of coals and add some more coals on top of the lid. This recipe is pretty forgiving in terms of temperature so don’t worry too much. Just make sure there’s more on top than bottom. Rotate the oven 1/4 turn and the lid 1/4 turn the opposite way every 5 or so minutes until cheese is melty and bubbly
Fresh garnishes make the meal that much better! I’m a big fan of the green ones.
Plate up your enchiladas with the all extra garnishes, sit back and enjoy your delicious dutch oven meal!
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people
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- 1 Tbsp vegetable oil
- 6-8 chicken thighs boneless, skinless
- 1/2 onion
- 1 14 oz can kidney beans drained
- 1 4 oz can green chiles
- 1 tsp cumin
- 1 tsp chili powder
- 1/2 tsp paprika
- 1/2 tsp oregano
- 1/2 tsp garlic powder
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 1/2 cups enchilada sauce
- 8 8" tortillas
- 3-4 cups shredded cheese make them as cheesy as you want!
- avocado, jalapeno, lime and cilantro for serving
Ingredients
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- Start your charcoals in the chimney. With briquettes and and 12 inch oven use 25 briquettes for a 350°F temp. They should be good to go in about 20 minutes.
- While the charcoals heat up cut chicken into 1 inch chunks and dice the onion
- Heat a pan with 1 tbsp of oil on a grill over the fire.
- Add onions to the pan and cook until translucent. About 3-5 min
- Add chicken to the pan along with the seasonings. Fry until cooked through. About 10 min
- Add the beans and chiles to the pan. Stir until it's all warmed up. Taste and adjust seasoning.
- Pour enough enchilada sauce to make a thin layer on the bottom of the oven
- Fill a tortilla with some filling and cheese. Close tortilla and lay seam side down in the oven. Repeat with the rest of the tortillas until filling is gone. Might have to get creative with the placement of the tortillas but try to keep them all on one layer
- Pour the rest of the enchilada sauce all over the filled tortillas and top with the rest of the cheese
- Place the dutch oven over some coals (8 briquettes). Cover the oven with the lid and but the rest of the coals (17 briquettes) on the lid.
- Rotate the oven 1/4 turn and the lid 1/4 turn the opposite way every 5 minutes. Cook until cheese is nice and melted.
- Carefully remove enchiladas from the HOT dutch oven. Top with avocado, jalapenos, more cheese, cilantro and lime juice and serve.
If you've just got some random charcoal pieces and not briquettes, just fill the chimney and eyeball it. This recipe isn't finicky. Make sure there's more charcoal on top than underneath.
